Document text
John Trudell returns to speak at benefit By Bill Varble John Trudell is not your typical rock star. Far from it. He�s an American Indian (Santee Sioux) activist, poet and self-proclaimed critic of industrial capitalism who often sings and raps his message against a backing of rock and blues music. On Wednesday, Trudell returns to the Rogue Valley for a program titled "Spoken Word" at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Proceeds benefit SOU�s Native American Student Union and a proposed multicultural community learning center. Drumming begins a half-hour before Trudell�s talk. Trudell, 55, was named Artist of the Year at the Native American Music Awards for 2000. He also was seen in the award-winning 1998 movie "Smoke Signals," in which he played the part of an Indian disc jockey on the Coeur d�Alene reservation in Idaho. Trudell says he was radicalized in the 1969 Indians of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, where he went in search of his roots. When the action � the Indians called it an "occupation," the U.S. government called it "trespassing" � ended in 1971, Trudell became national chairman of the radical American Indian Movement. "They waged a war against us," he says. "They hunted us down." On Feb. 11, 1979, Trudell led a march on FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., made a speech and burned an American flag. Within hours, flames consumed his home on the Shoshone Paiute reservation in Nevada, killing his wife, Tina, her mother and the couple�s three children. The Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled the fire an accident. Trudell called it "murder" and has never wavered in his belief that federal agents were involved. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he turned to writing. His first book of poems, "Living in Reality," came out in 1981. He met singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who encouraged him to put his poetry to music. His album, "AKA Graffiti Man," was called "the best album of 1986" by Bob Dylan. He signed with Rykodisc in 1992, where he released 1994�s critically acclaimed "Johnny Damas and Me." Last year he was honored for his album, "Blue Indians," for which pal Browne won Best Producer honors. Publicity for Trudell�s talk includes a blurb saying "extremely eloquent" attributed to the FBI. The full quote is, "extremely eloquent, therefore extremely dangerous." Trudell says he asked for his FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act and was told the file was 17,000 pages, but the FBI would give him only 60 pages. "I don�t know how scary that is, but it tells me how insane they are," he says. "If they have to pay all this attention to me � and all I do is think and talk � it tells me more about them." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Who: John Trudell. When: 7 p.m. Wednesday (drumming starts at 6:30). Where: The Britt Ballroom, SOU. Tickets: $7 at the door. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.