Essay on Race in Silko's Ceremony

In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will

Thomas King wrote the short story “A Seat in the Garden,” to highlight issues of racism against First Nations people. Joe Hovaugh is clearly racist; however, the responses of the other characters illustrate deeper meaning. While readers may think Red is also racist, he does not hold the same negative perspective towards First Nations people as Joe. The three Indians, Red, and the big Indian all successfully challenge Joe’s perception, lack of knowledge, and his preconceived stereotypes.

This sentiment of racial inferiority by the white American was further demonstrated by their treatment of Native American society. As European settlements continued to expand across the continent, Indians were forcibly removed from their land to make room for the “more civilized” white American. The Native American population was practically eradicated with only a handful of survivors remaining on small, segregated reservations in Oklahoma. The genocide of their people-- and their culture-- left most Native Americans with extreme resentment towards the white man. Ironically, just as the white man saw the Native American people as uncivilized savages, Native Americans saw firsthand how barbaric the white man actually was. This further supports the theory that race is not a physical characteristic, but something that is constructed by different societies to establish each ones perception of how the other is viewed or perceived. In Mary C. Waters “Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity,” she explains this theory in the

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.

There are also social issues that are a concern for many Native Americans. These issues can be either a result of or a cause of alcoholism. A job, or the lack of them, is one of the main concerns. Dr. Spillane confirms, “For many reservation-dwelling American Indians, access to standard life reinforces is…not

In Michael Dorris’s essay “Crazy Horse Malt Liquor”, he is trying to raise awareness of Native Americans stereotypes. The article begins by stating that Americans honor Indians in odd ways, and continues by saying Native Americans have become popular in culture. Dorris then continues by explaining how the Hornell Brewing Company use the imagery of Crazy Horse, a native leader, to sell their brand of liquor. Next Dorris speaks about the modern day social illness that the Native American population suffers. Dorris talks about how the U.S. government took the land of the Native then speaks about how people play warrior and still continue these stereotypes.

Erasure. Imagine having almost every detail of your life – your beliefs, your family, your culture, and success – erased by those only focused on their own personal gain. That is what happened to Native Americans over the course of American history. Due to the settler colonialism that laid the foundation of our nation, many Native Americans became the victims of horrific abuse and discrimination. As “whiteness” became the ideal in society, Native Americans lost their voices and the ability to stand up for themselves. Through her memoir, Bad Indians, Deborah Miranda reveals the truth of the horrific pasts of California Native Americans, and gives her ancestors’ stories a chance to finally be heard. In the section “Old News”, Deborah Miranda writes poems from the “white man’s” perspective to show the violent racism committed against Native Americans, as well as the indifference of whites to this violence.

The newly acquired ideas were implemented in various Native American programs to improve the mental/physical health of all Native Americans. Most programs, however, base their ongoing work on four key concepts. . (Beal et al 2005) They are analyzing how alcohol and drugs affect the immediate family unit as well as how it affects relatives and friends physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What, if any of these affects are being carried down from one generation to another. Does alcohol set off any of the other affects such as drug abuse, mental illness et al? Finally, coming to the carefully scrutinized observation that alcoholism often co-exists in Indian communities with certain definite other problems like depression, self-hate, cultural shame, and stress-related acting out or inappropriate misconduct. (NADC 2011)These four main ideas are still used today to further identify and improve mental health conditions among the Native Americans.

Before the arrival of the European, Indian have already inhabited the places living by hunting animals and growing crops, having their own languages and cultures their land have been rooted there for generation after generation. But the Europeans, have taken those away from them, killing countless Indian with their diseases, and driving them out of their house, trying to convert them into Christian, viewing them as savage animal condemned them into an endless inexpressible sufferings. The North American Indians traditions and cultural been burn down in a matter of time, their traditions were obscured, and the chain of their recollections broken the moment when the European set foot on the New World. As the European tyranny increasing Indian habits started to change their becoming restless, and when they were pushes to their limited the Indian become more warlike, and more barbarous desperately fighting in order to earn some respect from the European. After American become independent the problem with Indian was still an issues, many war between Indian and the American has happen. More and more Indian having to move westward into the Louisiana territories continues losing their home and their lifestyles, they have also tried to bring this issues to court but was turn down, not only the Indian trying to adapted to the new environment, by creating their

The environmental and social factors that Pine Ridge residents must deal with only contribute in this epidemic within their community. Cultural influences such as the decline of Native American culture could be a factor within the oppressed members of the Pine Ridge community. In addition, Cultural clashes that still exist between the dominant group and the oppressed group can cause such things as depression and low self-esteem within that cultural society. Jones-Saumty and et al ( ) state in their article Psychological Factors Of Familial Alcoholism in American Indians and Caucasians that "Indians with a familial history of alcoholism reported significantly more of the following drinking behaviors than did the familial Caucasian group: Drinking for mental benefits, obsessive-compulsive drinking, post-drinking guilt, drinking to change mood, loss of control, withdrawal (DTs), and nonalcoholic drug use" (p.786). Many of these reasons for drinking could easily be influenced by the environmental factors that play a part in this serious social issue on the reservation, which would include poverty, unemployment, poor education, and drug addiction. These directly correlate with alcoholism within certain groups or cultures, and this seems to be very evident on Pine Ridge. The reservation has an estimated population of roughly 40,000 and 35% of the

Alcoholism is the leading health and social problem of American Indians than any other race. Native Americans who end up leaving the reservation to pursue education or employment opportunities express a high degree of discomfort and anxiety as a result of “feeling caught in two worlds.” By leaving the reservation they are abandoning their traditions, however temporarily, and suffering a sense of personal loss and insecurity. In entering a new world, this sense of loss and insecurity is heightened and becomes exacerbated, particularly if they do not experience success or acceptance in the new environment (Major, A.K. A 2003). However, if success and acceptance in the new world occurs, these individuals will still suffer the pangs of abandonment since they can never fully return to the reservation. In some cases, forced assimilation has extinguished the culture from many Indians as their grandparents and parents were forced to abandon the old ways in order to become more American. Thomas Jefferson, as well as many others believed that Native Americans can be just as ‘White’ Americans. In an attempt to increase local employment opportunities, many tribes have turned to gambling casinos and the collateral business which support these ventures. Illegal activities would certainly increase among Indians because of the simple fact that they need to survive by any means necessary. This can all

Lindsay’s statement illustrates how racial formation greatly influenced the actions and mindset of the European-Americans and its effects on Native Americans. It reveals how disillusioned European-Americans were because of their belief of racial superiority and that it caused them to turn a blind-eye to the possibilities of peaceful coexistence with the Native people. The portrayal of Native Americans as savages shows how European-Americans used this to prove themselves as a higher race in the social hierarchy and to justify their entitlement to the land and resources that waited for them in the west.

Live Indians were seen as problematic because they refused to die out and they were not wanted in society (61).

As more Americans arrived there was less room for those that didn’t conform. Indians were expected to change overnight, to forget their old ways and make themselves over in the image

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.