LITR 5731: Seminar in American Multicultural Literature

Student Research Project , spring 2006

Giselle Hewitt

LITR 5731 2006 research project

Minorities and Authority:  A Strained Relationship

The strained relationship between minorities and “dominant institutions” can be found peppered throughout minority literature.  When entering into this other world one can find themselves crossing through steel bars chained to an identity deeply embedded with fear and “mistrust” of authority.  This relationship often becomes an identifiable marking of minority literature.  Throughout the history of African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans a “contract” was “forced” upon them by those in authority positions and a hierarchy was created. 

            I wanted to research this relationship from as many angles as possible before looking at the literature.  First I wanted to view the historical background of these minorities and authority.  How was this dynamic created?  I also wanted to see if this relationship existed outside of literature.  Being a security officer for Space Center Houston, I decided to conduct a survey to gather co-workers initial attitudes and perceptions they had in their initial meeting with the security department.  Was there any difference in minorities’ initial feelings towards security?  Next, I wanted to know whether a minority in a position of authority was treated any differently by other minorities.  I decided to conduct an interview with a police officer who identifies as a “double minority” (Mexican American woman) to see what difficulties and issues she has encountered while being on both sides of the relationship.  Does being a minority in a position of authority change the relationship?  The final angle I wanted to visit before viewing the literature was whether or not minorities who have entered the criminal justice system are being discriminated against.  I have chosen to view and summarize the sociological text Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffrey Reiman in order to get a closer look at the existing problems in the criminal justice system today.  Is the criminal justice system reinforcing the strained minority/authority relationship?

Minorities and Authority:  How was this dynamic created?

Brief History of African Americans and Authority

African Americans were forced from their homes into ships and taken to America to be sold on blocks like cattle to plantation owners and other rich white landowners.  Laws were written to protect the “masters” and to grant them complete rights over their “property”.  For example, in the Virginia Slave Laws it is written that the “master” has the right to discipline his slaves and if the slave “by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accounted felony, but the master be acquitted from molestation, since it cannot be presumed that premeditated malice should induce any man to destroy his own estate (Henning 260).”  The very nature of such a law creates a very strong enforcing arm for those in authority. 

From the beginning African Americans were put into a very tense relationship with the law and other authority figures.  However, this relationship did not end with slavery.   African Americans have had a long battle attempting to secure the certain basic rights allowed to other citizens.  Many times they were met during their peaceful demonstrations with abuse from authority or they were simply unprotected from the violence of others.  For example on Mother’s Day May 14, 1961, a group called the Freedom Riders who were protesting the bans on the public bus system were taking a bus from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans.  They were “met by a mob of about 200 angry people in Anniston, Alabama” and “severely beaten”.  Birmingham's Public Safety Commissioner, Bull Conner said that since it was a “holiday” he couldn’t put police at the bus station; however, it was later discovered that there was pre-warning of the attack and the city police decided to allow the attack without their protection.  Alabama governor John Patterson offered no apologies, explaining, "When you go somewhere looking for trouble, you usually find it . . . You just can't guarantee the safety of a fool and that's what these folks are, just fools (Williams 62).”

Brief History of Native Americans and Authority

Native Americans were forced from their lands, killed, and forced to assimilate (children taken from them and sent to “white” schools), and then shoved into a remote pockets of land and romanticized by the dominant culture.  It was viewed to be better for them if their children were taken and brought up proper as seen in Erdrich’s American Horse.  Buddy is taken from his mother and uncle because the poverty and problems surrounding the house were seen as unfit compared to dominant culture standards.  Even as a child Buddy understands the relationship between the dominant and minority culture and knows that he is seen as lower in status.  At one point Buddy whispers to his mom, “cops suck the worst because they’re after us (IA 210-220.”  Authority figures are not seen as protectors, but as disrupters because they are symbols of the dominant culture, who have tried to take away their culture and give them a new one.

            The dominant culture used authority figures to force Native Americans to comply.  They were pushed from their homes by soldiers and forced to sign treaties which were seldom upheld.  Those who attempted to question their power were either harmed further or ignored altogether.  On a visit to Washington, D.C. in 1879, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce wrote, “I have asked some of the Great White Chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please.  They cannot tell me…they all say they are my friends, and that I shall have justice, but while all their mouths talk right I do not understand why nothing is done for my people (Fee 262).”  Those in authority chose to ignore the complaints of Chief Joseph because they felt they had the power to do so.  They did not need to offer him an explanation.

