Everyday Is a Good Day- Chapter 3

In Chapter 3 titled “Context is Everything” the reader is brought through the frustration of how there has been little or no teaching to Non-Natives about the lives about Native Americans and Indigenous people although this oppressed group has been forced to learn the dominant cultures history. It is said that “People in the United States fail to recognize how much they have been influenced by indigenous people. It is simply amazing that even after hundreds of years of living in our former villages, most American’s don’t know much about the original people of this land.” I can say I understand that this frustration being African-American. In school we are only taught the history of white people although my ancestors helped them to build this country with literally blood, sweat, and tears. However, on the other hand I can say myself that I guilty. Being for the Westside many of our cities hold the names of indigenous nations like the Puyallup which is closets to me, but I can say I do not know much of their history.
Another point that was made was that “rather than appreciate the ancient cultures of indigenous people in the United States, most governmental policies have been designed to assimilate indigenous people into the larger American culture”. I call this the “assimilate and eliminate” factor. Once you are completely assimilated your own culture is cut away, watered down or just eliminated all together through systematic practices.
Beatrice Medicine best describes this frustration in this chapter when she says that “white people can’t understand us or the strength and diversity of aboriginal people, and they don’t even try. That’s why there is such racism and misunderstanding. We have different attitudes toward one another”. This makes me pose the question to everyone: Do you think there is a way to bridge the gap between these vastly different groups of people now or even in the future? Also, Do you feel that there is away we can start to incorporate these teachings of the history in our own curriculum if not college, high school, or even younger? Lastly, How would you go about to bridge this gap in misunderstanding and racism?