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Native American Stereotypes

Decent Essays

Throughout history, Native Americans have remained one of the most marginalized minorities in America. Ever since the first Europeans arrived, the native people have faced a profuse number of stereotypes, misconceptions, and caricatures. The conquest of the Europeans came with a hierarchy of power and an intentional act to take over land and eliminate communities. During this time Native Americans were forced to assimilate to new ideas, cultures, and religion. An example of this is the boarding schools of the late 19th century. During this time, young natives were separated from their families and sent away to be stripped of their identity. As time went on, Natives continued to be represented unfavorably, specifically through Hollywood and the American film industry. Filmmakers have often assigned Native American characters to roles presenting stereotypical and historically inaccurate behavior (Kelly, 2017). Popular cartoon show, South Park demonstrates this in the beginning of an episode titled, “Going Native”. This episode portrays a parody where white settlers occupying Hawaii identify themselves as “Native Hawaiians”. During the episode the characters imitate colonization by playing Indian, a process in which non-Native people extract power from indigenous people to build a white American identity, while using all their power against them (Maile, 2016). This is just one example of the countless others that are currently in the media. In the film, Reel Injun, filmmaker

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