Addiction is an epidemic in many communities, but this disease is very rampant within the Native Community in Oakland. Many of the characters in this reading section are connected to drugs in some way or another. Bill Davis dates Karen, a woman who enables her son’s alcohol addiction. He gets frustrated with Edwin Black and is negatively impacted by his stepson’s alcoholism and depression. Then there is Calvin Johnson, who is the loving caregiver of his bipolar sister, but he is involved in drug dealing. In an attempt to get free of this life, he purposely loses drugs owned by Octavio. Unfortunately, he gets dragged into a scheme to help Robb the Pow Wow to pay off his debt to Octavio. Finally, there is Opal’s sister, Jacquie Red Feather. She is an addiction therapist who also suffers from addiction herself. All three of the characters emphasize how addiction can plague a community.
As previously mentioned, unlike the others, he does not have an addiction but struggles with his stepson’s addiction issues. His stepson, who he helped raise, almost as his own. He gets frustrated with people’s attitudes, often calling them babies. He feels the need to be tough when he, too, needs help.
Next, we deal with Calvin Johnson, a former drug dealer trying to get his life clean to better his life for his family. He states, “I’d never thought about the idea that you could just wake up to some terrible shit, some fucked-up shift in what you thought life was. And that’s what it felt like then. Taking those shots. Octavio’s embrace.” (Orange 97). This quote highlights the issues of being dragged into the life of being a drug dealer.
Finally, we meet Jacquie Red Feather, Opal’s sister. She struggles with addiction while also being a therapist who specializes in addiction. Like many Native Americans, she deals with high levels of depression and has a hard time coping, even saying that life is not okay and “You can’t sell life is okay when it it’s not” (Orange 99). Highlighting how depression and addiction often go hand in hand with each other.
Often, many Native Americans in this story have connected lives while coping with their issues in many ways. Unfortunately for these characters, they deal with addiction to cope.