Learning to change my perspective

After growing up learning from the average American history textbooks and having my teachers tell me the myths of Columbus and Thanksgiving, it is hard to change my perspective. As I read Loewen I know that his data is accurate and that I grew up learning the wrong information but, at the same time, I tend to hold onto my ideas. It is easier to believe that America's past was happy-go-lucky and full of heroic figures. It is hard to realize that what I have always known to be true is actually lies or half-truths. I feel racist for feeling nostalgic for the past that I always knew but I just want to believe that Thanksgiving is a holiday worth celebrating. I don't want to think that my ancestors played a role in ruining other people.

It makes me feel frustrated with my elementary school teachers for not trying to teach us about other cultures and other ways that America was "settled". I remember learning about the American Indians crossing the Bering Strait but the teachers never seemed to tell us in a way that made it seem like they had settled here. Instead, it seemed like they were just passersby who happened to be here when the whites came.

I grew up in a small town that is bordered by reservations. We did not have any American Indians in our school but played against the reservation schools in sports. Quite a few people in my town had that idea that whites were superior to others and held very traditional views about history. Their stereotypical views filtered into the school system and so I remember being afraid of the reservation. Coming to college has really changed my worldview and I am ashamed of my past ideas. Alexie's poetry is also playing a role in changing my mind about the reservations. I feel his experiences as I read the poetry and have gained empathy toward what the Indians are going through. I'm so happy that I have taken multicultural courses at Whitworth that have helped shape me into a more compassionate and open-minded person.