Emma Shneidman

Cooper, 2

AP Lang

05/20/19

Changing the future before it begins: taking a look at the past so as not to repeat it

Throughout my junior year the main topic of my English and History classes has been

Native American culture through the study of different sources from articles, movies, and even

hands on experiences. In the beginner of the year I developed a question that I would focus on

throughout my studies which ended up being: How has modern society marginalized Native

Americans politically, socially, and economically? This question has shaped my assignments

that I have completed this year giving me direction as far as the topic for each. This has helped

me learn a lot about how culture differs within our nation. Because of these differences there are

many ways that natives are persecuted, the most influential of these ways being in their culture

and beliefs, their opportunities, and their lifestyle.

The culture of Native Americans has many differences from our culture demonstrated in

their storytelling and fighting. In the short story “Every Little Hurricane,” the author, Victor, is a

young boy who is in his room while his parents throw a party for New Year’s. During the party

two of his uncles started to fight and it continued to escalate but still no one intervened. “They

were all witnesses and nothing more.” (Alexie 3) This shows one aspect of Native culture that is

brutality. This type of fighting is normal in many tribes and is a common part of their daily lives.

Another way the culture is portrayed differently is through the telling of stories. There is a short

story called “How to Tell a True War Story” which tells, from the perspective of a Native

American, the right way to tell a war story. He states that a war story should not be

chronological with a moral that ties the story up into a nice neat bow. A war story should be all
over the place and shouldn’t make sense to anyone but the storyteller because that’s all that

matters. The purpose of the story is not to entertain it’s to give the storyteller peace.

Some opportunities that Natives are offered are not as plentiful as the opportunities

given to whites regarding jobs and education. For example, some tribes have reservation

schools which are created in order to give tribes access to education when they don’t have it

any other place. This is important because it’s one of the few times that Natives have been

provided for. We watched a movie called “The Mission” which followed the journey of father

Gabriel as he converted the tribe of Native Americans over the Amazon river. This movie

showed how much the white colonizers don’t take into account the Natives lives and beliefs.

The only colonizer who actually did care about them was Father Gabriel and him alone couldn’t

stop the conversion and killing of many natives. Because Native Americans were put into

reservations in history when whites were expanding west they haven’t really been able to get

out of that situation. Another way Natives are oppressed is through the employment of whites

over Natives in many jobs because of race discrimination. This has continued on for centuries

since Columbus came from Europe to the Americas. This discrimination has contributed to the

marginalization of natives in modern society and does not give them equal opportunities as

whites.

The native lifestyle is very different from that of whites in their dancing and their food. For

example, when we travelled to New Mexico we visited the To’hajiilee community. While we were

there we had the opportunity of learning one of their traditional dances where we walked around

in a circle with a special rhythm in our steps. Before we learned it however, we got to see some

of the elementary school kids do the dance. They were dressed in traditional clothes for pow

wows with deer hide headbands and moccasins. This was really cool to experience because our

dancing in our society is very different and very uncultured. Finally, they also have differences in
their food. For example, when we were in New Mexico we got to make fry bread, a traditional

food of many Native tribes. This was very interesting because personally, I have never tasted fry

bread before and to not only get to try something so personal to them but to get to make it as

well and see how hard it can be was very eye opening.

In conclusion, this year has been a very influential year for me in regards to learning

about other cultures, specifically Native American culture. I learned about how they have been

marginalized in society and how their culture has been oppressed especially in regards to food,

and dance. This year was very big for me as well in regards to growth. I think that through

learning about other cultures has made me more aware of myself and who I want to be. Overall,

this year has been a very influential year in my life by making me a more globally aware citizen.