This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Monday, February 28, 2011
PERIOD 7 - WHITE MAN'S IMAGE
We watched the film, In the White Man's Image - please post your thoughts about the film and make sure to comment on at least one other student's post.
43 comments:
Amanda Borglund
said...
this movie opened up my eyes to what really happened with the assimilation of native americans. i had learned about it but i never really understood what any of it met. I understood it was a terrible thing but i never understood the true nature of the program. I did take something away from this movie though. I realized how much they (the white men) were like the native americans in that they only wanted what's best for them. they only thought of themselves, but if they hadn't, they would of made a compromise with the native americans.
It took me a while to figure out how I was going to express my feelings about this documentary. Unlike "The Bear that Wasn't" and "After the First", "White Man's Image" was not exactly trying to send out a moral message but was merely telling the bare-naked truth about our country's history. This was not an imagined scenario; Native Americans were stripped of their heritage and forcibly assimilated into a foreign culture. Not only did whites feel as though the Natives' culture was inferior, but they thought of the people themselves as empty shells without individuality. Only a white man could provide him with this. A Native American could only be a good man if he was "dead". And to some whites, I don't believe it mattered if it was a more figurative, cultural death, or a literal one. The more of white man's history I hear, the less impressed and more infuriated I am at their ignorance.
I agree with Amanda that though the white men at times were made out to look faulty at the same time that both the white men and the Indians wanted and strived for the same thing which was their idea of happiness and what they felt was right.
i agree with Lane when she said that the movie was the bare truth about our nation's history. I couldn't figure out a way to express that when i wrote the first comment, but everything she said seems to sum up just what i was thinking.
I enjoyed the film; I wasn’t here last Friday so I’m not sure what was discussed then in the movie. But from what I saw today it was informational and I thought they did a nice job about not adding a bias to the movie. Before watching this film I have heard and learned about the simulation but I had no idea that they native Americans voluntarily went to the schools and I found it interesting that some of them really enjoyed it and gained from it while others rebelled. But over all I enjoyed the movie and learned more about the simulation that took place between the Indians and the Whites and its severity.
I think Amanda brings up a good point - most people miss important details in history, and therefore cannot relate to certain events. You can tell someone that at one point in time, mainstream America took Native American children and attempted to assimilate them. The impact is nowhere near as great as when they see and hear for themselves, in detail, the hardships these people went through.
I agree with Lane and that after watching documentaries like this I become upset about the history of white men and their ignorance. What makes one able to say that there way of living is the right way? It bothers me that some people are so scared of diversity and scared of things they are unfamiliar with; this brings diversity into the world which we need. Instead of assimilating Native Americans to the white man’s culture they should have learned to live with the Indians in peace. White men could have learned a lot from the Native Americans. Our culture could have grown stronger by learning and sharing with the Natives.
I really kind didnt like the film because it was showing how the white change the native american children and took away them away from the culture and home and change there identy. Tell them how to talk and how to act. How they didnt let them see there families. I agree with Amanda what terrible thing the native american went through. How the white Man wanted what was best for them.
I believe that the documentary follows the same theme that both "The Bear that Wasn't" and "After the First" present to the audience. There will always be conflicts in society, whether to conform is the best option or not. Assuming that someone can be changed by simply changing their environment ant calling them by a different name is unrealistic. There will always be that small voice in the back of their mind telling them that they are different. Based off of the documentary, it seems that the world was built on good intentions. I think that this documentary is a good example of a primary source, and captures the events seen by the naked eye very accurately. I will admit to being rather uninterested while watching the film, but that is because I have learned about these events before. Once again, we find another reason to hate the 19th -20th century white population. Frankly, it makes me wonder if there are any parts of white history that truly benefit the country without profiting off of someone else's expense. I'm quite sick of not being able to be proud of who I am, and my race because there seems to be nothing to be proud of that isn't tainted by violence or suffering. Instead, I am forced to feel ashamed and infuriated at how unintelligent my ancestors were. I find it almost funny, when they thought that Indians and Blacks were inferior. "Pot calling the kettle black." Well, I want to move past these injustices, as I feel that they've been shoved down my throat for years, without a way to defend myself.
