Carl, a thirty-six-year-old Native man, was banished from one foster home after another, had dishwashing liquid poured down his throat at age five for using foul language and was tied to a chair in a dark room in attempts to control his hyperactivity. When he’s angry at himself—as he was one day for having used cocaine—he gouges his foot with a knife as punishment. He confessed his “sin” to me with the look of a terrorized urchin who’d just smashed some family heirloom and dreaded the harshest retribution.
