I
RECENTLY READ AN article about an Asian American author who submitted a children’s book to each of the Big Five publishing houses. It was a fantasy story about a princess who was enslaved. The publishers were so excited about this story that it resulted in a bidding war and the author was given a six-figure advance. The book went through the usual publishing process and, eventually, was ready to release. Advance copies were sent out to reviewers and it garnered enthusiastic reviews. Then the comments and complaints started coming in. The basic complaint was one we hear more and more of these days, cultural appropriation. Even though the book was fantasy set in a separate world, people complained that the author had no right to write about slavery because she wasn’t black. I mention this because I and the other writers represented in Saddlebag Dispatches write about the West. The west was an incredibly diverse section of our American melting-pot. Fully twenty-five percent of the cowboys who made the long hard drives from Texas to the railheads were black. Many more were Hispanic or Native American. The Army that won the west included two regiments each of black cavalry and infantry. The west was a place where a man was judged by his actions and his word. So, should we not tell their stories? In preparing for this special Battle of Little Bighorn/Great Sioux War issue, I wanted to insure
the stories we published represented both sides of this pivotal moment in our history. To that end, I wrote to both Native American educators and tribal leaders suggesting that a story or article submission would be welcome and might be a great way to get their stories heard. The universal response was total silence. Not even so much as a single acknowledgement of my letters was received. So, the stories in this issue which represent the Native American view of the events were not written by Native Americans. That is extremely unfortunate, for a variety of reasons. But the stories selected to appear here were all written from respect and admiration, and as such, I believe that they are a fair sampling of all those stories yet untold. We would love to have more diversity among our writers, and actively solicit such. But until more writers of different backgrounds and viewpoints rally to the cause, so to speak, we will always do our very best to present a fair and complete representation of how the west was won. That’s a point of pride for us here at Saddlebag Dispatches, as we carry on the late, great Dusty Richards’s mission of bringing the West, in all its power, glory, and ugliness, to you through these pages. Until Next Time, Dennis Doty Managing Editor
