The Invisible Native American
When most people think of "Indians," they think of the common stereotyped of the wild, yelling, half-naked "savages" seen on the television movies. With more modern movies like Dances with Wolves and some of the documentaries like How the West was Lost, some of these attitudes have changed. But the American public as a whole is still very ignorant of what it means to be a Native American-today, or historically.
Whose fault it this? The public school system is one problem. When I was in school, if I wanted to learn anything of my heritage, I had to search it out myself. Trying to find the truth was difficult, if not at times impossible. Today it is not much better. It is a well-known fact that February is Black History Month. In all the schools, posters, special projects, and literary contests motivate students to learn the value of Black Americans. This is good. But, is it not also important that students learn about all races, including Blacks and Oriental, as well as Native Americans?
School children do not know that November is Native American Month. Even few adults know this fact; it is not on the radio, and seldom on TV. In fact, my son once asked his teacher why they (the students) didn't have anything special to do on the subject of Native Americans for November. Aside from the fact that she didn't know the significance of the month, her answer was, "Native Americans have not contributed anything of value to our nation!" Was that a statement of ignorance or bigotry? How often do we hear of Europeans getting credit for "discoveries" of land, mountains, and lakes already well known by the native people who inhabited the area? Governmental, social, ...
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...is area, unless they grew up around Native Americans, wouldn't recognized an Indian if they saw one. The cliches they were taught in school abound. A friend of mine, who is from Omaha, was told, "You need to go back to your own country!" I suppose this person thought my friend was Oriental. My son, who has very dark hair and green-brown eyes, has been asked if he is part Chinese. He says that he is part Native American. The people's usual reaction is to insist that he is wrong!
Native People are either invisible, non-existent, misunderstood, or falsely represented in school, in media, in history, and in art. Progress has been exceeding slow. And that is a shame because the knowledge, the beauty, and the wisdom of a very old culture have a lot to offer, not just for those searching their heritage, but for anyone concerned with humanity as a whole.
In The White Man’s Indian, Robert Berkhoffer analyzes how Native Americans have maintained a negative stereotype because of Whites. As a matter of fact, this book examines the evolution of Native Americans throughout American history by explaining the origin of the Indian stereotype, the change from religious justification to scientific racism to a modern anthropological viewpoint of Native Americans, the White portrayal of Native Americans through art, and the policies enacted to keep Native Americans as Whites perceive them to be. In the hope that Native Americans will be able to overcome how Whites have portrayed them, Berkhoffer is presenting
Cowboys and Indians is the popular game played by many children played as a game of heroes and villains. Natives are villainized in American pop culture due to the history being told by educational institutions across the nation. There are not many positive roles popular in the media about Native Americans. Many roles are even played by white people. The costume representation is not accurate either. The disrespect towards them is especially seem on Halloween, when people dress as Natives in cute and sexy ways that they think represent their culture. War paint, beads, feathers and headdresses are ceremonial accessories that represent their culture, it not a fun costume to wear. Only if they are being criticized and ridiculed, like they have been in the past. Racism has also been a huge problem when it comes to using creative names for sports teams, like the Redskins for example. Redskin is a derogatory and offensive term towards Native Americans and many white people do not see it as wrong due to the privilege they inherited throughout history. The disrespect towards them has grown and today it seems that if Natives were not getting ridiculed, they are for the most part ignored. The concerns that King describes in his book explains how the past has wired Americans to believing everything they have once learned. White people
Lliu, K., and H. Zhang. "Self- and Counter-Representations of Native Americans: Stereotypical Images of and New Images by Native Americans in Popular Media." Ebscohost. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014
Stereotypes dictate a certain group in either a good or bad way, however more than not they give others a false interpretation of a group. They focus on one factor a certain group has and emphasize it drastically to the point that any other aspect of that group becomes lost. Media is one of the largest factors to but on blame for the misinterpretation of groups in society. In Ten Little Indians, there are many stereotypes of Native Americans in the short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. The story as a whole brings about stereotypes of how a Native American in general lives and what activities they partake in. By doing so the author, Alexie Sherman, shows that although stereotypes maybe true in certain situations, that stereotype is only
Throughout our country’s history there have been several groups who have fared less that great. Every minority group was treated unfairly, Indians were uprooted and had no control, I can’t imagine for a second being a soldier in combat, women struggled for basic rights, and many people fell victim to the changing ways of our economy, losing their jobs and fighting to survive. It seems wrong to pick one group over another, as if to say some people who were treated horribly or who faced mounting obstacles didn’t actually have it as bad as another group. But throughout all the years we’ve studied, one group that stood out to me who were dealt a horrible fate were Native Americans living in the west during the 19th century. When Americans began to expand westward, Indians unwillingly had their lives flipped upside down and changed drastically. After years of displacement, they were being forced to live in certain areas and follow certain rules, or risk their lives.
