Part-Time Indian Racism Quotes

Racism is like a disease, it spreads everywhere and no one can stop this from happening. This happens because every country has their own description of what is normal and what is not and people are often treated differently because of their race or gender. In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie uses the novel’s protagonist, Junior, to show that racism often changes how people think about each other. In the novel Junior was considered an outsider for his indigenous background, because of this he was often bullied by other white kids, had a lower self esteem and had a terrible education because the teachers would treat him differently just because he was indigenous. Throughout the novel, Alexie’s character, Junior,

The readers learns that there is a lot of students in Rearden that are racist and are bullying kids that are not white, this quotation proves how,” ‘Hey, Chief’, Roger said. ‘You want to hear a joke?’ ‘Sure,’ [Junior] said. ‘Did you know that Indians are living proof that niggers fuck buffalo?’” (Alexie 64). By looking at this quotation you can tell that Roger is bullying Junior and trying to make himself look superior, often people achieve this feeling by putting down other people and making them feel like inferior. Moreover, no matter what, "[Junior] was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak [Junior] appeared to be, [Junior] was still a potential killer. So mostly they called [Junior] names. Lots of names. White people often thinks that all Indians are killers and since Junior is Indian, they are afraid that they are going to get killed so they bully him in different ways, like calling him names. Racism is a real issue across the world and Alexie uses Junior to show us that racism has very terrible outcomes, and bullying being one of

For example, Junior's family is very poor and,"It sucks to be poor, and it sucks to feel that you somehow deserve to be poor. You start believing that you're poor because you're stupid and ugly. And then you start believing that you're stupid and ugly because you're Indian. And because you're Indian you start believing you're destined to be poor. It's an ugly circle and there's nothing you can do about it." (Alexie 53) Indians are known to be poor, so often white people uses that as a joke to insult Indians, and of course, this leads to the thought of just because you're Indian you deserve to be poor. And because of this thought, no Indian actually try to pursue a better future because they think that they don't have the ability to do so. Another instance where Junior thinks that"reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. [They] don't get those chances. Or choices. [They’re] just poor. That's all [they] are." (Alexie 52) People all across the world are saying that Indians are poor and they have no future but it is the Indians who chooses to believe what other people says. The issue here is that Indians are following this idea of all Indians are poor, they don't realize that hope and dreams can’t get crushed, it's the fact that they don't