Each culture is perceived differently by others because of what they see, hear, or even read in books. Mexican workers in America can be viewed as poor people who are stealing “our” jobs and do not speak English. African Americans can be viewed as bad people who will eventually end up in jail. These are two great examples of stereotypes that are currently occuring in America, which are completely wrong. There are plenty of people of Mexican heritage that are engineers who speak English and are just normal American citizens. There are African Americans who are doctors and police officers that help communities everyday. Some of the worst stereotypes are about Native American people. In movies, Native Americans can be portrayed as barbaric people
…show more content…
Mihesuah does a very nice job giving us different definitions of stereotypes about the Indian people. One definition of a stereotype that Mihesuah explains in the text is that people have “definite expectations of what Indians should look like” (Mihesuah, 2004, p. 13). Today, people expect Indians men to look tall and muscular and for Indian women to have braided long black hair. Misinformation and the lack of education on Indian culture and history makes it possible for stereotypes to thrive in American culture today (p. 16). Movies ignore the reality and create an image of the Indigenous people. The example that Mihesuah uses is Pocahontas. The movie portrayed Pocahontas as a “heroine absurdly sings with forest animals, is clothed provocatively and in true Disney fashion, is blessed with a Barbie doll figure” (p.14). In reality, Pocahontas was 12 years old when she met John Smith and she never actually married him. Stereotypes create a new image for Indian people but in reality, it is nothing close to what the Indigenous people are actually …show more content…
A lot of it has to do with how I was taught in school, just as Mihesuah explains on pages 16 through 18. They taught me in Elementary about Pilgrims and Indians and later about the expeditions West which was devastating for the Indian people. I have always viewed Indians as people who ride horse in the Great Plains hunting Buffalo. One of my first experiences that I can remember with Native Americans was in Third Grade when my family went to Crazy Horse in South Dakota. I remember seeing a Native American in traditional clothing and being scared because in the movies they scalped white men and I was a white man. I have not thought about that memory until I started reading this book and I realize now just how foolish I was. I believed Hollywood’s view of Native Americans which is far from reality. I realize now that we need to respect all of the Nations of the Indigenous Peoples and the history of each by stopping the stereotypes in Hollywood and in school. I have always viewed myself as a respectable person and I am disappointed that I have held almost all of the stereotypes described in the
Mihesuah does a very nice job giving us different definitions of stereotypes about the Indian people. One definition of a stereotype that Mihesuah explains in the text is that people have “definite expectations of what Indians should look like” (Mihesuah, 2004, p. 13). Today, people expect Indians men to look tall and muscular and for Indian women to have braided long black hair. Misinformation and the lack of education on Indian culture and history makes it possible for stereotypes to thrive in American culture today (p. 16). Movies ignore the reality and create an image of the Indigenous people. The example that Mihesuah uses is Pocahontas. The movie portrayed Pocahontas as a “heroine absurdly sings with forest animals, is clothed provocatively and in true Disney fashion, is blessed with a Barbie doll figure” (p.14). In reality, Pocahontas was 12 years old when she met John Smith and she never actually married him. Stereotypes create a new image for Indian people but in reality, it is nothing close to what the Indigenous people are actually …show more content…
A lot of it has to do with how I was taught in school, just as Mihesuah explains on pages 16 through 18. They taught me in Elementary about Pilgrims and Indians and later about the expeditions West which was devastating for the Indian people. I have always viewed Indians as people who ride horse in the Great Plains hunting Buffalo. One of my first experiences that I can remember with Native Americans was in Third Grade when my family went to Crazy Horse in South Dakota. I remember seeing a Native American in traditional clothing and being scared because in the movies they scalped white men and I was a white man. I have not thought about that memory until I started reading this book and I realize now just how foolish I was. I believed Hollywood’s view of Native Americans which is far from reality. I realize now that we need to respect all of the Nations of the Indigenous Peoples and the history of each by stopping the stereotypes in Hollywood and in school. I have always viewed myself as a respectable person and I am disappointed that I have held almost all of the stereotypes described in the