After watching the video, its clear that the indians went through a very hard time and were treated very unfairly by the white man. Although the whites thought they were helping the indians, they were ignorant to the pain and sadness they were causing the indians. It is very sad to see a group of people stripped of their identies and culture and forced to become part of a different culture.
I thought the documentary made it seem hard to believe that the whites actually believed that they were bettering the Native Americans. I think they mostly saw the Natives as a nuisance and that they were in the way of advancements and development of the nation. Perhaps some whites wanted to see the Natives succeed but I think the driving force of the assimilation was to wipe out the Native American culture and way of life for expansion purposes.
this movie really showed me how heartless and narrow minded some people can be. this goes back to the "little boxes" story we read in class. the white men put the Indians in boxes unjustly labeling them as a whole. i don't really feel that one set of people could/should be able to control a whole group of people just because there view differ. i kinda agree with Amanda about how the white people "wanted what was best for them" but sometimes what you think is best isnt best for that person
I thought the film “White Man’s Image” gave a better understanding of how the Native Americans were treated. I knew some of what happened in history but I didn’t know the amount of power the white men really had. It’s clearly unfair and selfish of the white men to change the Native American culture and send their children to school thousands of miles away from their family just to make them “civilized.” The Native Americans didn’t deserve any of the cruel treatment they were getting from the white men because they were there first. This film really showed the superiority whites felt they had over the natives. I agree with Amanda H that so many people are afraid of diversity. Instead of people trying to dominate and convert others to their culture and customs, we should learn to accept others and not be so scared of change.
I feel that assimilation, and abandoning thier culture was the lesser of two evils presented to the indians. The military guy had good intentions / acted honorably in my opinion because most people seemed to want the indians dead. At the time the stripping of the indians culture was a good idea despite the disgust looked back upon it now.
Lane brings up a good point in that all the posts we've done so far reguard identity and conformity. And furthermore the confliction between the two ideas.
I thought this documentary was an eye opening look at the injustices against the Native American people. Although I knew Native Americans were forced to leave their lands I hadn't been aware of how almost every aspect of their cultural identity had been stripped away. I thought the emphasis on the schools used to try to teach the Native American children how to become "civilized" showed just how blind white people were to the fact that they were robbing the natives of their way of life and showed how many natives were not given a chance to maintain their identity. I think the moral of the film was geared towards showing that no single group has their right to assume their customs are superior to others and attempting to change other peoples ways simply diminishes their cultural identity.
I agree with Matt's point about the white people being blind to the fact that they were really hurting the Native American culture. Although they thought their actions would only help the natives it was clear their narrow-minded way of thinking only took away from the varying cultures around them and revealed how forcing others to change their ways is truly unfair.
I agree with Amanda in the sense that these native Americans entered a completely new environment and had to assimilate and adapt to a completely different culture.
I think this movie was very interesting and got to show us how peoples identity can be placed in jeapordy when they are forced to adapt to a different culture
The "White Man's Image" revealed a lot of the struggles that the Native American's were forced to deal with because of the American government. I find that what the American government did in forcing the Native Americans onto reservations took away all the natural rights that the Native Americans deserved as human beings. It must have been extremely offensive and difficult for the Native Americans to have their identities stripped from them. I believe that no society or group of people should ever go through what the Native Americans did on the reservations, especially in the schools that were designed to "Americanize" the Natives.
I agree with Matt and his comment. I agree that the Americans were trying to help the Native Americans, however the Americans attempt to help the Natives failed. The Americans ended up stripping the Native Americans of their identity, which is the most humiliating things any group of people can go through.
The film White Man’s Image really opened my eyes as to how severe the clash between the Native Americans and the white settlers really was. The film really opened my eyes to the how the white settlers truly believed they were superior to the Native Americans as human beings. It’s shameful how the white settlers used their power to drastically alter the Native Americans lives for the white settlers benefit.
I agree with Brenda that the film made it very hard to believe that the white settlers actually believed they were not only bettering their own lives but also bettering the Native Americans lives. The film really does make it pretty clear that the white settlers just saw the Native Americans as preventing desired growth and development.
After watching "The White Man's Image" it was clear to me that the assimilation of native americans was a forced idea. Based off of what was shown in the movie I am very frustrated with the way that my white ancestors treated the natives. They were taken advantage of, lied to, and discriminated based on their lifestyle. All of which i believe is extremely unfair.
