William Bradford once called the New World a land of "wild beasts and wild men." It is always interesting to me the ways that we describe people who are different from us. I see it all the time. An Asian student walks into a room and some ignorant child yells out "ching, chung, chang!" A Muslim man walks into a business and people walk to the other side or leave, sure that he is a terrorist. A single woman with three children of mixed race walks down the street and people assume she sleeps around and is probably ghetto and on welfare. Those of you who read The Poisonwood Bible will remember the way that the Prices viewed the Congolese people when they arrived on the "wild, uncivilized" African continent. We are really good at stereotyping. We are really good at making assumptions about people. We are really good at being wrong.
William Bradford was wrong. The "wild" men he encountered, now dubbed Native Americans in a nod to their "first nation" status, were quite civilized. They had families and homes and a functioning society. They were not savages bent on death and destruction. As a matter of fact, they didn't become violent with the settlers until it became clear that the European settlers had no intention of sharing land and food with them. As they lost their land, their families, their food, and their ability to survive, they fought back. For it, they were labeled as ruthless, violent people who murdered for no reason. Their love and compassion, their desire to be providers for their families, and their knowledge of the land and its terrible beauty all went unnoticed.
Certainly, we should have learned better. Certainly we should have stopped making hurried assumptions about people who are different from us. But should is a difficult word. We often choose not to do what we should because it is too difficult, and we suffer for that choice. Just think how much the Europeans could have learned from the Native Americans. Just think of how much we could have learned from non-violent Muslims in the days following 9/11, how much we could have understood about gentle people who didn't condone the violence of a few. Just think of how much knowledge and peace could arise from withholding our judgments based on "race" and language.
Think about what life must have been like for the Native Americans during the 1500s and beyond as their land was taken and they were viewed as evil. How does that mirror life today? For extra credit, write one page(in pen or typed) about a time when either you misjudged/stereotyped someone else or when someone misjudged/stereotyped you. Explain the situation, how you felt, how the truth was revealed and what the experience taught you. Turn in the paper by Thursday, September 1.