Considering historical evidence, the notion: Native –Americans was not the first inhabitant of America is a complete false. For centuries, history kept accurate and vivid accounts of the first set of people who domiciled the western hemisphere. Judging by those records, below are the first set of Native-American people who inhabited America before the arrival of another human race; the Iroquois: The Iroquois of Native Americans was one of the tribes that lived in America before other people came. Based on historical evidence, it is believed that the Native Americans came from Asia way back during the Ice Age through a land bridge of the Bering Strait. When the Europeans first set foot in America, there were about 10 million Native Americans
Native Americans have been living on American soil for quite a while now. They were here before the European colonists. They have been here and still continue to be present in the United States. However, the way the media represents Native Americans disallows the truth about Native Americans to be told. Only misinterpretations of Native Americans seem to prosper in the media. It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums. When they are represented, they are misrepresented. They are easily one of the most underrepresented cultures and people in American media. Native Americans shouldn’t be confined to a stereotype, should have a greater presence in the media, and shouldn’t be misrepresented when they are presented.
Indian nations like the Cheyenne Tribe, the Choctaw tribe and the Navajo tribe are often overlooked, though they have been quite influential in our history as a continuously growing world. Modern culture and society cares nothing for the start of the tribes, nor their modern state, their help to our beginning and continuance, or to the modern culture and society of those indian tribes.
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It is unbelievable how these stereotypes are taught to the American public at an incredibly young age. I am not proud to admit that I did not see a problem with my friends dressing up in stereotypical Native American costumes such as Pocahontas or Tiger Lily for Halloween when I was younger because I what I understood at the time – which is also what many people think today – is that Native Americans were a part of the past. Another example of Native American stereotypes in the media is Gwen Stefani’s “Looking Hot” music video (vimeo.com). In the video, Gwen Stefani is dressed up as a stereotypical Native American woman who is captured by cowboys. Her costume is provocative and she dances in a sexual manner throughout the video. This exhibits the many instances of sexualization of Native American women in media. To my understanding, what it means to be an indigenous woman is to not only debunk the stereotypes and face racism, but to also combat sexism while decolonizing
Many people do not realize that Indian people are around us everyday. They could be our neighbors, our bus driver, or anyone that we see on a daily bases. In Thomas King’s essay “You’re not the Indian I Had in Mind,” and his video “I’m not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he exemplifies the stereotype that many people make about Indians. King mentions in his essay that people always would say to him, “you’re not the Indian I had in mind,” because he did not look like the stereotypical Indian. Through King’s essay and video, I have been educated about this stereotype that I was unaware of. Since I now have an understanding of how unrealistic this stereotype is, I now can educate friends and family members on this issue.
On the other hand, studies show that the number of women working has dramatically changed since 1970. These studies show that back then, the workforce was made up with 37.97 percent of women. Comparing this percentage to the studies made from 2006 to 2010, the presence of women in the workplace has increased at least 10 percent. In the 1970’s, it was really rare to see a woman working as an accountant; today, 60 percent of those accountants are women. Also, they have kept their own “careers for women” because more than 90 percent of dental assistants, secretaries and other work fields are composed by
The automobile industry has brought the United States economic growth due to the impact that automobiles have made on society. There has been a plethora of jobs associated with the auto industry, including manufacturing, auto repairs, insurance, and the development of roads, sales, and auto parts to enhance vehicles. Cars, trucks, and SUVs’ have become a way of life for people and have made an additional economic impact by becoming the primary means of transportation for consumers to commute to and from work, vacations, and travel between destinations. Most family households live on a budget and they must make the decision of how much of their budget they can allocate to transportation costs.
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