Discrimination Against Native Americans

Colonization, partial liberation, and discrimination are three terms commonly understood by Native Americans living in postcolonial America. From the first contact with Native Americans, Europeans failed to attempt to appreciate and understand native cultures because they were different and attempted to eradicate them. However, once the Europeans gained some perspective and realized their inhumane, immoral actions, they attempted to erase all traces of what they had done and attempted to partially re-integrate a misunderstood culture for its most well known parts. The misunderstanding between the Native Americans and Europeans caused a rift in between the real culture of the Native Americans and the perceptions of it as well as pain on the part of the natives exchange for some sort of gain by the whites. The poems “The Real Indian Leans Against” and “A New Story” illustrates, respectively, the positive and negative effects on the Americans and Indians.
The poem “A New Story” showcases the mistreatment of Indians in post-colonial …show more content…
There is a lack of punctuation, especially, when the speaker is listing out the items in the store: “[one] has a headdress from hell / … / all around are plastic inflatable palm trees / grinning skulls ”(10-14). This portrays the speaker's frustration with the small appearances of her “culture” within the shop next to the other trinkets. This completely devalues Native American culture by selling it with worthless possessions. The real Indian is wearing “jeans” whereas, the fake Indian is all ready for the pow wow in beaded attire and full feathered headdress (6). This is how many Americans represent minority cultures. There is no possible way, to the Americans, that these minorities could look anything like them or assimilate into the dominant culture. They must be considered the “other” to exist within American