Wouldn’t it be nice if Judas always stuck out like a sore thumb (as in Harvey Keitel’s portrayal in The Last Temptation of Christ)? However, that’s not often the case. On the surface, in Adrian Louis’ poem “Looking for Judas,” the identity of the betrayer seems obvious:

“They say before the white man
brought us Jesus, we had honor.”

However, it appears that the Indian speaker in this poem has adopted white hunting methods, such as using a rifle (since he reminisces about a time when they did not use guns). After venerating the ancestral traditions, he qualifies his account by saying: “Or something like that.” As if the recitation of such accounts is just forgettable, legendary mumbo-jumbo. For one who so blithely dismisses important cultural heritage, who is really doing the betraying? Whites? Or Native Americans themselves? Shades of Sherman Alexie.