Harlyn Geronimo
Interview with Harlyn Geronimo
~ by Stephanie Deplanque
“I
was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing
to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no
enclosures.”
~ Geronimo
When I contacted Corine Sombrun a few months ago (April issue) to interview her for Whisper n Thunder, little could I imagine that this would give me the opportunity to meet and interview Harlyn Geronimo, Geronimo’s great grandson.
Meeting Harlyn in Paris during the Festival America held during the national French book fair was an amazing experience.
The first thing I noticed was how calm and well spoken he is. You can see that years working on the tribal council and being in politics have given him a way with words.
The next thing I realized was how nice his eyes are (and Corine spoke about that in her book). They say the eyes are the mirror of the soul; if that is true Harlyn must have a very nice soul!
As I loved the book that was born from Harlyn and Corine’s collaboration, I was quite upset and sadden to learn that it had not been translated in English yet. I asked Harlyn why he had chosen a French publishing house. He told me that they tried to get the book out in the United States, as his family and himself thought it was important to publish those stories told by Geronimo’s daughter as well as safeguard this heritage and make sure it does not get lost. Numerous books have been written about Geronimo; some of them depicting him as a terrorist or bandit, others as a hero of the American Indian Resistance and an amazing warrior. His image is now a marketing asset. And yet, never have they asked his family to tell their stories!
Before
the interview, Harlyn and his wife, Karen, gave a talk along with
Corine. During that time, Harlyn told the audience how his father could
not use the name Geronimo as it was a name with too much history and
pain. Today, Harlyn and the stories about his ancestor are invited all
around the world. “Sur les pas de Geronimo” (On Geronimo’s Trail)
has been translated in several languages and every time Harlyn comes to
France, many people travel to see him and listen to him. And he has a
lot to say!
1- How was it like to grow up with such a famous name?
Well,
you know when I turned to politics when I was about 30, thats when
everybody started coming around me: the media, the politicians, from
different places in the country. Everything seemed to take off by
itself. I was elected on the tribal council, that’s when the whole
scenario changed. After 20 years on the council, I am retired now. It
seems that I am going internationally. People are inviting me to
different countries in Europe. My wife and I like to travel; we went to
Normandie (a county situated in Western France). We stayed a week
there. We were special guests, honored guests. We cut a ribbon and
went to the cemetery and the museum, and did a dedication to Native
American soldiers. My late father was also honored and the thing about
it is there is my name behind the monument. It is a big monument
dedicated to Native American warriors who died there during the war. So
we were very honored!
We met with the dignitaries, the counselors from different regions. About a week later we went down into Rennes (a city in the French county of Britannia) and met with the American Institute where we met more dignitaries and gave speeches. We are also invited to Switzerland and Germany in the near future. Because of the name it’s getting bigger.
If I go to Washington I just walk in various cabinet offices so that’s what the name got me. I’m very happy I can talk with officials in Washington when I’m there. I’m very happy now that the doors are open to us in Washington and other parts of the country.
2- Do you think you would have been the same person, would have done the same thing, if your name had been different? Or has it had an amazing effect upon your life?
Yes, obviously that’s true because if I was just, I guess you could say a common person with a regular name, I don’t think I would have reached this status.
The name is very famous in the world; everybody knows the name of Geronimo. And now you know when they see me in person - the great grandson - a lot of people are surprised somebody from that family is still alive.
3- Are your children and grandchildren also in the public eye? Are they following into your footsteps to keep the Apache traditions alive and fight for Native American rights?
My family is not in the public eye; they chose to stay quiet, keep a low profile. But for myself, there has been a cost of being in the elected office, and in the public eye for the last 30 years or so. But for now, my family doesn’t want anything to do with the media; because of the attention that you get, they prefer to keep a low profile.
4- What made you chose to publish those stories with a French publishing house instead of an American one?
All this years, the stories that had been told by my great grandmother and my grandmother, all these memories. I thought it was about time, after I got out the tribal council, away from the elected office, I decided that it is important that some of these stories are published. Not only that but other stories regarding the tribal traditions and tribal culture. We thought these needed to be on paper because, if something happens to us, all would be lost. We contacted several people before, telling them about writing a book, but we had problems with the publishing companies (in the United States), and at that time Corine came around and she helped us, to contact people, the publishers and it all took it off by itself. We like Paris, we like the French people, the country. They treat us fine and now that we have got the book involved, a lot of the French people are excited to know first hand what happened in Indian Country, particularly Apache country.
5- What was it like meeting with Corine? You two come from two different continents, two different cultures, and yet, you have so much in common, to start with her being a shaman and you being a medicine-man.
Well, we talked about that.
You know it is similar. You think back to the period about 2000 years ago, when the Mongolians had their revolution, and every tribe was scattered into different directions; the same people who have been training her are from this region. For this reason, there are a lot of similarities and that is why we met with Corine and decided to talk.
6- I believe you met with Enkhetuya? How was this amazing meeting with your long lost cousins?
Yes, we met with her. My wife is a linguist and she is very good at interpreting, rhyming; she can do a sentence. She is an expert in that area, and she talked with her and discovered that some words are still similar. This surprised her because you know after 2000 years, there are words that are identical! And the cigarettes they gave her also have got this herbal smell that is similar to the one we have back home, which surprised us. So we are planning a trip to Mongolia sometime in the future
You haven’t gone there yet? - You must be very anxious to discover their tee pees?
No, not yet. I have been to Tokyo, different parts of Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, but I’ve never been to Mongolia!
Yes, one thing that really surprised us was when one of the men had a moccasin that went to the knee, it was similar to ours! The Chiricahua boots had a tall part that goes back, and their traditional boots are like that as well.
My wife had a dream about 10 years ago about these boots, and one of the people she was dreaming about had the same kind of boots; the people were talking to her in Apache, with words that haven’t been used in 200 years. She had a hard time understanding, so I think we the only way to really find out is to make a trip to Mongolia and see the traditions first hand.
What are your feelings about the boarding schools?
At the turn of the century, you know, the government created them and a lot of tribal members went to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their Indian language. This resulted in them losing their language, and when you lose your language, you lose your identity.
The elderly people used to talk to me about it, and to me that was one of the biggest injustices that was done to our people. Because they didn’t know who to turn to, who to ask for advice, the only language they understood then was English, so we had hundreds of students who grew up like that. Many of them in the later years turned to alcoholism, and it’s a shame how tragically they grew up after that. So I really was moved by the appeal against the boarding schools. They were treated like in military schools and I wish it had never happened.
What message would you want to give to the Native youth?
To people who are listening I’d like to touch on several issues.
First of all I’m very touched by the global warming; I don’t see any community of Native American that are outspoken on that presently.
The leaders are not speaking up on these issues and I feel that as Indian people we can voice our opinion.
The next issue is the loss of the federal government, implementing legislation in Washington DC, in Congress. I was a representative. They’re passing laws that are really affecting the tribes and we need to get our people to Washington and become part of the monitoring the process itself. I think that’s very important.
- Thank you very much Harlyn
Your welcome, my pleasure!
All photos courtesy Harlyn Geronimo via Stephanie Deplanque.
Book Jacket Cover: Corine Sombrun
Banner Graphic: www.firstpeople.us
