Karmaneha Jordan Ant.101: Instructor Dr. Marjorie Estivill June 12, 2014
What happened to the Native American children in the film, like thousands of other Native American children they were taken. In the midst of their helpless parents these Native American children were carted off without regard or permission. Stolen away by men and transported in box cars from all they had known and loved with no regard. What must that horror and perverse travesty been like to endure? One can only know if they did survive. It is said that the women sang the “Child Death Song”, because they knew as the whole tribe must have that when and if they came back they would never be the same. This surely must have been because of assimilation which is, “the process by which a society experiencing acculturation changes so much that it is hardly distinguishable from a more dominant one”. (as cited in Crapo, R.H. (2013). Cultural anthropology. San Diego, Ca: Bridgepoint Education. Why the American government decided to assimilate these Native Americans is because from President A. Jackson, to Capt. Richard Pratt in their minds they were trying to kill the Indian in them and same the man. The effects long term on the entire Native American culture were and have been devastating. From low self-esteem and the addictions that follow, the generations suffering, and the lack of parenting skills that were never taught, all of these are wounds that still bear scares on a nation of culture.
