We’ve recently been thinking about issues of marginalized or oppressed identity groups and the ways in which both those in power and those who are “othered” fantasize about history in ways that reflect their needs and desires. In Ira Glass’ podcast This American Life, the episode headed by Neil Drumming, “We Are in the Future,” explores how the cultural genre of Afrofuturism serves to think through suffering, inspire hope, and contemplate the fear or uncertainties of the future for black people. This future is tightly interwoven with their experiences of the past and present, and the hardships they have historically survived and continue to face in various forms. In his chapter “Digital Indians” from his book Heartbeat of Wounded Knee,” David Treuer also considers Native Americans, another historically oppressed group that bore injustices at the hands of white Americans, and he examines the ways in which they have mobilized to deal with the trauma of their past and work towards a better future. Many Native Americans are employing myriad approaches to taking back the health, pride, and autonomy that the United States government had so deeply corroded; through cultural and social as well as political means, they are striving to generate long-term change in our nation. Using close reading skills and evidence from Drumming, Treuer, and ONE additional reading of your choice, respond to the following question: What are the ways in which persecuted individuals or groups can go beyond merely surviving and actively engage in creating real change in the face of immense establishments of oppression?
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