There There Characters

Tony Loneman

Tony Loneman is a young Native man from Oakland with fetal alcohol syndrome, which he calls “the Drome.” He buys the bullets to rob the powwow and is in charge of stealing the money. However, he backs out at the last moment and is killed in the crossfire.

Dene Oxendene

Dene Oxendene is a half-Native, half-white young man from Oakland. He receives a grant to film Indians from Oakland as they tell their personal stories. Dene narrowly escapes being killed during the massacre.

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is an older Native woman from Oakland who was raised, in part, in Alcatraz as her mother occupied it in protest. A mail carrier, Opal raises her sister Jacquie Red Feather’s grandchildren Orvil, Lony and Loother.

Edwin Black

Edwin Black is Harvey’s half-Native son. Harvey is unaware of Edwin’s existence until Edwin tracks him down on Facebook. Edwin has an M.A. degree in literature, but his first job is as an intern with the powwow organizing committee. He is shot in the stomach at the massacre.

Bill Davis

A Vietnam veteran and ex-convict, Bill Davis is an older man who works in maintenance at the Oakland Coliseum. His girlfriend is Karen, the mother of Edwin Black, whom Bill disapproves of as being too coddled. He is killed during the massacre.

Calvin Johnson

Calvin Johnson, a young Native man from Oakland, is a former drug dealer trying to turn his life around. Calvin, in a misguided attempt to help his brother, ends up indebted to Octavio Gomez and is forced to participate in his plan to rob the powwow.

Jacquie Red Feather

Jacquie Red Feather is an older Native woman from Oakland. As a teenager, Jacquie is raped by Harvey on Alcatraz, and she gives up their daughter, Blue, for adoption. Although she struggles with alcoholism, Jacquie is a substance abuse counselor. Her three grandsons (by her second daughter, who committed suicide)—Orvil, Lony and Loother—are being raised by her sister, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield. Jacquie meets the boys for the first time at the powwow.

Orvil Red Feather

Orvil Red Feather is the teenage grandson of Jacquie Red Feather, whom he has never met. He is the oldest of the three brothers raised by Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield. Orvil sneaks behind Opal’s back to learn powwow dancing and to participate in the event. He is shot in the massacre.

Octavio Gomez

Octavio Gomez is a Native man and drug dealer who has experienced the tragic deaths of close family members. Octavio heads the plan to rob the powwow to pay off a drug debt. His Native grandmother, Josefina, treats him with “badger medicine” to help him overcome his personal and familial demons.

Daniel Gonzales

Daniel Gonzales is Octavio Gomez’s cousin. He makes guns using a 3D printer and sells them to support his mother and himself. During the massacre, in which some of the guns are used, Daniel stays at home to operate a camera drone with virtual reality goggles.

Blue

Blue, raised as “Crystal” by white adoptive parents in the Oakland suburbs, is Harvey and Jacquie Red Feather’s biological daughter and Edwin Black’s half-sister. She is the powwow events coordinator.

Thomas Frank

Thomas Frank is half-white and half-Native. He is an alcoholic and works as a janitor at the Indian Center until he is fired for coming to work drunk. He is also a passionate drummer who performs at the powwow before dying in the massacre.

Harvey

Harvey is an older Native man from Oakland and the emcee at the powwow. Blue and Edwin Black are Harvey’s children by different women, though Harvey is unaware of their existence before the powwow.

Josefina

Josefina, an older Native woman, is Octavio Gomez and Daniel Gonzales’s grandmother. Cursed by her father as a young woman, Josefina attempts to help Octavio overcome his own demons by treating him with traditional “badger medicine.”

Lucas

Lucas is Dene Oxendene’s uncle. After Lucas dies of alcoholism, Dene continues his uncle’s work of filming Oakland Natives as they tell their stories.