The rabbit hunt is a crucial part of maintaining Ha-lem, the Taos practice of balance and symbiosis between the individual, the community, and the environment (Lujan 32). However, due to the visitors’ distaste, the town of Taos shunts the practice by “[pouring] poison pellets near the big hotels and houses because they wanted no blood thirsty Savages around when [were] in abundance, or because they wanted to control everything” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 59). As Whitt says, the tourists must believe in the flat, tame, docile Native stereotype reminiscent of an outdated and romanticized Southwest as “the nostalgia is integral to the cultivation of self deception” (145). When this deception can no longer occur because the Native Americans
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At the very least, despite the “positive experiences many Indians had in military service... they also recorded the disappointment some veterans felt after they returned to the United States and found their life situation remaining pretty much the same as before they left” (Worthington 254). Despite their status as honored veterans, Native soldiers found they had no more political sway or respect than before they had left, just a title that seemed to conflate to pomp and empty promises. To that end, “they returned to America to find that the ideals and values they fought for again did not apply to them” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 254). They received insufficient aid to support themselves and their community, particularly in the face of newfound post traumatic stress disorder as a result of violent combat. LaDuke quotes Billy Walkabout, a distinguished Vietnam veteran, describing how he “came home to a hostile and ungrateful nation. [He] was treated like a war criminal. [He] felt like [he] didn’t belong in this land of [his] ancestors” (34). In attempting to defend and earn respect in a country that undermined Native people at every turn, Mirabal’s Uncle Theo and many other veterans found that their efforts were not only in vain, but that even with cooperation, they were under attack by the very individuals they were trying to defend, thus the war did not stop when they returned home. They …show more content…
Specifically, Mirabal talks about the effects of the Clorox company moving in and toxifying the water to the point where there are no more fish because “they had a spill” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 66). Since there are no more fish, a major source of food disappears and some go as far as to “find out what Clorox tastes like” because they hear that someone got sick and the “lawyer said they’re gettin’ a lot of money” from the company in restitution (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 66). According to the government, in order to gain more leverage over the decisions that affect their lives, the young men of the Pueblo must get an education, so Mirabal “was going to school in Kansas, learning about refrigeration and accounting…[but] no one had electricity [in Taos] to own a refrigerator and accounting wasn’t going to help anyone either. Taos was almost poverty stricken, third world country in America” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 72). The Taos people once again had to buy into a structure that had no clear or legitimate benefit to them in order to attempt to gain respect in the eyes of an ever neglectful and often belligerent government. Further, when the government comes in to destroy a holy canyon in search
At the very least, despite the “positive experiences many Indians had in military service... they also recorded the disappointment some veterans felt after they returned to the United States and found their life situation remaining pretty much the same as before they left” (Worthington 254). Despite their status as honored veterans, Native soldiers found they had no more political sway or respect than before they had left, just a title that seemed to conflate to pomp and empty promises. To that end, “they returned to America to find that the ideals and values they fought for again did not apply to them” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 254). They received insufficient aid to support themselves and their community, particularly in the face of newfound post traumatic stress disorder as a result of violent combat. LaDuke quotes Billy Walkabout, a distinguished Vietnam veteran, describing how he “came home to a hostile and ungrateful nation. [He] was treated like a war criminal. [He] felt like [he] didn’t belong in this land of [his] ancestors” (34). In attempting to defend and earn respect in a country that undermined Native people at every turn, Mirabal’s Uncle Theo and many other veterans found that their efforts were not only in vain, but that even with cooperation, they were under attack by the very individuals they were trying to defend, thus the war did not stop when they returned home. They …show more content…
Specifically, Mirabal talks about the effects of the Clorox company moving in and toxifying the water to the point where there are no more fish because “they had a spill” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 66). Since there are no more fish, a major source of food disappears and some go as far as to “find out what Clorox tastes like” because they hear that someone got sick and the “lawyer said they’re gettin’ a lot of money” from the company in restitution (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 66). According to the government, in order to gain more leverage over the decisions that affect their lives, the young men of the Pueblo must get an education, so Mirabal “was going to school in Kansas, learning about refrigeration and accounting…[but] no one had electricity [in Taos] to own a refrigerator and accounting wasn’t going to help anyone either. Taos was almost poverty stricken, third world country in America” (Mirabal, Skeleton of a Bridge 72). The Taos people once again had to buy into a structure that had no clear or legitimate benefit to them in order to attempt to gain respect in the eyes of an ever neglectful and often belligerent government. Further, when the government comes in to destroy a holy canyon in search