Challenging our thoughts

I was very impressed by the articles we read this week, which can be found at:

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v019/19.2bird.pdf

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v022/22.1yellow_bird.pdf

Whether people agree with Professor Michael Yellow Bird’s views or not, the articles sure fire people up. Although I agreed with many of the points made in the articles, I shared them with other’s whom did not agree with many of the arguments made. While we disagreed about many of the issues discussed, the articles were powerful because they challenged us, made us think, and brought out the passion in us.

I feel very strongly about Professor Ward Churchill’s statement about American’s deserving the attacks on the World Trade Center. Even though I don’t feel that anyone deserves to die, I do believe that we as a country, bring things on ourselves. Many Americans think that we can impose our ideas and way of life on everyone because we our the most powerful, intelligent, and successful country. This kind of thinking leads people to believe that we are untouchable, that we can do whatever we want to others but nobody can do anything to us. Even more so, we still oppress those within our country that do not fit into the mainstream society.

As I planned a trip overseas, I went to pick up an application for a passport. While I was completing the application, I came across the section that asked for my nationality. Without thinking twice about it, I wrote in Mexican. Only after a family member pointed it out, did I realize that I had made a mistake. Although I was born and raised in America, I was so used to identifying myself as Mexican, that I wrote in Mexican rather than American. However, every time I travel abroad I tend to identify myself as Mexican. In spite of the fact that I appreciate the rights we have in America, even thought they are not always upheld (like with Professor Churchill), I know that our Americanized patriotic ways have made us nearly everyone’s foe.

During past trips outside this country, when I occasionally identified myself as an American, I was looked at in a negative way, criticized for my country’s acts and some people even stopped talking to me. Yet, when I stated I was Mexican living in the United States, people were more accepting and friendly towards me. It’s not that I’m ashamed of being from America but I am ashamed about continuous ethnocentric attitudes and atrocious actions taken in the name of our country. An example of the current ethnocentric views were illustrated in the comments made by people opposing Professor Churchill, such as “I’m glad the Indians were wiped out” (Yellow Bird, 2007). Why should people making these statements be afforded the right to Freedom of Speech, while someone as educated as Professor Churchill can be stripped of his rights. Not only can these people make these appalling statements, which illustrate their ignorance and racism, but they get away with it. We need to stop teaching the ethnocentric version of history and begin to teach the truth.