I M Not The Indian You Had In Mind, By Thomas King

Noah Riedel Mr. West English First Peoples 12 15 March 2024 The Importance of Indigenous Literature “Raised on cowboys and Indians, we cheered for the cowboys, never realising we were the Indians,” says writer and director Neil Diamond in his documentary, Reel Injun. Diamond’s statement captures the stark juxtaposition of a truthful portrayal versus a misrepresentation of Indigenous peoples within texts. Literature is an important part of the preservation of culture. In Thomas King’s poem, “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he articulates that stereotypes within texts can alter the perceptions of the individual and cause significant damage. He implies that proper representation would improve such negative connotations. King’s point is further

Despite this motif, some culturally accurate portrayals of Indigenous people exist - including the 2001 Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Neil Diamond describes this as the “most Native” movie ever made; it's an authentic, properly portrayed Inuit story made by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people. In the film, the lead actor runs across the arctic ice fully nude. This is an accurate representation of the traditional Inuit story, which depicts a similar scene. While this was a difficult scene to film, its inclusion was necessary to ensure that the authentic story was accurately portrayed. In Justice’s essay he contends that “literature as a category is about what's important to a culture, the stories that are privileged and honoured.” In other words, he is explaining the importance of texts and their ability to preserve honoured stories such as the one illustrated in Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. The authenticity of the movie was imperative to protecting the original privileged story. Accurate representation, especially in film, is also crucial to the preservation of endangered languages. Historically, Indigenous languages were inaccurately portrayed in

This, in turn, prevents the loss of words or associated meaning to Native North American languages with a declining number of speakers. Additionally, using languages correctly is important for the precise portrayal of indigenous peoples. Proper representation of Native North American people in texts is vital in order to prevent the creation of incorrect and or negative stereotypes. Thomas King, in his poem “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind” writes, I'm not the Indian you had in mind I've known him, oh I've known him well The bear greased hair, The pungent smell The piercing eye The startling yell Thank God he's the friendly kind But I'm not the Indian you had in mind (King 3) The stereotypes listed in the verse are mostly derived from movies and television shows with misrepresented depictions of Indigenous people. In the poem, King is saying that despite the image that most people envision when they think of an Indigenous person, the majority of them do not line up with these