Video Reflections

The two videos I watched are called, ¨Stolen Children¨ and ¨Changing the way we see Native Americans¨. These two videos contained information about Native Americans and the way the live/lived. I was interested in both of these videos but I preferred watching Stolen Children more because it made me think about how children were raised back then and how lucky I am to be not living in that condition.

The first video that I watched was called Stolen Children and it was about 3 survivors of residential schools talking about their experiences. Children back then were separated from their families and placed in these schools because it was believed that that was the way to educate children properly. If they broke any rule, however, they were abused and this was sometimes called as bench party and it usually occurred after supper. They were not allowed to speak in their native tongue and it made them feel like strangers in their native land. The children of the survivors were often also beaten if they did something bad because that was the way their parents went through.

I found this video interesting to watch because it taught me a lot about the way children had to go through back then. It also made me realize how lucky I am to not attend a school that beats children as a punishment. This video reminded me of how slaves were treated before. Slaves were not allowed to speak in their native tongue and if they did, they were severely punished. This is just like the children in residential schools since they were not allowed to speak in their native tongue. The children were punished harshly because it set an example to other children of what they should not do. This reminded me of Leisler's Rebellion and how William and Mary punished him severely for showing the people to not mess with William and Mary.

The second video I watched was called Changing the way we see Native Americans and it was a photographer named Matika Wilbur showing photographs of Native American role models, to show that Native Americans are not like how the media portrays it. Cheyenne people were taught to listen more than to speak and to fight for everything. None of the tribes would identify themselves as Indians but would identify themselves as the name of their tribe.

This video taught me new things about Native Americans. They are filled with wisdom and I appreciate how they fight for what is theirs and they believe is right. The media does not portray them in the right way and Native Americans are usually portrayed as people who ride on horses to hunt and get high when they are much more than that. They are also seen as one thing when there are actually many different tribes that believe in different things and speak different languages. This reminds me of how also Asians are portrayed in the media. In the media, Asians are portrayed as intelligent people who have chinky eyes when there are Asians that are not like that. Like me, I am not intelligent and I do not have chinky eyes but I am Asian.I think that the media should stop portraying them as something they are not because people will believe the media and out labels on Native Americans that are false.

These two videos, in my opinion, were informative and they helped me see Native Americans in a different perspective.