Native American Post

The Native Americans were pushed back, and marginalized by society in many different ways. They were taken away from their families and homes at young ages to be changed into people they weren't. The officers would give them new clothes, haircuts, make them eat new food, learn everything from the officers' cultures. They basically made sure that the kids didn't remember anything that their culture taught them. When the kids were taken away, these officers were taking away their culture, their pride, and everything that they believed in. The Native American kids were being shaped into other people, and were expected to do everything that was against what they normally did. The officers didn't want the kids to grow up with their cultures because they didn't want them to be Native Americans. They did as much as possible to turn them into white kids. The Native American families were tricked into becoming people they weren't. In the text it says that, "He also planned to civilize them - to strip them of their traditions and ways of life." Meaning, the officers wanted to turn them against their cultures, and families, to be different people. 

I think the reason why Shanice Britton wrote her essay was to show people that just because she was a different race, and had different cultures, didn't mean she was as different from any other teenage girls. She talked about the things she did at home, what TV shows she watched, her interests, and they were basically the same as any other college teenage girl. Shanice probably wanted to inform the readers about her culture, and what they do today, different from what they did back then. Everyone thinks that if you're a different race, you don't do exactly everything that they were stereotyped for. Shanice does point out some of the things that are still the same. She talks about the traditional foods, and what she does with her family that she most Native Americans have always done. She also mentions that in her college, there isn't a high population of Native Americans. Overall, I think that the Native Americans have changed over the years, they don't normally don't do exactly everything the same as before, but they keep their traditions.