I am honored to be asked to write the introduction for Ruby Standing Deer’s important work, Broken Path. Through this powerful story, we see the continuing consequences of the European invasion of Native American lands.

Europeans brought a disease far more devastating than smallpox to the shores of North America—alcoholism. Even to this day, this disease continues to ravage the Native Peoples. According to a lawsuit filed by the Oglala Sioux, one quarter of their children suffer from fetal disorders related to their parents’ alcoholism. Indian Health Services says that the rate of alcoholism among Native Americans is six times the United States’ average for other ethnic groups. One in ten Native American deaths are alcohol related, according to Indian Health Services.

In actuality, these numbers are conservative.

My grandmother left her people to save her children from alcoholism and all the abuse that comes from it. Unfortunately, though she got sober, my mother succumbed to the same disease by the age of fourteen. She died at the age of forty. I nearly died before I finally got sober at the age of thirty.

Even when we run from our People, the disease has already taken root in our blood and we suffer from its terrible effects.

I am one of the fortunate ones. I found my way back to the First People and remain sober, yet I have watched even powerful medicine people, Holy People, suffer and die from this disease. Our families continue to be ravaged by the sicknesses that come with alcoholism: child abuse, once unheard-of among The People; domestic violence, again nearly-unheard-of among our People; sexual abuse, murder, theft, weakened bodies and shattered Spirits.

Broken Path tells of one Band’s struggle to fight free of the deadly talons of alcoholism. Through this fictional story, based on painful reality, Ms. Standing Deer has shown us not only the dark abyss of this horrible disease, but she gives us the hope that there is a Shining Path that can lead us from this cold and deadly place called Alcoholism.

Sincerely,

Tsi scuceblu (Aya Walksfar)