After watching "The White Man's Image" it was clear to me that the assimilation of native americans was a forced idea. Based off of what was shown in the movie I am very frustrated with the way that my white ancestors treated the natives. They were taken advantage of, lied to, and discriminated based on their lifestyle. All of which i believe is extremely unfair.
I agree with James in the sense that it was wrong and shameful of the white settlers to abuse the trust the native americans had in the white man. I also agree that it was wrong for the white settlers to lie and deceive the native americans for their own benefit.
The movie showed that every group of people has the capacity to treat others poorly. The white men stripped the Natives of their culture and identity. A large part of the reason Natives were forced to assimilate and were pushed around was their land; people are greedy and ruined an entire civilization to get what they needed. I believe that this not only shows our violent tendencies but also our ability to oppress people and make them what we want them to be.
I agree with James that part of our history is very shameful. I am glad that our country teaches us about our history good or bad though because there are lessons to be learned and hopefully something like this will not occur in America again.
I found the documentary that we watched in class to be very interesting. I thought that what the Americans did was wrong. They shouldn’t have forced the Indians to move off their home land. The Americans immediately judged the Indians based on how they are different then the Americans. Before they moved the Indians off their land they should have placed themselves in their shoes. At the time assimilation may have seemed like the proper thing to do but, they didn’t think all the consequences through. I thought that the activity we did on class on the ‘we’ and ‘they’ was a really good activity to see how quickly you can judge someone or a group of people. Agree with Amanda in that the Americans should have found some way to make peace with the Indians.
I found the documentary that we watched in class to be very interesting. I thought that what the Americans did was wrong. They shouldn’t have forced the Indians to move off their home land. The Americans immediately judged the Indians based on how they are different then the Americans. Before they moved the Indians off their land they should have placed themselves in their shoes. At the time assimilation may have seemed like the proper thing to do but, they didn’t think all the consequences through. I thought that the activity we did on class on the ‘we’ and ‘they’ was a really good activity to see how quickly you can judge someone or a group of people. Agree with Amanda in that the Americans should have found some way to make peace with the Indians.
Jake makes a good point in saying that compared to what most people wanted to do to the Native Americans, being educated and taught the cultural values of white society isn't that bad. Pratt meant well most of the time and believed that he was helping the Native Americans and therefore, helping better society as a whole.
Overall, I felt like I knew most of the infromation presented to us in the film, "In the White Man's Image". I learned a lot about the various battles and skirmishes between the Native Americans and whites in past history classes. However, I did learn more about the Indian schools and did not know that Pratt was the head of the Native American immersion programs. In general, I think that Pratt meant well and though it was sad and unfair that the Native American children were forced to leave home and go to schools, it was better than being killed. Also, I think it was beneficial to the children to learn English and such so that they could communicate better and if they returned to their Native communities then they could ultimately understand the white men better and be able to make deals with them.
Watching this movie, really showed me how the Americans (the white men) assimilated the Native Americans. When I first learned about assimilation, I knew that it was when the Americans tried to "Americanize" the Natives, but I didn't exactly know how. This opended my eyes to how they did so and it angered me in a way because I feel that people shouldn't have to change who they are or become other people when they do not want to. I agree with what Matt Cullen said because it isn't right when people are stripped of their identities and are forced to change into something they are not.
The film we watched during class showed the hardship's and struggles of the Native Americans. After watching this film i realize how tough it really was for the Native Americans. The Natives were forced to leave their families and abandon everything they have ever known. Unfortunately for some of the Indians they were not able to return to their tribes because they had been banned.
I agree with Meg in that people can be extremely harsh. The Native Americans were forced out of their cultures and forced to take on a completely different cultures and were forced to leave everthing behind. People forget how to treat others.
This documentary, in my opinion, showed a deeper side to the way we had treated Native Americans around the time we were expanding in America. Of course, we learned about how we had gone and taken their territory and forced them onto these reservations or eve to other random places in the country, but now we can see even more of what we had done. This is actually pretty disgusting to me. To simply take people, especially children, and put them into a different environment to see if they would change into our culture is horrendous. It amazes me that nobody rebelled against this act. Nobody stood up to at least let them live how they live. Everyone strictly believed that what the white's believed was true and what the Native American's believed was wrong. We always try to be welcoming and spread the word that discrimination and racism is wrong, but that just makes us all hypocrites when we have evidence of when we were discriminating and being racist ourselves.
