Dance Me Outside Essay example

An emphasis on family is one of the central facets of Native American culture. There is a sense of community between Native American. Louise Erdrich, a Chippewa Indian herself, writes a gripping bildungsroman about a thirteen year old boy named Joe who experiences all forms of family on the Native American Reserve where he lives. He learns to deal with the challenges of a blood family, witnesses toxic family relationships, and experiences a family-like love from the members of the community. In her book, The Round House, Louise Erdrich depicts three definitions of the word family and shows how these relationships affect Joe’s development into an adult.

However, statistics have shown that the death penalty is applied racially and discriminatorily. Three out of five murder cases in which the victim was white and the defendant was black resulted in the defendant receiving a death penalty. Professor Katherine Beckett of the University of Washington reechoed this fact by stating that, jurors in Washington “were four and a half times more likely to impose a sentence of death when the defendant was black than they were in cases involving similarly situated white defendants.” So where is the justice that advocates of the death penalty are imploring? Moreover, the rich are more likely to escape a death penalty than the poor. The DPIC has reported that most defendants in capital cases cannot afford an attorney. Thus, if equal justice for all is anything to go by, then justice should be equally distributed regardless of race and economic

Racism is a driving force in David’s town specifically towards Native Americans. Uncle Frank is accused of raping young Indian girls who he is supposed treat medically, Wesley the town sheriff interviews Ollie Young

Ballet “Cry” simply showed to us real life of all African women. Every single American people know what kind of life they went through. Therefore it touched their heard. Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” presented wonderfully combined movements, technique and emotion. Ms. Donna Wood uses tragic face, a mask of sorrow. It is a face born to cry, but when she smiles it is with an innocent radiance, joyfulness that simple and lovely. She never tries consciously to please an audience. He was not only concentrating in movements and physical performance, but also using flowing white gown

Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within

Many were forced to evacuate to other regions within the country and endure the infamous Trail of Tears. While Native Americans are not forcibly removed from their homes anymore, this story shows a modern-day example of mistreatment or borders that Native Americans deal with. While the mother faced many different conflicts, externally and internally, she readily accepts the challenge and is not willing to step down. She displays the pride of the Blackfoot Indians and is not willing to let the government tell her who she is and let them define her. She sets an example for Native Americans, standing up against a government that has held them down for so long. That they should always have pride in who they are, and where they came

These examples are just two of the many examples Luana Ross gives in Inventing the Savage on how women of color (particularly Native Americans) are treated unfairly while in prison, but this unfair treatment occurs far before entering prison. Ross did an excellent job at portraying this in the first part of this book. Part one gives a historical outlook on how Native Americans became subject to the cruelty of the

She breaks all the images of American standard of beauty such as being physically pretty. She

She took on the life of a Comanche woman doing the hard work of setting up tepees and helping dry meat and hides. She also went on many buffalo hunts where she and many other women dried the meat and skins. Parker loved her husband and three children, two boys and one girl, her life in white civilization was forgotten as she now had deep admiration for her Indian life, and never wanted to leave. On one unfortunate day Parker and her daughter were captured and taken away to white settlements. She was given new clothes, a soft bed, and fed food that she sometimes rejected. Parker missed chewing on her carefully made pemmican and her soft antelope hide dress, and she couldn’t get used to the soft bed they had given her to sleep on. During her time in white settlement she was given news of both her husband and second son dieing which brought great sorrow upon her. Another great sorrow brought upon her was the death of her young daughter by a white man’s disease. Life to Cynthia Ann was worthless now that she had lost her beloved daughter. After her daughter's death Cynthia Ann moved to her brother-in-law's home where she died shortly after her arrival. Her first son had not yet forgotten about his beloved mother and went on a search for her. When he found her body he had it place in a new casket with his sister at her side where he was later buried beside them after his

"…[T]he American people no longer felt that the death penalty was suited to human dignity," they said. Most importantly, however, the attorneys argued that poor people and people of color routinely received the death penalty for capital offenses, at a rate vastly disproportionate to that of whites, particularly affluent whites, accused of similar offenses. This was a clear violation of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws,” (Supreme Court Cases: Furman v. Georgia).”

Ward voiced her opinion that peace and patience between the Cherokee tribe and settlers was the only way to guarantee survival. Despite Nancy Ward's wisdom, the people of her tribe strongly disagreed with her and warned her against the settlers westward expansion. The Cherokee people wanted to kill the prisoners from the war. As Beloved Woman, Nancy Ward had power over the fate of prisoners. Nancy Ward immediately left the council and saved Lydia Bean, a prisoner who some warriors had already tied to a stake to be burned. Bean stayed with Nancy Ward as her guest until it was safe for her to return home. Bean taught Nancy Ward how to make butter and cheese. This led Nancy Ward to buy her own cattle and introduce cows into Cherokee’s

Mary Jemison had a markedly different captivity experience. In the late 1750s, when Jemison was just fifteen years old, her family was captured by the Seneca Indians. Soon after they were captured, Jemison saw her family murdered and scalped. Like Rowlandson and Cabeza de Vaca, she was initially in fear for her life. She expected at any moment that she too would be scalped by her captors. At the same time, like Rowlandson, she was just as frightened by the idea of escape. She lamented that should she sneak away that she would be “alone and defenseless in the forest, surrounded by wild beasts that were ready to devour” her (Seaver).

On the other hand, The Indians gradually trust, love and respect Dunbar because of his honest and genuine nature. He falls in love with a white women who was raised by the Sioux after her whole family was killed by the Pawnee, another Indian tribe. Dunbar marries her, becomes a part of the tribe and settles down in their village. He lives a happy life with the Indians, but there is always something in the back of his mind, something that is always bothering him.

The quote, “Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another,” has a lots of meaning to me. It shows that you need to focus more of what your heart is telling you while dancing, oppose to focusing more on the choreography. Some dancers never learn this and end up giving up on dancing. Others, connect to it right off the bat. I was one of those people.

A community is a group of people that share a common or similar characteristic with each other. Some communities can also consist of people living together or practice worship. My essay will include the communities that I am part of which are my dance, school and church communities.