Levatino 1

Grace Levatino

AP Lang

Cooper 1

05/19/19

Native Americans: A Battle Between Past and Present

I sat on the couch afraid to blink and miss some of the magic that Disney had me

enchanted by. I was mesmerized by the beauty and adventure of the girl on the screen with long

brown hair who seemed to be at ease with the world around her. As I look back on my childhood

self, I realize the ignorance that ​Pocahontas ​created​: ​the movie had me brainwashed to believe in

a stereotypical image of Native Americans and the seemingly friendly interactions that took

place during colonization. Little did I know the paradox that I was being sucked into, and it

wouldn’t be until I walked into my AP English class as a 17 year old that I would learn the truth.

After extensive summer assignments analyzing Columbus’s character, an entire research project

over the disturbing amount of Native women that experience sexual assault, and finally a trip to

the To’Hajiilee Reservation in New Mexico, I had an epiphany of the struggles that Native

Americans have encountered and are still facing. Many of the the traditions that have been held

sacred to Natives prior to European interactions have been completely lost. While it can be

argued that European interactions and influences have brought Native Americans many of the

technologies that they rely on daily, these interactions have ultimately led to a decimation of

culture such as the loss of language and religion. Furthermore, Native Americans experience a

viewpoint of being “less than human” that leads to an increase in discrimination in their

everyday lives.
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It is evident that Europeans have a large impact on the lifestyle that Native Americans

experience and pursue today, and their technological influences are present in their everyday

lives. As shown in the movie ​Smoke Signals​ that I viewed in my English class, the technology

that has been introduced to reservations is often times taken in with fascination. The movie

shows that for entertainment around the reservation, young people would find themselves driving

back and forth along dirt roads in their cars. These cars are shown as a way to avoid boredom

and demonstrate the ways that Native Americans embrace ways of transportation that are proof

of assimilation. When my class went to visit the To’Hajiilee Reservation School and interacted

with the students, I was very surprised by how similar their school environment was to my own.

One of the students I met named Max asked for my Snapchat along with a few of my friends

who had been talking to him. Teenagers at the To’Hajiilee are using the same social media apps

that are popular among my peers. Similarly after the video chat that took place in Ms. Whipple’s

room, I got about 10 follow requests on instagram from some of the students from the

To’Hajiilee of whom we were talking to. The presence of cell phones and all the capabilities that

come with them is an aspect that I have found many Native Americans rely on, as well as many

other technological innovations that were carried over from European culture. However, these

technological influences are outweighed by the negative impacts Europeans have had on Native

American culture.

The culture that Native Americans still have intact is a sign of the persistence that they

have shown throughout history. I was able to witness this persistence as well as the massive loss

of tradition that is taking place on reservations during my Southwest trip. As I floated down the

Rio Grande River in New Mexico, my guide, who lived on a nearby Pueblo, graciously answered
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the numerous questions my group had to ask. Out of curiosity, we asked her the tough question:

“How would you describe your tribe’s religion?” I looked up and saw that she was thinking very

hard about how to answer the question. Her response finally was that their religion was not

Christian, but not fully traditional; it was simply a blend as a result to the forced assimilation of

Native Americans into Christianity. It was evident that my guide had a tough time telling us

exactly what religion she practiced due to their practice of many of the common beliefs held in

Christianity, but also holding a sacred bond with their ancestors as well as the different methods

that they use to worship. The answer that my guide gave me helped me to realize the obvious

loss of traditional beliefs over time, and how personal this loss of culture is to many Native

Americans. Another example I saw of the decimation of Native American culture is through

reading ​The Education of Little Tree​. While I read this book it was very easy to believe the

entirety of the story and not question the morals of Native culture that were being taught.

However, after further looking into the story I found out that the book is not actually the personal

anecdote that it claims to be, and it is instead written by Forrest Carter, a former member of

several segregationist groups. This book has a strange ability to make the reader believe the

practices that are described in the book, such as one character’s description of “the Way” and

other religious beliefs, and not have enough knowledge on the topic that they generalize this to

all Native Americans. Native American culture has become so unfamiliar that it almost

impossible to point out the fallacies presented in the story, thus showing how their culture has

been appropriated and belittled over time.

The stereotypical view of Native Americans has often led to discrimination and injustices

in the marginalized world that is today. While doing research for my IBL project over sexual
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assault on Native American Reservations, I came across statistics that put many of the issues

Natives face into perspective. I found out that 80% of Native American women experience

sexual assault in their lifetime. This shocking statistic is equally the result of an unfair justice

system on reservations and the belief in white supremacy over Native culture. This point is

proven by the 1968 Federal Appellate court ruling that stated that an American Indian man who

commits rape on a Native women receives a lower penalty than if she was non-native. This

ruling has set a mindset that Native women are not worthy of being protected under the law, and

furthers the discrimination that they face. This research was not surprising to me after learning

extensively about the inhumane treatment of natives throughout history. Beginning with

colonizers taking land from Native people, followed by the Spanish Encomienda system that

forced labor upon the Natives, and later the Indian Removal Act of 1830 under Andrew Jackson

which relocated Natives from their homes, the trend of Native American discrimination has been

taking place since the dawn of European colonization, and has continued at a rapid pace.

Over the course of my Junior year I have been made more aware of the presence of

Native Americans in the society I live in. It is very easy to be sucked into believing the

importance of celebrating Columbus Day and the Disney image that is given to Native

Americans. Being a part of the Academy for Global Studies this year has helped me learn more

about the complexity of Native American cultures and the beauty of what is still preserved. After

attending the Native American Pow Wow in New Mexico, I was able to better see the

importance that community and tradition has when preserving the culture and language of Native

peoples, and the need to carry on the complexity of Native culture. European interactions and
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influences have ultimately led to a struggle in Native American societies to maintain their culture

and traditions.
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Works Cited

​ ell Publishing, 1976

Carter, Isa Earl. ​The Education of Little Tree. D

Diamond, James D. “ Practicing Indian Law In Federal, State, and Tribal Criminal Courts: an

Update About Recent Expansion of Criminal Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians” ​American

Bar, ​Criminal Justice, Winter 2018,

https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/criminal_justice_magazine/v

32/DIAMOND.authcheckdam.pdf. Accessed 21 February 2019.

Pocahontas. Directed by Mike Gabriel and Erica Goldberg. Written by Carl Binder and Susannah

Grant. Walt Disney Pictures, 1995.

Smoke Signals. Directed by Chris Eyre. Written by Sherman Alexie. Performance by Adam

Beach, Evan Adams, and Irene Bedard. Shadowcatcher Entertainment, 1998.