I'm definitely on megan s.'s side about how we should have tried to understand what it would be like from the NA's point of view. We never took that into consideration, instead treating them as if they weren't human beings at all (even if they said they wanted to "preserve" the human and "destroy" the Indian).
After watching "the White Mans Image" it kind of gave me that empty pitted feeling inside. I know that looking back on it from my perspective in modern 2011 it doesn't really mean much because if it wasn't for taking the Indians land and practically wiping them off the earth I wouldn't be here today but it's sickening. What right did we have to claim and already preoccupied land ours and then take the Indians who had lived there lives for thousands of years practicing there traditions and ways and try to convert them into what we called the superior way of life. It's disgraceful to think that we stripped children from there homes and placed them in prison like schools and completely, or at least tried, to distort there Indian identities and make them one of us. It's strange though because like I said earlier, yes it was absolutely horrific what was done to the Indians, but where would we be today if it hadn't happend.
I agree with Matty Ice in that how horrific and sham full it is to strip a whole culture of people, kick them off there land that they have lived on for centuries,destroy there religious practices, and change them to fit in with what we so called the model way of life that a person should live in.
I thought that this documentary really showed how ignorance can inhibit cross cultural relationships and sometimes, as in this case, ultimately lead the destruction and dehumanizing of an entire people. Both the ‘white men’ and the Native Americans were guilty of being unaware of and disinterested in discovering the true culture of the other. Because neither of these nations had a true grasp of or respect for the other’s culture, they chose to fight against each other in order to promote or maintain their cultural identity instead of allowing the two cultures to live in harmony. This film revealed to me how ignorance can cause the sense of camaraderie and kinship between human beings to become lost and stressed the importance of mutual respect and understanding of other cultures, beliefs, etc.
I agree with Amanda in that if the ‘white men’ hadn’t been so resistant to understanding the different culture of the Native Americans and instead tried to live peacefully with them, our nation could have been enriched with diversity and improved by having so many different lifestyles and beliefs coexisting peacefully.
43 comments:
this movie opened up my eyes to what really happened with the assimilation of native americans. i had learned about it but i never really understood what any of it met. I understood it was a terrible thing but i never understood the true nature of the program. I did take something away from this movie though. I realized how much they (the white men) were like the native americans in that they only wanted what's best for them. they only thought of themselves, but if they hadn't, they would of made a compromise with the native americans.
It took me a while to figure out how I was going to express my feelings about this documentary. Unlike "The Bear that Wasn't" and "After the First", "White Man's Image" was not exactly trying to send out a moral message but was merely telling the bare-naked truth about our country's history. This was not an imagined scenario; Native Americans were stripped of their heritage and forcibly assimilated into a foreign culture. Not only did whites feel as though the Natives' culture was inferior, but they thought of the people themselves as empty shells without individuality. Only a white man could provide him with this. A Native American could only be a good man if he was "dead". And to some whites, I don't believe it mattered if it was a more figurative, cultural death, or a literal one. The more of white man's history I hear, the less impressed and more infuriated I am at their ignorance.
I agree with Amanda that though the white men at times were made out to look faulty at the same time that both the white men and the Indians wanted and strived for the same thing which was their idea of happiness and what they felt was right.
i agree with Lane when she said that the movie was the bare truth about our nation's history. I couldn't figure out a way to express that when i wrote the first comment, but everything she said seems to sum up just what i was thinking.
I enjoyed the film; I wasn’t here last Friday so I’m not sure what was discussed then in the movie. But from what I saw today it was informational and I thought they did a nice job about not adding a bias to the movie. Before watching this film I have heard and learned about the simulation but I had no idea that they native Americans voluntarily went to the schools and I found it interesting that some of them really enjoyed it and gained from it while others rebelled. But over all I enjoyed the movie and learned more about the simulation that took place between the Indians and the Whites and its severity.
I think Amanda brings up a good point - most people miss important details in history, and therefore cannot relate to certain events. You can tell someone that at one point in time, mainstream America took Native American children and attempted to assimilate them. The impact is nowhere near as great as when they see and hear for themselves, in detail, the hardships these people went through.
