The Columbus-Indigenous Debate
Hello! First of all, I would like to thank you deeply for actually taking the time to come to my blog and deciding to read it. In this blog, I will be discussing certain topics and stories that we have discussed in Mrs. Nagi's AP English 11 class. I hope you enjoy!
This week's entry entails information about the lives of Native Americans as well as the celebration of the infamous Columbus Day (More on that "infamous" part later). In the beginning of the week we were given a story written by Sherman Alexie that detailed what it was like while growing up as a Native American boy. The story begins with Alexie in the 1st grade and progresses all the way until he graduates from high school. Throughout his schooling, Alexie deals with several accounts of racism, bullying, and just constant hardship overall. For example, after spelling all the of the words correct on a spelling test in second grade, the teacher "Crumpled up the paper and made him eat it" (Alexie 106). She then proceeded to call him, "indian, indian, indian" (Alexie). The teacher was clearly showing a sign of disrespect and racism by calling him Indian over and over as well as the fact that she punished him for acing a test. Adding on, we were also assigned to read about the debate over continuing to celebrate Columbus Day or replace it with Indigenous Day? The debate sparked after people began to realize that Christoper Columbus was really not all that he was cracked up to be (Back to that "infamous" part) and that Native Americans were not being recognized enough. Some argue that there needs to be an Indigenous Day because of the lack of knowledge of Native Americans while many Italian-Americans believe that Columbus Day should continue to be celebrated because it is an important part of their heritage.
This week's entry entails information about the lives of Native Americans as well as the celebration of the infamous Columbus Day (More on that "infamous" part later). In the beginning of the week we were given a story written by Sherman Alexie that detailed what it was like while growing up as a Native American boy. The story begins with Alexie in the 1st grade and progresses all the way until he graduates from high school. Throughout his schooling, Alexie deals with several accounts of racism, bullying, and just constant hardship overall. For example, after spelling all the of the words correct on a spelling test in second grade, the teacher "Crumpled up the paper and made him eat it" (Alexie 106). She then proceeded to call him, "indian, indian, indian" (Alexie). The teacher was clearly showing a sign of disrespect and racism by calling him Indian over and over as well as the fact that she punished him for acing a test. Adding on, we were also assigned to read about the debate over continuing to celebrate Columbus Day or replace it with Indigenous Day? The debate sparked after people began to realize that Christoper Columbus was really not all that he was cracked up to be (Back to that "infamous" part) and that Native Americans were not being recognized enough. Some argue that there needs to be an Indigenous Day because of the lack of knowledge of Native Americans while many Italian-Americans believe that Columbus Day should continue to be celebrated because it is an important part of their heritage.
And that's when it really hit me! Native Americans are REALLY underrepresented in today's society. To be a 100% honest, I actually began to feel a bit guilty myself because I realized that I hadn't given much about Native American culture either. When you really think about it, it is downright sad to think that people know so little about Native culture and that most people are not trying to know too much more about it. So I ask you, my fellow readers, how do you feel about the current state of people's knowledge of Native American culture? Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Comments
Post a Comment