End The Mission Fairy Tale Summary

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End the Mission Fairy Tale "When a white army battles Indians and wins, it is called a great victory, but if they lose it is called a massacre," - Chiksika, Shawnee. Native American writer and poet, Deborah A. Miranda in her online articled “Lying to Children About the California Missions and the Indians” published in March 23, 2015 addresses the topic of the “Mission Unit” that 4th graders are required to take and claims that the false story that is taught should be put to an end. She supports her claim by first providing a brief story of the missionization of California, then by explaining what the Mission Project consists of, then by including book examples on how people are taught the false stereotype of Native Americans and finally by …show more content…

That the project is well-fixed in a way to make it look that that’s the only truth and disagreeing with it is impossible. She supports her point with a personal experience. She explains that on her visit with a friend to Mission Dolores in San Francisco she inadvertently walked into a video range of a mother filming her daughter’s 4th-grade project. She and her friend exchanged words of solidarity with the mother who responded with, “‘well, it is different actually being right here,’ Mom said excitedly. ‘To think about all those Indians and how they lived all that time ago, that’s kind of impressive.’” Miranda, not able to resist, replied with “‘and better yet,’ I beamed, ‘still live! Guess what? I’m a member of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation myself! Some of my ancestors lived in this mission. I’ve found their names in the Book of Baptism.’” The mother amused took a picture of her daughter with Miranda and wrote up her name to google her work. In the other hand, the daughter, Littler Virginia, was in shock and stared at Miranda as if someone dead had come back to life. She had never seen a Native American