Chapter 4 Written Reflection

Table 3

Ulyses Urias Rivas

FYS 191

07/17/23

After reading Chapter 4 I came to the conclusion that there was a whole settlement of knowing
about Native Americans. It seemed as follows that there was a lot to be said about Native Americans and
how their image was portrayed as being in a way savages to a “start of life”. From being one of the first
people to roam the world as in the “Americas”. From what I got and understood it seemed that our
textbooks this whole time were giving us details we didn’t need. Instead of going into the past and
learning about the truth of things they took us into the past but gave us the nonrealistic present of the
Native Americans. It’s needless to say that I understand where everything is coming from these textbooks
to present the fact that everyone is doing it for a check and I get it. Anyone can use other textbooks to
summarize and say the same stuff over and over for students to understand and for teachers to teach but
back to the chapter. It seemed in my eyes that it was portraying Native Americans as less than what they
were being presented as a theme of what things occurred in history in our textbooks. It presents the facts
that we get a lie or a fact of something else to our face. What shocked me was what this chapter states
“There is not one Indian in the whole of this country who does not cringe in anguish and frustration
because of these textbooks. There is not one Indian child who has not come home in shame and tears”
(Costo, 93). I know it was right in the beginning of this chapter but this hurt me when I read it. Now I
imagined myself and my culture’s background being talked about in a negative way just because these
textbooks say that. I imagine a child hearing this and getting judged now. What kind of world is this?
Times have changed, things have changed, and not everything is the same anymore. People grow and
become better.
Everything seemed to be in the eyes of the whites. The whites had everything, they seemed more
valued because they were “white”, it changed the fact that a lot was wrong with this Native Americans
needed to be seen as people and even if they were they were still looked down on. Like that’s what I don’t
understand, like it hurts me to believe that yes the past of Native Americans was hard but to make it seem
like this makes it harder on everyone reading. The way that Native Americans tried to fit in with white
standards and still couldn’t be seen as white Americans because they were Natives. What I see and what I
feel after reading this chapter is that we need new historians that will give us the truth and provide a bit
more and not lie to us. I got the meaning of how everything was for Native Americans back then and how
they were seen now. I feel like it’s because how we view history it’s how people are treated and viewed
now. Now it’s the time of coming of age. We need the truth and the real viewpoints of Native Americans,
not the lies or stories to make the reader question. It’s time for change and a better view to connect,
communicate, and understand.