Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group Member

I came home from school today very upset. My mother asked me why I was so sad. I told her that some kids on the playground had sad some hurtful things to me. They kept telling people that I live in a tee pee and asking me if I knew where I left my horse. All of the kids started calling me a dirty Indian and saying that my family is nothing but salvages.

After I calmed down some Momma said it was time that I learn more about my ancestors. She told me to get ready to go and see our family. I was so excited. I hadn’t been to the reservation in several years. Some of our family still lives out there, and I was very happy to go and see my cousins again.

Driving down the long dirt road into the reservation, I was awe struck by the calmness of the land. There were kids running everywhere, laughing and calling out to each other. I couldn’t wait to get out of the car and find my cousins. When we came to a stop I asked if I could play for a while. Momma agreed and I was off to find my cousins. They cheered when they saw me and we ran off to play some ball with the other kids. I was so glad to be surrounded by people like myself and to be so far away from the evil kids at my school. I asked my cousin Cierra about where she went to school. She told me that there was a school right there on the reservation. I found out from her that she very rarely leaves the reservation. She longed to be in the city just as much as I longed to be on the reservation.

As it started to get dark Momma called me inside my uncle’s house. Sitting at the table was a very old looking man. My uncle told me that he had asked him there to talk about our heritage. I sat across from them and when I looked at him I noticed that even though he looked very old, his eyes had a twinkle in them. His English was very broken and it was hard to understand him at first. He smiled when he told me that there are many stories about our people. Some of them good, and some of them bad. He...