CVK

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader interviews Assiniboine playwright William Yellow Robe, whose play, “Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers,” tells that story of the Robe family, descendants of the union between a Native American grandmother and an African American grandfather, who served in the Union Army as a “buffalo soldier.”

“We refer to ‘breeds’ as half Native and half white,” Yellow Robe said. “If they weren’t accepted by their fellow Natives, they could denounce their heritage and pass for white.

“Being part black, there was nowhere I could run,” he said. “I had to be respectful of everyone. It’s not a Native-white issue anymore; we have relations with the world.”

Steve Hoffman, Washington Pavilion executive director, said the play - which currently is touring the nation - opens a new dialogue in the Native community.

“The play itself is unique, its look at mixed-blood (as) defining who a person is. That mixture becomes a stigma that looks at the issue of, ‘are you too black to be Native American?’ “