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Is The Theme Of From Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

669 Words3 Pages

All throughout the movie Crash, we can follow the lives of numerous characters who are all from very different backgrounds. Each of their stories gives us insight into how their heritage and upbringing has shaped and affected them, as well as how it influences the way they interact with the world around them. In
“From Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life”, David Treuer delves into the sordid past of the American Indians and the difficulties they have faced at the hands of both the American settlers and our government. Both Crash and “From Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life” provide many examples of George M. Frederickson’s four models of American ethnic relations; ethnic hierarchy, one-way
assimilation, …show more content…

He writes, “The idea of the boarding schools was to forcibly break the family bonds that, in the opinion of many, kept Indians from becoming civilized and part of the American public” (RRACCCTW page
658). The children were stripped of their language, customs, and culture. Their hair was cut and their names were changed. Essentially, they were stripped of their identities. This is a clear example of one-way assimilation, which is when certain ethnic groups are forced to give up their culture and customs in order to fit in with society. In order for them to be accepted, they were required to give up their culture and heritage
On the other hand, the “blood quantum” rule is also an example of ethnic hierarchy. This is when one or more groups are considered either superior or inferior to the other based on race. In this instance, the

Laugisch 2
Tawny Laugisch
Sha-shonda …show more content…

An example of this is in the movie Crash when Cameron tells Christine after their encounter with the police that she needs to find out what it is really like to be black. Because they both grew up rather affluently, they struggled with the authenticity of identifying as truly black. The lighter their skin tone and the less prejudice they had to face while growing up somehow made them less legitimate members of the black community.
The one-way assimilation model also appears in the movie Crash. In the scene where Farhad tried to buy a gun with his daughter, the store owner gets frustrated when he has trouble communicating with Fahrad due to his limited English skills. Because Fahrad did not seem to fully integrate and retained his language, he was not accepted as an American citizen. There is also an example of this in the last scene of the movie where Shaniqua has gotten into an accident in Chinatown. Although she, as a black woman, has experienced discrimination herself, she herself is not immune to racial prejudice. She proceeds to tell the driver that she won’t talk to them until they learn to “speak

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