I agree with Lane and that after watching documentaries like this I become upset about the history of white men and their ignorance. What makes one able to say that there way of living is the right way? It bothers me that some people are so scared of diversity and scared of things they are unfamiliar with; this brings diversity into the world which we need. Instead of assimilating Native Americans to the white man’s culture they should have learned to live with the Indians in peace. White men could have learned a lot from the Native Americans. Our culture could have grown stronger by learning and sharing with the Natives.
I really kind didnt like the film because it was showing how the white change the native american children and took away them away from the culture and home and change there identy. Tell them how to talk and how to act. How they didnt let them see there families. I agree with Amanda what terrible thing the native american went through. How the white Man wanted what was best for them.
I believe that the documentary follows the same theme that both "The Bear that Wasn't" and "After the First" present to the audience. There will always be conflicts in society, whether to conform is the best option or not. Assuming that someone can be changed by simply changing their environment ant calling them by a different name is unrealistic. There will always be that small voice in the back of their mind telling them that they are different. Based off of the documentary, it seems that the world was built on good intentions. I think that this documentary is a good example of a primary source, and captures the events seen by the naked eye very accurately. I will admit to being rather uninterested while watching the film, but that is because I have learned about these events before. Once again, we find another reason to hate the 19th -20th century white population. Frankly, it makes me wonder if there are any parts of white history that truly benefit the country without profiting off of someone else's expense. I'm quite sick of not being able to be proud of who I am, and my race because there seems to be nothing to be proud of that isn't tainted by violence or suffering. Instead, I am forced to feel ashamed and infuriated at how unintelligent my ancestors were. I find it almost funny, when they thought that Indians and Blacks were inferior. "Pot calling the kettle black."
Well, I want to move past these injustices, as I feel that they've been shoved down my throat for years, without a way to defend myself.
After watching the video, its clear that the indians went through a very hard time and were treated very unfairly by the white man. Although the whites thought they were helping the indians, they were ignorant to the pain and sadness they were causing the indians. It is very sad to see a group of people stripped of their identies and culture and forced to become part of a different culture.
I thought the documentary made it seem hard to believe that the whites actually believed that they were bettering the Native Americans. I think they mostly saw the Natives as a nuisance and that they were in the way of advancements and development of the nation. Perhaps some whites wanted to see the Natives succeed but I think the driving force of the assimilation was to wipe out the Native American culture and way of life for expansion purposes.
this movie really showed me how heartless and narrow minded some people can be. this goes back to the "little boxes" story we read in class. the white men put the Indians in boxes unjustly labeling them as a whole. i don't really feel that one set of people could/should be able to control a whole group of people just because there view differ. i kinda agree with Amanda about how the white people "wanted what was best for them" but sometimes what you think is best isnt best for that person
I agree with Lane in the sense that the assimilation definitely highlights the American’s ignorance and negative character.
I thought the film “White Man’s Image” gave a better understanding of how the Native Americans were treated. I knew some of what happened in history but I didn’t know the amount of power the white men really had. It’s clearly unfair and selfish of the white men to change the Native American culture and send their children to school thousands of miles away from their family just to make them “civilized.” The Native Americans didn’t deserve any of the cruel treatment they were getting from the white men because they were there first. This film really showed the superiority whites felt they had over the natives. I agree with Amanda H that so many people are afraid of diversity. Instead of people trying to dominate and convert others to their culture and customs, we should learn to accept others and not be so scared of change.
I feel that assimilation, and abandoning thier culture was the lesser of two evils presented to the indians. The military guy had good intentions / acted honorably in my opinion because most people seemed to want the indians dead. At the time the stripping of the indians culture was a good idea despite the disgust looked back upon it now.
Lane brings up a good point in that all the posts we've done so far reguard identity and conformity. And furthermore the confliction between the two ideas.
I thought this documentary was an eye opening look at the injustices against the Native American people. Although I knew Native Americans were forced to leave their lands I hadn't been aware of how almost every aspect of their cultural identity had been stripped away. I thought the emphasis on the schools used to try to teach the Native American children how to become "civilized" showed just how blind white people were to the fact that they were robbing the natives of their way of life and showed how many natives were not given a chance to maintain their identity. I think the moral of the film was geared towards showing that no single group has their right to assume their customs are superior to others and attempting to change other peoples ways simply diminishes their cultural identity.
