A custom-made chess board where many of the pieces are symbols of white capitalism and violence in America-an armed gunman, KKK members, kneeling children, bishops with money in their pockets, and faceless Native children.
Artwork by Karen Sixkiller

When yet more children’s bones were found on the grounds of a past Bureau of Indian Education school, followed by another rash of school shootings, I felt physically sick to my stomach and disgusted that all these dead children were somehow just pawns in some sort of game that I couldn’t hope to understand. I started wondering, “who are the other pieces?” Then I realized, even the king chess piece is being moved by a mysterious hand, and who or whatever wields that hand is the one actually controlling the board. If you look closely, there are wads of money spilling out of all the “bishops” pockets. This is the key: no one being is controlling our American society. Instead, it is avarice and greed.