“What Are You?”: Racial Ambiguity and the Social Construction of Race in the Us Page: 76
View a full description of this dissertation.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
right in front of your face. I was at a July Fourth parade in Lexington, Kentucky one time.
And people say there's no Indians in Kentucky either. I was standing there talking to
some people that were clearly Indian, you know, they were selling stuff on the street, and
wares, bee wares, porcupine quill wares, things they had made, and the deputy mayor, I
asked him why are there no Indians in the parade. And he says "there are no Indians in
Kentucky" standing there right in front of an Indian family!
David was flabbergasted that the mayor would say that when Native Americans were right in
front of him.
Mary, an Eastern Shoshone woman who was born on a reservation in Wyoming,
described herself as a very passive person who had been bullied and ostracized by both her white
classmates because she was Native and participating in extracurricular activities that other
Natives didn't take part in, and her Native playmates on the reservation because her family did
not take part in all the American Indian rituals and community activities. She described how it
felt to be excluded, especially by whites in town at school after they realized she was American
Indian:
Yes, and it's very hurtful some of the things that they can do; the looks that they give
you, or they talk behind your back, and then you find out what they're saying. It's very
hurtful and so you just (stay away) from those situations because if you're not wanted,
then why be there? You don't want to be miserable, and it wasn't that important to me, so
I didn't fight the system, I just gave up on it because if you're not around people that
really like you, then why be there? I'm a very passive person anyway. But I'm not sure
how I got that way.
Later, when Mary was an adult married woman she lived with her white husband for several
decades in southern California where most people assumed she was Latina until the subject of
her race came up in conversations.
When I lived in California, I went to a party that my husband, that his work people gave,
and they found out that I was Indian, and several of the ladies walked up and said 'can I
touch you? I've never touched an Indian.' And it's like where did you (inaudible), why
do you want to touch an Indian? I mean, man, I just looked at them like they lost their
marbles or something.
When the couple got home and Mary told her husband about her experience he was shocked at76
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This dissertation can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Dissertation.
Smith, Starita. “What Are You?”: Racial Ambiguity and the Social Construction of Race in the Us, dissertation, May 2012; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115163/m1/83/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .