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

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When examining "I’m not the Indian you had in mind" by Thomas King through a Critical Race Theory perspective, it clarifies the lens that racism is strongly ingrained into society and is impacting the Indigenous people more greatly than is known by the majority of society. These unconscious biases and ideas influence society, by feeding one’s imagination by using the media which represses the Indigenous until their social status has no power in its name. King creates an anaphora, which means a repetition of a phrase throughout the poem, saying “I’m not the Indian you had in mind” strongly reminding the reader about the prejudice the Indigenous people face on a daily basis. The end of the sentence “you had in mind” suggests to the reader that a non-indigenous person already has an opinion of how the Indigenous person is theoretically believed to be. The stereotypes that portray the Indigenous include “the bear-greased hair, the pungent smell, the piercing eye, the startling yell” and an overall barbaric appearance that are preconceptions people think of. This contrasts with some of the high-level careers they hold, …show more content…

Leading them to the consequences they now face, having them live under a watchful “gaze,” which shows the oppression against them. Society controls the Indigenous peoples by bending their rights, limiting their resources, and not respecting the practices ensuring that this minority group is not able to reach their full potential of living how generations before losing their rights and freedoms, with their current and past generations scarred by the reformation camps sent to assimilate the culture. When losing a culture and losing freedom over their lives, this social standing further falls and the prejudice gets worse through people’s entitled feelings and lack of

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