This assignment required me to conduct an interview with a person from a different racial background and write about it as I gain personal experience. I consider this as a perfect opportunity to truly understand a culture and make a new friend that will share their life experiences with me. I myself am an African American person of minority racial background in America so it is no less than fascinating for me to understand life in America from another perspective that is from a different racial background and having different experiences and responses from the society than mine. I believe this essay will help me realize that the world is indeed a global village and we must get to know each better and not waste more time (Straub).
I chose the place of interview to be my mother’s house which is in Minneapolis, MN in the Phillips. There are heterogeneous nationalities residing here in Phillips. I am African-American and have been raised in Phillips with the Native Americans I always have attracted to their way of life and especially the way they love and give importance to nature. The fact that they love nature and try to protect it and grow further makes them more earth friendly then many other races. Growing up in such a neighborhood which is diverse, I am aware of the fact that there are many misconceptions about Native Americans and their culture. So this was taken as the perfect opportunity to delve deep and understand more of what the Native Americans were living and perhaps I was missing till now (Brown).
When it comes to living in a diverse area you face many problems due to the conflict between the cultures of different nations. Just for instance, I myself heard being called as “Red skins” and “Rain dancers” etc. So today I am having a conversation with a 30 years old Native American woman for detailed insight into their culture. She has been living a full life and was very keen to meet with me and was pleasant to talk to. I was trying to be respectful to her as I know that in their culture people seem to give high respect to visitors and guests so I was making sure not to make a fool of myself by being casual about it (Sadrin).
Interviewer: It was a relief to see you were open to talk to me as I myself was feeling a little pressured to ask something that you might not be comfortable talking about. Since you have given me the permission to ask how you would describe the past of Native Americans. What was their culture back then? What were their interests and belief?
Native-American: Thank you dear for coming up to me, I am glad that you wanted to know about us and don’t just follow the stereotype narratives that media and politicians propagate. We have been living here before the Europeans arrived. When Europeans arrived in America for the very first time, they were not much aware of technology. Even at that time they were using Stone tools. Native Americans had a belief that their God wanted them to spend their lives in a continuous motion and so they lived a “Nomadic” life. Native Americans placed great importance on Buffaloes. Living in the Great Plains, all there sports were designed in such a way that their people would learn how to survive in the severe conditions of these plains. There sports included horse racing, shooting contests etc. (Dramer, and Porter).
Interviewer: It’s always difficult accepting the change and giving your possessions to others. What were the problems faced by Native Americans when Europeans first came there? What was the reason of decline in population of North Americans from that point onwards? It is history but there are now variant aspects to what might have happened back then I was really interested to know the perspective of the Native Americans regarding that time of history (“Who’s Who: Exploring The Discrepancy Between The Methods Of Defining African Americans And Native Americans”).
Native-American: I don’t remember the exact dates now but when the foreign sailors i.e. Christopher Columbus with his crewman landed here in America. He was welcomed by Taino the chief of the Natives back then. Who laid down their weapons and accepted them as guests with their parrots and pigeons as a token of friendship. Christopher Columbus built a town on Hispaniola’s Island. At that time, the population of Taino was about 8 million. But the inhabitants of Hispaniola were left about 500 by 1548. This decline in population was because of the imported diseases including small pox, measles, mumps, pneumonia, influenza and dysentery.
As Europeans aimed to colonize in America, they ought Native Indians for the land to cultivate their own farmlands here. The Europeans were bit immune to the diseases they brought in America. So the epidemics did not affect them as it affected the natives. Also, they had horses and guns while the Native Americans used hand weapons or arrows. Due to these reasons, Rate of growth of Europeans was larger as compared to the natives and thus the Europeans’ descendants became larger in number. Native Americans were forced to colonize and surrender their lands. Moreover, being the minority, the natives were forced to work as peasant, slaves and laborers (Katz, and Franklin).
Interviewer: Those must have been difficult times and I believe there are still fragments of things that might be happening today as well but the form of these actions may have been changed. As you said that Native Americans were forced to sacrifice their lands there must have racial differences that led to this. How did the native Americans happened to get their legal rights and land after the fight for your rights? Further, in your views the economic devastation is mainly because of racial differences?
Native-American: No. In my view the economic devastation in American Indian communities is not simply the outcome of the native’s history of victims of epidemics, wars and mass murders. Instead, this devastation is somehow the result of the current rules, regulation, and the policies and most importantly the restrictions applied on the properties of the Native Americans by the federal government. There were long movements conducted and messages were sent to the politicians that we deserved the lands as they were taken from us by force.
To conclude I must say that indeed the task was very informative it helped me get in connection with another philosophy of life and see the world from a different perspective. It is a general perception that African-Americans are the only ones that gets bullied or is trolled. Being a Native American how would you describe the problems faced by our people? There are more similarities in the Native Americans and other minorities of America than any other culture might be having. They have also face forced intrusions and are always rated as second class citizens when it comes to legal and land rights and the taxes imposed are more racially targeted segregation then from any other entity.
Work Cited
Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Bantam Books, 1972, pp. 129-197.
Dramer, Kim, and Frank W Porter. Native Americans And Black Americans. Chelsea House Publishers, 1997.
Katz, William Loren, and Paula Angle Franklin. Proudly Red And Black. Atheneum, 1993.
Sadrin, Anny. Dickens, Europe, And The New Worlds. Macmillan, 1999.
Straub, Deborah Gillan. Voices Of Multicultural America. 1st ed., Gale Research, 1996.
“Who’s Who: Exploring The Discrepancy Between The Methods Of Defining African Americans And Native Americans”. Vol 31, no. 1, 2006, p. 93. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/20070774.
