Give 3 introductory points you will cover in your essay.
Give examples that support the points you have identified on the topical area.
Share some history; share some current day impacts of the issue.
Give a reflective piece (at least one paragraph) of how this issue appeals or interests you.
Finish your paper with some closing thoughts that might bring about more interest in those around you, garnering support for the issue you have chosen to research and write about.
(( this is a link take what is include my topic and important thing maybe help ))
https://vimeo.com/112639971?ref=fb-share
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE FULL MOVIE
Racism
The American Indians are some of the minority groups that have suffered most in the hands of the European settlers and the various American governments since time immemorial. From the time the early explorers stepped onto the American continent, the native Indians started to suffer in the hands of the white settlers who often viewed them and their traditions as barbaric, and often would use excess violence at any slight provocation. The white government also strove for a long time to modernize and convert the Indians into Christianity, and by so doing, they disrupted the entire native Indian way of life. Many books and documentaries have been made on the native Indians in America, detailing the various challenges they have experienced and how they are still being marginalized in the modern American society. Yves Simoneau’s documentary film Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee is one of the many film accounts that document the injustice which the American Indians have experienced during the many centuries of association with the white settlers and their system of government.
The documentary not only seeks to lay bare the hypocrisy of the American society but also tell the true history of the American society since the early days of the explorers to the present time. The challenges facing the native Indians are detailed inthe real events happening in the lives of the four main characters: Charles Eastman, Sitting Bull, U.S Senator Henry L. Dawes, and Red Cloud,. Charles Eastman, for instance, is used as an example on how the assimilation of the native Indians could be advantageous. Sitting Bull on the other hand is an Indian tribal chief who refuses to submit to the government’s policy of annexing the Indian land while Senator Henry Dawes is featured for his role in drafting the bill that saw the Indians being forced to adopt subsistence farming. Red Cloud on his part decides to make peace with the American government, hence becoming unpopular among some of his own people. Watching the documentary, one realizes that the American history does little justice to the native Indian groups who have lived on the continent for thousands of years. The American history is only shown from the Eurocentric point of view, often regarding the European groups that settled in America as the ones who created the nation to be the mighty country it is now. Little is said about the native Indians or even the other minority racial groups residing in America. I would cover the following points in my essay while writing on the topic of the experiences of the American Indians in the racist society:
1. The American European dominant society single-handedly disrupted the American Indian life and changed their future prospects.
2. How race dictates the way the American Indians and white Americans relate.
3. The American history should be re-documented for the true and fair depiction of the American past.
Many historical accounts describe the European interruption of the Indian life in America as close to an orchestrated act of genocide. From as early as 1492, there had been documented cases of cases of deliberate depopulation of the indigenous populations in America. Many accounts refer to the various ways the European and settler and colonialists disrupted the American Indian life. The most notable ones are the violence meted on the natives by the settler communities who needed more land hence encroaching on the Indian lands (Ostler, 2015). The Europeans also enslaved some Indians, were accused for introducing some diseases, alcohol and assaults on tribal religion. These acts by the European settlers and colonists directly and indirectly affected the Indian ways of life. It is believed that close to 90% of the Indian populations residing in the Americas by 1491 were eventually decimated due to the epidemics that were introduced by the European settlers (Ostler, 2015). The early explorers into the American continent introduced disease causing pathogens to the natives who had no prior exposure to the pathogens in question, hence causing a castrophe as many fell ill and died. Many people died, although it was not intentionally introduced by the European explorers. Secondly, the explorers also enslaved some of the natives who helped them access traditional gold mines. They would use violence against the native Indians and would chain them to keep them under control (Ostler, 2015). The Spaniards used violence against the Indians on flimsy grounds, like suppressing imaginary insurrections. They would maim and destroy the Indian villages, killing many of them. The American Indians suffered massive loss of life either directly or indirectly from the European explorers and later the violence that ensued in the course of further land alienation and policies that relegated the Indians into the social economic periphery.
The whites and American Indians have always had strained relationships, despite the native Indians having enjoyed greater autonomy compared to other groups living in the US. The European settlers and colonists and later the independent American society often saw the Indians as less cultured and hence unsuited for equal rights like those of other groups. The many policies that were formulated after America got its independence from Britain in 1870s were not aimed at improving the lives of the native Indians. Instead, they were aimed at annexing the Indian land by the federal government for the white settlement (Pevar, 2004). The Indians were also required to drop their ways of life by adopting the European lifestyle that included formal education, Christianity and also adopting subsistence farming. The several policies made for the native Indians and the assimilation attempts were enforced from the racist point of view where the natives were regarded as less civilized. Despite the many attempts at helping the Indians to end poverty by modernizing them (Deloria, 1999), the American Indians still remained “among the poorest of the poor” (Montgomery, 2012). To date, the American Indians, despite enjoying more protection and some levels of autonomy, they still suffer from acute poverty and their populations have never recovered from the genocidal shock centuries back.
The American history would be better told from an unbiased point of view. The film Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee talks of the way the US history has been told only from the European point of view, often omitting the minority groups’ contribution to the development of the American society. It is this lopsided historical account of the US that is taught in school, hence propagating the racist feelings towards the minority groups like the native Indians and African Americans.
The American past has been characterized by various conflicts that have shaped its history. However, these have never been fully acknowledged, as seen in the educational material that seeks to portray the US history as being that of heroic European settlers who struggled to create a great nation out of the wilderness.
References
Deloria, V. (1999). Spirit & reason. London, UK: Fulcrum Publishing.
Montgomery, M. (2012). Identity politics: The mixed-race American Indian experience. Journal of Criminal Race Inquiry,2(1), 1-25.
Ostler, J. (2015). Genocide and American Indian history. American History. Retrieved from: www.americanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/ac refore-9780199329175-e-3
Pevar, S. L. (2004). The rights of indians and tribes: The authoritative ACLU guide to Indian and tribal rights (3rd ed.). New York, NY: University Press.
