Haash Yinilye?

Haash yinílyé, ashkii? What are you called, little boy? As a young boy on the rez, I was called Scat. I don’t know where I got that name. It was sneered out with a snap usually with the final T dropped. I hated that name. Only the Navajo kids called me that though they probably heard it from one of the staff members. They also called me Tsíí gałagai. White hair. Very white hair, as in an old person nearing death white hair. This one was also spat out with venom. Usually it was Clicker and Freeman who called me this. Freeman should have known better, being an outsider as well. Haash yinílyé, shi cheii? What are you called grown man? Shi ei Hostiin nake’sinilí na ádin yinishyé. When I left the rez for the penultimate time, my childhood friends Anita, and Herman, and Laman, and Jimmy, gave me a Navajo name. It wasn’t planned. We were standing around kicking the dirt, waiting for me to get into the UHaul truck and make the long drive to Raton, NM. Herman said We should call you Hostiin nake’sinilí, and soon we will call you nake’ àdin. haha, awkward silence. nake’ sinili means “specs in position around the eyes.” nake’ ádin means “without eyes.” I took it as a curse. As one more betrayal of who I was and who I had become, and friends I thought I had. Anita tried to smooth things over. One who wears specs can see clearly. Fifteen years later my wife helped me put the two names together. Man who sees clearly without eyes. I don’t tell many people this. And almost nobody that knew me back then knows it. Names have power. Not in a magical sense. But because special names (the white rock in the revelation of St. John, the secret names between lovers, war names among some native peoples) speak to character, not actions. Those that have known the person for a lifetime may ridicule the name. I’ve known him all his life, the only thing he can see clearly is bichoo’. All he ever did was fight and break into houses and cause trouble for the staff who had to try to explain why christians behaved this way. He always acted like he had no relatives.