Essay by Mary Scriver
Racism – May 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
IN 1961, WHEN I CAME to Browning, Montana, to teach, I emerged from my little rental — all dressed up — to investigate the town. A path headed towards the main street across a weedy empty lot. A tall Indian in a wide-brimmed hat started towards me. Was I going to have to walk into the burrs and ruin my nylons? Not to worry. The Indian swept off his hat, held it over his heart, stepped off the path, and said, “Mawnin’, teacher.” How could he tell I was a teacher? It never occurred to me that I was a white, dressed-up woman in a reservation town.