Native Americans Then And Now Analysis

Native Americans; Then and Now In the Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a young boy named Junior faces many struggles in life as a result of his Native American background. Before America was actually known as America, it was inhabited by the Native Americans. However, the Spaniards came to America and took control of their land. By understanding the information given in this novel, we can link it to the history of Native Americans and how modern day Native Americans’ lives are an outcome of previous colonization. By doing this, we can learn how Native American schooling is affected, alcoholism is common, and sports mascots have become offensive. To begin, Native American schooling is much different than

Sports team names such as the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins are extremely offensive to Native Americans, even though many people don’t realize it. In the novel, the reservation school is called the Wellpinit Redskins which was likely named by white people, regardless of how offensive it is. Adding on to that, Junior’s new, predominantly white school also has an offensive mascot: the Reardan Indians. According to John TH, a Native American equality activist, “Mainstream America just doesn’t get it. Announcers on TV regularly say out loud the word ‘red****ns’ as if it is nothing, when in fact, the word is every bit as toxic to us as n****r is to African Americans.” If this is the really the case, then why do we still use these offensive team mascots? In conclusion, the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, shows many cultural links to other Native American societies, and also shows some of the outcomes of post colonization. We see this through the modern Native American schooling, the alcoholism of Native Americans, and the offensive Native American sports mascots. It is important to understand the constant mistreatment of Native Americans and how much it can affect