Brief History of Mexican Americans and Authority

Mexican Americans are seen as minorities because a large portion of what is now America was at one point Mexico, but was taken away from them.  Many of the great separatists who helped win independence for Texas were ostracized after the war and forced to leave because they were now seen as others.  Even though these men fought alongside Texans as comrades, they were now feared and thought to be enemies.  Juan Seguin, for example, was the provisional mayor of San Antonio and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto helping Texas secure independence from Mexico.  However, after independence was won he and many other tejano residents were expelled from Texas to Mexico.  As Seguin wrote in a journal in 1858 he became, “victim to the wickedness of a few men... a foreigner in [his] native land…”

            Mexican Americans original “social contract” with the dominant culture has led to a minority status and identity fogged with “ambivalence”.  Some relate to the minority narrative, while others follow more of an immigrant pattern and choose to assimilate into the dominant culture.  Those who relate more to the minority culture tend to struggle more with power and those in authority.  A prevalent authority figure feared or disliked by many Mexican Americans is the U.S. Border Patrol.  The Border Patrol can be seen as authority directly linked to their minority status in the U.S., since they are being stopped from entering land they were forced from.  Even though Border Patrol also exists along the U.S./Canada border, the same fear is not exhibited by Canadians wishing to visit or move because they do not have the same unique relationship that the Mexicans do.

Survey on Interaction with Authority: Was there any difference in minorities’ initial feelings towards security?

At Space Center Houston, where I am a security officer, all employees must pass through security control before entering the facility every day.  In order to gain access all crew must show a crew or approved temporary badge before they are allowed to pass security.  I was curious to see what crew member’s feelings towards security would be since everyone must interact with the department daily.  The objective of the survey is to evaluate SCH crew member’s attitudes and perceptions toward authority figures through their initial encounters and interactions with the security department at SCH, and to see if minority crew members answer differently than those within the dominant culture.

            The survey was completed by forty-five crewmembers.  I wanted crew to be able to list which nationality, race, or group most accurately defined them rather than selecting from a prewritten list.  Six main groups were listed:  African American/Black, Mexican American/Mexican, Native American, Hispanic (Salvadorian), Asian American/Asian Indian, and Caucasian/White.  I have chosen three of the survey questions to look at for the purpose of the journal.

Results:

QA:  What set of emotions most accurately describe your feelings you had the first time you met security?  ( ) Indifference / Neutral,  ( ) Anxiety / Uneasiness,  ( ) Fear / Dread

QB:  What level of comfort, on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest), did you feel around the officers during your initial encounter? __________

* In order to get an average, all responses were added up and divided by the number within the group

QC:  Which of the following affected your comfort with security the most?  ( ) Having to interact with security on a daily basis, ( ) Not knowing what powers of authority security had, ( ) Security did not affect my comfort in any way, ( ) Other:____________________

Conclusion:  Before conducting the survey I wasn’t sure I would be able to detect any kind of difference in response at all.  Overall, the crew and security department at SCH function in an informal relationship.  This is why I wanted crew to respond based on their initial encounter with the department.  I was amazed to see the results.  The closer you get to the dominant culture the higher the level of comfort is.  The three main minority groups studied in our class, African American, Native American, and Mexican American, all displayed a much higher level of anxiety, and a dislike for having to interact with security on a daily basis.  However, the three main groups that model the immigrant or dominant culture, Hispanic, Asian American/Asian Indian, and Caucasian, all display more indifference, higher levels of comfort, and appear to be less affected by security overall. 

Minority with Authority:  Does being a minority in a position of authority change the relationship?

I conducted an interview with a Mexican American female police officer in order to see whether she felt being both minority and in a position of authority had any affect on the relationship.  I have selected three separate question and answers that I found interesting.

Q1:  Does being a minority change minorities’ interactions with you as a figure of authority?  For the most part I feel they view me and interact me solely as a figure of authority.  Being a minority doesn’t change their view of me. 

Q2:  Do minorities act differently towards you than they do your partner (white male)?  It has been my experience that they treat us the same except for those people we have in custody.  They tend to plead with me more rather than my partner if they are a minority.

Q3:  Does being a woman change other women’s interactions with you while in uniform? Do men change?  Yes, as a woman minority I feel that the male population views me as a lesser person unless I am in uniform, especially minority males.  Being a woman in uniform tends to challenge other women.  They are often the most difficult population to deal with as a police officer.

Conclusion:  Overall she told me that minorities didn’t see her as a minority, but as authority instead.  If the only time she became a minority was after someone was in custody when they tried to “plead” with her, then I wonder if they saw her minority status as a possible weakness.  I also found it very interesting that being a woman changed the relationship the most.  She was seen as better while in uniform by men, and worse while in uniform with women.  I wonder if men and women equate the uniform to power or manhood.  

Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffery Reiman:  Is the criminal justice system reinforcing the strained minority/authority relationship?

            In the text Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison it is explained that the majority of people in our society believe that the “typical criminal” is a minority with a low economic background, and prisons appear to “mirror” this image when they are observed.  However, the criminal justice system treats those who have less money differently than those who have more money.  Herein lays one of the problems Reiman explains.  We have a distorted image of the true “dangers that threaten” us since we are not taking these other individuals into account (103).

            For example, when we think of murder in our society we picture someone pulling a gun and shooting another individual.  We do not think of the safety manager (usually a member of the dominant culture) who in order to cut cost has skipped a few steps.  We do not view the employee who has died due to these skipped steps as a murder victim. The safety manager’s actions are not seen as murder even though they led to another individual’s death.  The manager knew that if he skipped the steps that it had the potential to lead to death (premeditation), but chose to skip them anyway without any regard for the employee’s or their families (malice).  Often in these cases the manager or company is simply fined.  Reiman states several times throughout the text that he isn’t implying that murderers are any less guilty of the crime they committed or should be allowed out of prison, but that we should rethink our system when those with money aren’t held liable for their actions which were just as deadly and cold as the “murderer”.

            The system creates a false image of criminals when it defines crime based on money.  In our society the majority of poor individuals identify with minority groups, and thus minorities are unduly harmed more by this image.  As Reiman points out minorities are “disproportionately poor”, “more likely than whites to live in disorganized inner-city areas”, more likely to have been “unemployed before arrest”, and more likely to have suffered from “racially and economically biased criminal justice policies” (107-8).  This image is deeply embedded in our society, and it is difficult for those in positions of authority to detach themselves from the image while enforcing law. 

            Reiman also suggests that since those in authority are more “suspicious of certain kinds of people” they will pay more attention to them and are “more likely to detect their criminality”.  I have learned through the security field that it is extremely dangerous to watch select groups more closely than others because it leaves an opening for those who do not fit that description to slip by you.  Also if minorities have a higher chance of being imprisoned than they will find it even harder to overcome the economic difficulties they had before prison.  “[O]nce an individual has a criminal record, it becomes harder for that person to obtain employment, thus increasing the likelihood of future criminal involvement and more serious criminal charges (112).”

            Since minorities are more likely to be poor they are less likely to be able to post bail, and less likely to be able to afford great lawyers.  As Reiman explains many times the prosecutor will “offer a deal” if the person will plead guilty then they will ask that punishment be “time served” (time they were in jail awaiting trial).  Many will take the deal even if they are innocent because they want to get out.  Criminals proven guilty should be punished for their crimes, however, if we are dismissing the crimes of others than we are creating an unfair imbalance for minorities and the poor. 

II. Authority in Minority Literature

In the second half of the research I looked at minority literature and viewed the many different recurring themes that arise when dealing with authority.  I wanted to view what authority looked like in the literature and to view the role they played for the minority.  For the most part I have researched minority fiction/nonfiction texts and poetry.  The themes I will be viewing in the journal are the comparison of the minority experience to prison, a comparison of one’s current situation to ancestor’s relationship with authority, view that crime committed in spite of authority and standing up to the police is a “rite of passage”, and empowerment gained through reversal of the minority/majority roles.

Who are the Prevalent Authority Figures in Minority Literature?

Authority in African American Literature

The prevalent authority figure throughout African American literature is the law system and law enforcement officers.  Police are seen as group primarily made up of the dominant culture.  For example, in Bob Blauner’s article Black Youth and the Ghetto Streets it is explained that, “The people who control society are white, the majority of police is white.  The people who control society control the police (107).”  African Americans were not only treated with harshness, but laws were created to back up those who wanted to do harm to them.  Laws were written to keep them in a position of weakness.  As playwright/novelist Alice Childress once said, “We are the only racial group within the U.S. ever forbidden by law to read and write (Johnson 74).”  Native American children were ripped away from their families and forced into government schools, which is a horrible debilitating act.  However, as shown in the slave narratives of Frederick Douglas and Linda Brent – African American children were taught from an early age that it was a criminal offense to try to read and write and they would be punished for trying.

            African American literature also has a great deal to do with law enforcement and what is called “the system”.  A dominant theme of mistrust of police exists as well as an understanding of the power roles.  For example, Pilate in Morrison’s Song of Solomon knew that when dealing with the police she had to change and pretend she was weak so as to not agitate the situation further.  She “changed her voice…looked short and pitiful” and always answered the cops’ questions with “yassuh boss”.  Precious, in Sapphire’s novel Push, also understood this relationship and the portrayal of her people as “vampire[s] sucking the system’s blood”.  If she is merely an “ugly black grease to be wipe away, punish, kilt, changed…”, then what is the point.  She wanted to rise above this image and become more, to prove she was a “beautiful chile like white chile.”