I agree with Matt's point about the white people being blind to the fact that they were really hurting the Native American culture. Although they thought their actions would only help the natives it was clear their narrow-minded way of thinking only took away from the varying cultures around them and revealed how forcing others to change their ways is truly unfair.
I agree with Amanda in the sense that these native Americans entered a completely new environment and had to assimilate and adapt to a completely different culture.
I think this movie was very interesting and got to show us how peoples identity can be placed in jeapordy when they are forced to adapt to a different culture
The "White Man's Image" revealed a lot of the struggles that the Native American's were forced to deal with because of the American government. I find that what the American government did in forcing the Native Americans onto reservations took away all the natural rights that the Native Americans deserved as human beings. It must have been extremely offensive and difficult for the Native Americans to have their identities stripped from them. I believe that no society or group of people should ever go through what the Native Americans did on the reservations, especially in the schools that were designed to "Americanize" the Natives.
I agree with Matt and his comment. I agree that the Americans were trying to help the Native Americans, however the Americans attempt to help the Natives failed. The Americans ended up stripping the Native Americans of their identity, which is the most humiliating things any group of people can go through.
The film White Man’s Image really opened my eyes as to how severe the clash between the Native Americans and the white settlers really was. The film really opened my eyes to the how the white settlers truly believed they were superior to the Native Americans as human beings. It’s shameful how the white settlers used their power to drastically alter the Native Americans lives for the white settlers benefit.
I agree with Brenda that the film made it very hard to believe that the white settlers actually believed they were not only bettering their own lives but also bettering the Native Americans lives. The film really does make it pretty clear that the white settlers just saw the Native Americans as preventing desired growth and development.
After watching "The White Man's Image" it was clear to me that the assimilation of native americans was a forced idea. Based off of what was shown in the movie I am very frustrated with the way that my white ancestors treated the natives. They were taken advantage of, lied to, and discriminated based on their lifestyle. All of which i believe is extremely unfair.
After watching "The White Man's Image" it was clear to me that the assimilation of native americans was a forced idea. Based off of what was shown in the movie I am very frustrated with the way that my white ancestors treated the natives. They were taken advantage of, lied to, and discriminated based on their lifestyle. All of which i believe is extremely unfair.
I agree with James in the sense that it was wrong and shameful of the white settlers to abuse the trust the native americans had in the white man. I also agree that it was wrong for the white settlers to lie and deceive the native americans for their own benefit.
The movie showed that every group of people has the capacity to treat others poorly. The white men stripped the Natives of their culture and identity. A large part of the reason Natives were forced to assimilate and were pushed around was their land; people are greedy and ruined an entire civilization to get what they needed. I believe that this not only shows our violent tendencies but also our ability to oppress people and make them what we want them to be.
I agree with James that part of our history is very shameful. I am glad that our country teaches us about our history good or bad though because there are lessons to be learned and hopefully something like this will not occur in America again.
I found the documentary that we watched in class to be very interesting. I thought that what the Americans did was wrong. They shouldn’t have forced the Indians to move off their home land. The Americans immediately judged the Indians based on how they are different then the Americans. Before they moved the Indians off their land they should have placed themselves in their shoes. At the time assimilation may have seemed like the proper thing to do but, they didn’t think all the consequences through. I thought that the activity we did on class on the ‘we’ and ‘they’ was a really good activity to see how quickly you can judge someone or a group of people. Agree with Amanda in that the Americans should have found some way to make peace with the Indians.
I found the documentary that we watched in class to be very interesting. I thought that what the Americans did was wrong. They shouldn’t have forced the Indians to move off their home land. The Americans immediately judged the Indians based on how they are different then the Americans. Before they moved the Indians off their land they should have placed themselves in their shoes. At the time assimilation may have seemed like the proper thing to do but, they didn’t think all the consequences through. I thought that the activity we did on class on the ‘we’ and ‘they’ was a really good activity to see how quickly you can judge someone or a group of people. Agree with Amanda in that the Americans should have found some way to make peace with the Indians.
