On Indin Time:

A memoir

"Living between two worlds"

An Interview with George Clever

Note: Despite the explosion of the social justice movement, little is said about Native American issues in the media. In light of this omission, I thought it important to share the story of George Clever, a former Western New York resident, visual and literary artist, musician and friend. Locals may remember the Clever Store in Bear Lake, NY, which was owned by his brother, Art. George talked with me about writing his memoir "On Indin Time," regarding his life as a Native American and living "between two worlds."

— Patricia Pihl, Personal Historian, Real Life Legacies

RLL: What is the title of your memoir and why did you decide on that name?

GC: The title of my memoir is On Indin Time. I know Indin is normally spelled Indian, but it is not pronounced that way in our native communities. It is Indin. You may also be wondering what is ‘Indin Time?' If we are at a meeting on the same day, we are on time. This is a tough sell for the current society always on fast speed with digital phone time.

RLL: When and why did you write your memoir? 

GC: I started to write in 1999 on the last days of my active teaching at New Mexico State University. I was forced to retire as a Mathematics Professor to take care of my two young sons after their mother was killed in an auto accident. Twenty-one years later I am close to finishing the memoir. Just close. Not dead yet. I have always been interested in the Clever family history, identifying with our Lenape (Delaware Indian) heritage. It is very difficult to find information about American Indian ancestors because few written records have survived their ‘trail of tears,’ and racial discrimination deterred family members from reveling their Indian ancestors if they could pass for white, Italian, or Mexican. My father’s mother burned all the family pictures of her husband that looked ‘too Indian.'

RLL: What lessons have you learned along the way?

GC: There were three lessons of importance. First, this is only my truth that I write and not the truth of everyone who walked with me in time. The second lesson was the writer has the choice of avoiding criticism from those you include in your writing. You do this by self-publishing copies for family and a few friends to be distributed after death. The third lesson was about personal relationship stuff. Real gentlemen keep that information to themselves. I was not trying to sell an expose book. Hollywood types do that often. 

RLL: What were some of goals when you set out to record your life's events?

GC: Goal #1

Perhaps writing my memoir would reveal why I had led a "schizo" life, lived half in the Native world and half in contemporary society. When one says, “I am Lenape” a price is to be paid. One never really belongs in either world since the values and beliefs are so conflicting. Example: I was forced to brag about my professional teaching and military accomplishments in documents annually for promotion and economic rewards. In the Lenape world bragging on one’s self is discouraged. One’s deeds speak for themselves.   

Goal #2 

I owed my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren information about my Lenape life, information I could not receive from my parents, grandparents, or great-grand parents. 

Struggles

My mother was of German ancestry. In the early days of my American Indian activism she would say, “why do they let you do that?” I was her little German boy. How could he be leading the National American Indian Education Association conference powwow dances with Hollywood actor and Muscogee Creek Indian Will Sampson? As the years past, she stopped asking that question. My father was quietly wearing his Red Skins warmup jacket with no lettering, only the Indian head logo. 

Writing a memoir is painful at times for everyone. We live in a world of criticism dwelling on human failures. Everyone has those remembrances we would all like to forget. There are things we wish we had done, and other things we should not have done. It took many years to complete these twenty-three chapters. At times, I would stop writing and spend the day under some dark cloud. 

There is also an attempt to remember what little mark most of us leave in life. 

RLL:: Did your work with Native American communities make a difference? 

GC: I really don’t know. It was only my generation’s time to pay their dues. The Sioux have not yet been paid for the lands the federal government stole in the Black Hills, the Lenape have not received their moneys kept in trust by the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (B.I.A.), and Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have not given the Delaware back the land they stole. It is a long list. 

Do you hear the media talking about Indian reparations? I think not. I will share some positive notes with you. I dance with my children and grandchildren. My father and grandfather were not allowed to do so by law. No government nor religious group steals our children and takes them away to punishing boarding schools now. We have the right to practice our own religion according to the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act of 1978. Indians were citizens of the USA since 1928 without religious freedom, without the right to vote after WWII, and the right to own land. That has changed. Wait! COVID-19 took away our religious freedom, and our right to assemble for ceremonies, and socials. 

I’ll let the people I met along the way be the judge of my life’s work.