"Racial prejudice is a terrible thing, Yossarian.\ufffd It really is.\ufffd It's a terrible thing to treat a decent, loyal Indian like a nigger, kike, wop or spic."

--spoken by "Chief White Halfoat" ("Chief White Halfoat nodded slowly with conviction") in Joseph Heller's "Catch-22," 1961. About 35 years ago, as a clueless teenager, I attempted to appropriate this, paraphrased, for a dinnertable jest: it fell utterly and terribly flat, but did serve to lodge the citation ineradicably in memory. It would be pleasant to imagine that the injun in the present story is having us on.

cordially,