Native Americans As A Static Character

Racism towards Native American tribes and individuals have been found throughout mainstream media. From nationally broadcasted sports games to popular Hollywood movies, Native Americans people have been stereotyped and/or culturally appropriated. Many examples of these stereotypes are blatant and have been portrayed for in the media for decades.

Native Americans were soon portrayed as savage animals because of the lack of understanding of the Settlers. The culture of the Native Americans was so different from the culture of the English that the English would soon look at the natives as inferior. The Native Americans were deemed hostile, bestial, cursed by God, primitive beings with inferior knowledge and language. Also the English commonly thought of them as crafty, brutal, loathsome, cannibalistic and promiscuous. These negative images of the Native Americans grew from stories passed from settler to settler which were commonly misinterpretations with very little truth. The English have developed a long history of moving in to land foreign to there’s and exploiting the local people for their prosperity. The dealings between English and the Native Americans would prove to be no different from England’s previous dealings foreign lands.

Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result.

THESIS STATEMENT: The Native Americans were historically doomed because of the Europeans inability to accept elements of Native American culture that they felt were savage, the natives inability to acknowledge the Europeans threat to their lifestyle and land, and the far superior European army used to defeat Indian tribes.

Stereotypes have been around since the start of humankind. They have crossed all people and all time frames, but appear to target and negatively impact the minority. In the history of America, Native Americans have been stereotyped into a few images. These images to the majority of the public, give a glimpse of what a Native American is. The reality is; however, that those images do not represent all tribes and all aspects of the Native American culture. Instead, society has mashed together what they believe Native Americans should be and who they are. This problem of stereotyping has not gone away, and will not go away until people choose to be educated on the matter. The fact is that there are many individuals who believe these stereotypes and do not know any differently. There has been many common stereotypes over the years. Hollywood has a played a major role in influencing these thoughts about Natives. There are stereotypes that have withstood time and are still found in today’s world. Lastly, Natives are still dealing with effects of being seen as something they are not. Throughout history, Native Americans have been negatively impacted by stereotyping and prejudice, and are still impacted by this today.

Associated with wearing skins, living in teepees, and riding horses Native Americans are viewed as ‘country’ and lack of knowledge. Shown as dumb and have a lack of formal education, most of them live in poverty invested areas. Because of this, they feel that “one representation is better than no representation.” When a group feels underrepresented their psychological relevance and has a toil on the overall ethnic group and can make a difference in lives. Inaccurate and negative representations of Native Americans can be detrimental to the overall perception to the race in general.

Historically, relationships between European colonists and Native American were extremely complex and complicated. Due to the violent European colonization of America, Native Americans became susceptible to oppressions and extinction for over five hundred years (Poupart, 2003). European colonists’ central focus were directed towards acquiring maximum profits by exploiting Native American’s vast resources and utilizing their physical performance toward enslavement. This created devastation among Native American families, movement of various fatal diseases, and destruction of the traditional lifestyle of Native Americans (Starkey, 1998). The elimination of Native American culture came with strong opposition and resistance through civil organizations, religious movements, and conflict revolutions.

When the Europeans first came to the America, they assumed that they would be welcomed and be looked up to because of the gifts and trade they brought over. However, they couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the Natives feared their foreign weaponry, technology, and animals. Both groups, although in different circumstances, had misconceptions of each other that altered the views the Europeans and the Natives had of each other.

The constructive portrayals of Native Americans exist in the same way as the negatives and can be equally as damaging. Positive tropes tend to set a higher standard for a race and can lead to vacuous

Native American people have a unique struggle in society. This stems from cultural epidemics like drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty, obesity, and rampant suicide, but also systemic racism and cultural lag (Flores 1999; Greenfield, Cocking 2014; Sarche, Spicer 2008;). This is not a critique of culture, just an observation of the condition of the families I have helped serve over the course of this internship. To be “Native” carries with it a slew of stereotypical representations (Gay 2002; Mihesuah 2009). Stereotypes do not represent reality, but they do affect one’s social standing (Gay 2002). More than that, stereotypes alter how individuals view themselves, and limit their ability to become something other than the stereotype (Gay 2002; Mihesuah 2009). And the cycle goes on and on. If Native American children grow up in a closed network, such as a reservation, the reality is brutal (Mihesuah 2009). Drug abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and the like are everywhere. These things that seem so horrible and extraordinary are commonplace and normalized. That doesn’t mean that all Native Americans are addicts or alcoholics—they aren’t, it’s just the prevailing narrative (Mihesuah 2009). Natives are exposed to a very euro-centric cultural perspective of Native Americans, and this is usually in the historical sense (Mihesuah 2009). The dominant culture tells Native children that they exist only in the past, and teaches them that they have limited avenues (Mihesuah 2009;

For generations the Native Americans were forcefully removed from their lands, enslaved and murdered. The harsh treatment of Native Americans by both the Europeans and the Americans led to a change in how the native people acted and to their subsequent distrust of the white races.

Until fairly recently the popular culture of American literature and film did not attempt to study the true representations of Indians in North America. Instead they chose to concentrate on the romanticized/savage version of Native people: which is an idealistic view of a Native with long, beautiful flowing hair riding on a horse obsessed with chanting and praying to the savageness of a rowdy, wild Native causing unnecessary mayhem to the white people. This portrayal of Native people in mass media had led to the stereotyping of Natives, which in turn had ricocheted into real life. Not only do non-natives succumb to these ideals, but Natives do as well.

I did not know anything about this part of the US history either and it is interesting how all these things happen to the American Indians back then. It still haves a big impact in today’s society They are still fighting for their rights, fighting for land that is sacred for them. There is a lot of money saved on that federal account but like you said each one would get about ten thousand which is nothing compared to what the land is worth to them.

Sky is eight years old, we have had him since he was three weeks old, he was my baby brother. Sky was birthed and then left at the hospital with many complications, because he has fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) caused from his birth mom drinking while pregnant with him. We were able to adopt him at the age of 1. Sky is Native American, he has dark brown hair and eyes, he is very small for his age because of FAS. Other than his small stature he looks just like any other kid.

We are an ignorant people. Considering that most of our knowledge about Native Americans is based on the “success of our American hero Christopher Columbus” it is clear why. History has painted it as though Native Americans are savages who have no sense of morality and are wild. So, more often than not, we either have this incorrect assumption or know generally nothing at all. Even though most of our information about Native Americans is based upon stereotypes we act as though that information is cut and clear. This is done without considering their experiences and the inaccuracies of our so-called knowledge. To combat these ignorance writers have taken it upon themselves to showcase the clear lies that history portrays and to display the experiences of Native Americans of the past and the present. This is done using things like satire, their personal experiences, and more.