Analysis Of Bad Indians By Deborah Miranda

Too often the tribulations of Native Americans are only focused on the past and dismiss the several issues that affect modern day Indians. The narrative of Native American societies has been misconstrued and one explicit example of this is the infamous fourth grade mission project that does injustice to the persecutions and subjugation that the Native Americans faced. Deborah Miranda, the author of Bad Indians, tells the harsh reality of what really happened through pictures, short stories, and poems upsetting the myth of benevolent colonization. In one of the anecdotes, Miranda sits at an airport waiting to board a plane to Roanoke, Virginia and while waiting her observations and thoughts take her on a laborious journey to find her place in the new world. She decides to construct a mosaic of her ancestor’s history and finds acceptance in her juxtaposed roots. Miranda’s use of symbolism and analogy advances our understanding of contemporary institutional racism that affects people of color. Moreover, through introspective examination of herself, Miranda acquires clarity for herself and gives us insight into the …show more content…
Furthermore, Miranda attains clarity for her own history and provides awareness into the experiences of other Native Americans in “post-colonial” America. While sitting at an airport, Miranda tackles the difficult challenge of recognizing the systemic oppression of minorities. She creates a mosaic of her ancestral heritage and finds inner-peace with her conflicting roots. Miranda’s tribal memoir, Bad Indians, is a stepping stone to uncovering the falsehood of innocuous colonization. Moving forward, we must recognize the injustice and oppression of colonization, so that this harsh truth of the past may provide us the courage to address the inequality in today’s