The themes of this week centered on the myriad efforts to confine and assimilate Native Americans. Reflect on the topic(s) that resonated most with you—what aspects of these policies or actions caught your attention, and why do you think you responded this way? Consider not only the immediate effects on Native American communities but also legacies of these policies and how communities are responding today. Remember to discuss and analyze at least one source in your response.
After reviewing all the material and discussions that we have gone through this week, the topics that resonated with me the most regarding the myriad of efforts to confine and assimilate Native Americans were coercion for male Native Americans to cut their hair, creating misleading information about traditions, and lastly, the American government’s efforts to hide the horrid things they did to these children. I remember learning at some point that not only did they force the Indigenous men to cut their hair short, but they also would force the women to cut some of their hair as well, and that stood out to me because growing up half Mexican hair was a big part of socializing, you would always have a tía braiding somebody’s hair and gossiping or telling stories while doing so thus in a way hair became tied to some really important memories to me so I could not imagine the amount of pain these Indigenous people were in when they were forced to change a part of themselves that they cherished. I already knew that the American government would raise Indigenous children only to know American culture; however, until this class, I did not know that one of their ways to ensure Indigenous people and children wouldn’t have parts of their culture was to essentially spread the lies about their traditions and make important parts of their culture seem wicked or evil honestly upsets me because there is a good number of people who grew up with aspects of their culture which they take pride in and cherish as parts of one’s identity which makes me understand a great deal of why so many cultures such as Indigenous people have generational trauma, it’s because they were essentially stripped all their identities and forced into a mold they were never meant to fit. The topic that upsets me the most from what we’ve learned this week is the way that the American government, in particular the military, from the articles we have read, has essentially created their own rule as a way to somehow hide the horrific things that were done to these children. The way these indigenous children were buried or discarded also frustrates me because learning that often these graves didn’t only have one body and instead were lumped together as if they were nothing hurts, especially because I have younger siblings and even imagining them in somewhat similar situations to what these children had to go through pains me immensely and I can only hope that they at least found peace in death.