Jake makes a good point in saying that compared to what most people wanted to do to the Native Americans, being educated and taught the cultural values of white society isn't that bad. Pratt meant well most of the time and believed that he was helping the Native Americans and therefore, helping better society as a whole.
Overall, I felt like I knew most of the infromation presented to us in the film, "In the White Man's Image". I learned a lot about the various battles and skirmishes between the Native Americans and whites in past history classes. However, I did learn more about the Indian schools and did not know that Pratt was the head of the Native American immersion programs. In general, I think that Pratt meant well and though it was sad and unfair that the Native American children were forced to leave home and go to schools, it was better than being killed. Also, I think it was beneficial to the children to learn English and such so that they could communicate better and if they returned to their Native communities then they could ultimately understand the white men better and be able to make deals with them.
Watching this movie, really showed me how the Americans (the white men) assimilated the Native Americans. When I first learned about assimilation, I knew that it was when the Americans tried to "Americanize" the Natives, but I didn't exactly know how. This opended my eyes to how they did so and it angered me in a way because I feel that people shouldn't have to change who they are or become other people when they do not want to. I agree with what Matt Cullen said because it isn't right when people are stripped of their identities and are forced to change into something they are not.
The film we watched during class showed the hardship's and struggles of the Native Americans. After watching this film i realize how tough it really was for the Native Americans. The Natives were forced to leave their families and abandon everything they have ever known. Unfortunately for some of the Indians they were not able to return to their tribes because they had been banned.
I agree with Meg in that people can be extremely harsh. The Native Americans were forced out of their cultures and forced to take on a completely different cultures and were forced to leave everthing behind. People forget how to treat others.
This documentary, in my opinion, showed a deeper side to the way we had treated Native Americans around the time we were expanding in America. Of course, we learned about how we had gone and taken their territory and forced them onto these reservations or eve to other random places in the country, but now we can see even more of what we had done. This is actually pretty disgusting to me. To simply take people, especially children, and put them into a different environment to see if they would change into our culture is horrendous. It amazes me that nobody rebelled against this act. Nobody stood up to at least let them live how they live. Everyone strictly believed that what the white's believed was true and what the Native American's believed was wrong. We always try to be welcoming and spread the word that discrimination and racism is wrong, but that just makes us all hypocrites when we have evidence of when we were discriminating and being racist ourselves.
I'm definitely on megan s.'s side about how we should have tried to understand what it would be like from the NA's point of view. We never took that into consideration, instead treating them as if they weren't human beings at all (even if they said they wanted to "preserve" the human and "destroy" the Indian).
After watching "the White Mans Image" it kind of gave me that empty pitted feeling inside. I know that looking back on it from my perspective in modern 2011 it doesn't really mean much because if it wasn't for taking the Indians land and practically wiping them off the earth I wouldn't be here today but it's sickening. What right did we have to claim and already preoccupied land ours and then take the Indians who had lived there lives for thousands of years practicing there traditions and ways and try to convert them into what we called the superior way of life. It's disgraceful to think that we stripped children from there homes and placed them in prison like schools and completely, or at least tried, to distort there Indian identities and make them one of us. It's strange though because like I said earlier, yes it was absolutely horrific what was done to the Indians, but where would we be today if it hadn't happend.
I agree with Matty Ice in that how horrific and sham full it is to strip a whole culture of people, kick them off there land that they have lived on for centuries,destroy there religious practices, and change them to fit in with what we so called the model way of life that a person should live in.
I thought that this documentary really showed how ignorance can inhibit cross cultural relationships and sometimes, as in this case, ultimately lead the destruction and dehumanizing of an entire people. Both the ‘white men’ and the Native Americans were guilty of being unaware of and disinterested in discovering the true culture of the other. Because neither of these nations had a true grasp of or respect for the other’s culture, they chose to fight against each other in order to promote or maintain their cultural identity instead of allowing the two cultures to live in harmony. This film revealed to me how ignorance can cause the sense of camaraderie and kinship between human beings to become lost and stressed the importance of mutual respect and understanding of other cultures, beliefs, etc.
I agree with Amanda in that if the ‘white men’ hadn’t been so resistant to understanding the different culture of the Native Americans and instead tried to live peacefully with them, our nation could have been enriched with diversity and improved by having so many different lifestyles and beliefs coexisting peacefully.
I was absent
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