Code Talker

On the sign at the front of the mission school are the words, “TRADITION IS THE ENEMY OF PROGRESS.” It’s the first thing the children are taught to read. They quickly learn what it means—that anything associated with the Navajo way is bad, especially the language.

On his second day of school, Ned unthinkingly greets Mr. Reamer with polite Navajo words. Mr. Reamer immediately scoops up Ned like a naughty puppy and carries him to a sink, forcing a big bar of soap inside Ned’s mouth. He scrubs the inside of Ned’s mouth so vigorously that foam comes out of Ned’s mouth and nose. Then he drops Ned on the ground and walks away.

As Ned falls to the ground outside, two boys—his new friend Tommy Nez and a bigger boy, Jesse Chee— help him back to his dormitory. Jesse whispers to Ned in Navajo that he will “return to balance again.” He promises that the Holy People haven’t forgotten Ned. Ned knows he’s discovered another friend.

Ned never wants to get his mouth washed out again, so he does his best to avoid speaking Navajo when any teachers are around. Most other kids do the same. However, some kids are defiant, and Principal O’Sullivan beats them to the point that they’re unable to walk the next day. One of the most defiant, Ned’s friend John Roanhorse, is eventually chained in a dark corner of the basement for a whole week, given nothing but bread and water. When he’s finally released, his eyes look lost.

Ned is neither defiant nor careless about speaking Navajo. He works hard at learning English, and other subjects, too—especially history and geography. He loves learning about the past and about faraway places. He also learns that saying, “Yes, teacher,” whenever called upon is like a magical way of gaining the teachers’ approval.

However, Ned is stubborn in other ways—he speaks Navajo whenever he’s alone with other kids and learns Navajo songs and stories. Some kids are so traumatized from beatings that they lose the ability to speak Navajo. For Ned, though, the school policies only make him more determined to master the language. He has no idea that “the very language those bilagáanaa teachers tried to erase […] would one day be needed by important white men.”