Amtrak From Boston To New York Summary

On the “Amtrak from Boston to New York, talks about race, ethnicity and some history of Native American people. This poem is an angry poem as it talks about the view on America as it is today from a Native Americans point of view. The tone of this poem is very negative, hateful and angry to the point where he uses profanity to describe how he feels. The point of view is from the author who is Native American. He is riding the train and has conversations with another passenger who is an elderly white woman. This poem identifies the irony and the narrow-mindedness of white woman's remarks as she sees historic landmarks along the way during her trip. He is tired of hearing about these landmarks and people who don’t know the true history. The elderly

With the use of sarcasm, and expression it is about the struggle of cultural difference and beliefs. Native American people traditionally have respect for differences among people and staying out of others business and expressing feelings and thoughts only when asked. Returning this courtesy is expected as an expression of mutual respect. The comments this elderly woman tells him about the ages of some buildings frustrate the author because he knows that Native American people have architecture that is older than the “corners of the house that sits meseumed on the hill”. In the poem an old white woman on the train is pointing out Walden Ponds and the author comments “I don’t’ have a cruel enough heart to breaks her own by telling her there are five Walden Ponds on my little reservation out

The author is explaining that everyone needs to know the true history of America not just by what is being told in history classes because it does not tell the real truth of the struggles and atrocities that Native Americans endured. Example, The Trail of Tears, the forced relocations of five tribes from the southeast of the United States. There was 100,000 Native people who had to cross nine states more than 5,000 miles on foot. There was more than 15,000 men, women, children and elderly that died. All of this due to the gold rush and the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by the U.S government. The Battle of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, December 1890. The U.S Calvary went into the camps to disarm the Native people. While trying to disarm on Native man who was in ceremony the gun he had wen off and that is when the U. S Calvary started shooting all the Natives in the camp. Most of the people in the camp were unarmed. The U.S Calvary killed more than 300 men, women, children and elderly. 20 soldiers were give the Medal of Honor for this atrocity. In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians called on the U.S government to rescind the medals. The list goes on and till this day atrocities like this occur to Native people all over the