Jiawen Li                                                                                                                   

Professor Aisha Sidibe-Leyva

English 110

October 22, 2018

                                                                         American Indian

         “Superman and Me?” by Sherman Alexie once said“We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid.” this quotation means to be an Indian children you must be stupid, when a person sees you they will immediately know that you are stupid because in their mind Indian people should always be stupid. American Indian is the first group who lived in the American they are also been called native American. After English settlement comes to the American everything change. They are been forced to move to another place. Their culture, stable family life, and their land are been took away.People think America treat Indian people nicely by proving them basic need however, they are actually struggle in a society that their culture identity are been discriminated .

       Indian struggle a lot in American society by Non-Indian people especially, those who are white. In “Superman and me ?”Sherman Alexie state that, a non-Indian guy will bully an eleven years old boy. In his experience, it shows that people are been very disrespect to the Indian, that even an adult will bully an eleven years old boy. Been an adult they should be mature and protect the person that younger but in this case, even an adult will bully a boy which shows how Indian are been treated badly in the society. In the book“ Custer died for your sins” also state that “It was, perhaps, embarrassing to be rubbing shoulders with one who had not so long before been defined as a field animal.”This quote shows that in the society, Indian people are been seen as field animal. which shows us that Indian people are struggling in a society where people think they are animal.due to this quote it shows that how white people disrespect to the Indian by calling them an animal. This is very stressful because no one wants to be called as an animal well he or she is actually a human. This quote in Deloria’s book help to understand Another example of the struggle that Indian face is in Sherman Alexie’s writing, it states that “They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid.” this quote shows that his classmate wants him to stay quiet and be stupid because they were expected to be stupid. This is also a kind of struggle they have by can’t express their own feeling and by can’t be seen as smart because he is very intelligent than the other, but he can’t show his talent because people already think they should be stupid. In my own life, I have experienced the opposite but a similar way, every friend of my are very smart at math but I’m not my family around me always says been a Chinese people how can you be bad at math. Not only my family but also a lot of my friend in my math class when they first meet me, they think I should be very good at math because I’m Chinese .which make me feel a little upset because the expectation is higher for me.In Delordia’s book, people think they are animal so they are animal.Same Thing in Sherman’s writing people think India should all be stupid so they called them stupid. Both of this shows how Indian struggles in a society where their culture identity are been misunderstanded. Just because they live on a big land people think they are animals, just because of they are indian people think they should be stupid.No one want to deeply understand their culture.

      Indian culture is very beautiful a lot of my friend enjoy their culture by going to the museum and collection of their agriculture. However, this all been seen as animal stuff in white people’s eyes and they try to destroy it. According to Deloria, he states that “Indian children were kidnapped and forced into boarding schools thousands of miles from their homes to learn the white man’s ways.”This quote shows Indian kid is been forced by the white man to learn there about their life. Which make me think that American want the next generation of Indian to learn stuff about how to live like white people but not learning their own culture.Another quote state that “Indians were made to dress in these remnants so they could be civilized. Then, realizing the ridiculous picture presented by the reservation people, neighboring whites made fun of the Indian people for having the presumption to dress like whites.” this quote also shows how Indian been forced to live in a lifestyle how white people live.Both quotes show how they limit Indian culture and how white respond to them when they are forced to follow their lifestyle. This show that American want to gain full control of them by limiting their culture. In my history class it states that if a country wants to fully control one of the other group people, the best thing is to limit their culture make them follow the way they are living. Just like his quote in the book“The wild animal was made into a household pet whether or not he wanted to be ” This sentence uses metaphor to tell about their helplessness in this society.which is a very good image of how struggle they are.

    America Indian also are been treated unfairly because of their culture identity throughout American society. For example, in Deloria’s book it states that “Early Civil Rights bills nebulously state that other people shall have the same rights as “white people,” indicating there were “other people.” But Civil Rights bills passed during and after the Civil War systematically ex­cluded Indian people.”This shows that American want every to have the equal right but without Indian people. another resource from Discrimination in America also states that“Additionally, about a third of Native Americans believe they or someone in their family has been unfairly stopped or treated by the police (32%) or unfairly treated by the courts (32%) because they are Native American.”This data show how many percents of the Native American experience in been treated unfairly. Both quotes make us think that America is not treating native American as a part of them they try to separate them with America because of their culture identity is not been respected by the people .

     Many people think Indian are been treated nicely but in reality, Indian’s culture are been discriminated by the people, they live in a society where they struggle a lot. In Deloria’s book, it helps me understand what situation Indian people face before and it also helps me understand why the classmate of Sherman Alexie treat him in a bad way by showing how white people dislike Indian American and how white people calling them an animal just because they are living on a big field. American from to promise to give people their freedom and their right.It will be better for us to achieve this promise by respecting everyone’s culture and let everyone live in a way he or she wants to live.