Authority in Native American Literature

The main authority figure seen in Native American literature is the government and representations of the government.  Native Americans’ initial contact with authority was with soldiers, who were sent in mass by the government to clear the land so more settlers could come in.  Many Native Americans tried to compromise and work with the government, but as seen in Alexie’s Lone Ranger and Tonto these “promises” and “treaties” were like a “sudden rain” that could make you “lose [your] grip”.  Treaties were often broken if it benefited the government to do so like in Black Elk Speaks when the government forced Black Elk’s group from their land they had been promised because the land was discovered to be highly lucrative.  This has added to the loss of trust and a feeling of helplessness.

            Thomas Builds-the-Fire is the character who isn’t afraid to talk about the harm the government has caused his people, and he is punished for it.  In one scene Thomas is talking to a gymnast on a plane who is explaining how the “government…screwed the 1980 Olympic team by boycotting” and Thomas responds by saying, “Sounds like you got a lot in common with Indians (67).”  Later in the story Thomas is sent to prison for telling a story about murdering two soldiers.  When asked if he killed them he explains that he had to fight the “war”.  He is sent to prison for “two concurrent life terms in the Walla Walla state penitentiary” with “no possibility for parole” because “the new federal sentencing guidelines” allow “a life sentence for racially motivated murder (102).”  They knew that he was speaking on behalf of his people and that he hadn’t really committed murder, but they punished him for trying to invoke “changes in the tribal vision (93).”

Authority in Mexican American Literature

Throughout Mexican American literature the most common authority figure seen are those who patrol the border.  The border patrol has the power to deny them access into the land that once belonged to their ancestors.  Many who are able to make it across to the United States are in constant fear of being sent back, and some who go back to check on family fear they won’t be able to cross back over.

            Pat Mora’s poem La Migra contains a vivid image of the fear and power loss that occurs when dealing with those who guard the border.  In the poem two children are playing a game called “La Migra”.  One kid says to the other “I’ll be the Border Patrol.  You be the Mexican maid.  I get the badge and sunglasses.  You can run and hide, but you can’t get away because I have a jeep.”  Here the poem has established the authority and minority relationship.  The “Border Patrol” kid then says, “I’ve got boots and kick—if I have to, and I have handcuffs.  Oh, and a gun.  Get ready, get set, run (UA 367).”  One has all the markings of an authority figure and the means in which to use them, while the other is completely powerless. 

Comparison of the Minority Experience to Prison

As defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary, prison is a “place or condition of confinement or a state of captivity”.   A common theme within minority literature is the comparison of the minority experience to “confinement” or “captivity”.   If being a minority means one can’t escape institutional discrimination and fear of authority, than simply being a minority is a form of imprisonment.  In Linda Hogan’s poem The New Apartment: Minneapolis she writes, “I remember this war…and relocation like putting the moon in prison with no food…(343).”  She is comparing her minority status to the unnatural imprisonment of the “moon”.   She lives in an “apartment” in “Minneapolis” because she was forced by those in authority to “relocate”, and this is unnatural.

Historically, minorities have been discriminated against in regards to housing.  They were limited to certain areas, which often received less or little government aid.  These pockets of minority life are often compared to a prison in minority literature.  For example, in Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem Immigrants in Our Own Land he writes “my cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines…across the way Joey is sticking his hands through the bars to hand Felipe a cigarette…(UA 8)”  Baca is comparing the barrio to a prison cell.  Another example of this can be seen in Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto when the character Thomas Builds-the-Fire is on a bus heading to prison.  He talks about how the other minority “prisoners…shared this bus which was going to deliver them into a new kind of reservation, barrio, ghetto, logging-town shack.”  Prison was seen as an extension of the world these men were coming from. 

Comparison of Current Struggle with Authority to Ancestors’ Struggle

Throughout the minority literature viewed a link has been made between the person’s current struggles with authority to their ancestors’ struggle.  This shows the minorities inability to escape from the relationship that has been created with those in authority.  For example, in Kimberly M. Blaeser’s poem Certificate of Live Birth she writes, “[p]erhaps some memory of that first helplessness makes me struggle still against capture (UA 337).”  The minority is often stuck in between two worlds and finds themselves unable to separate from the past.  They must ask whether they would be in the same predicament if their ancestor’s hadn’t experienced their struggle.  In Alexie’s Lone Ranger and Tonto this problem is modeled when it is said, “Imagine Colombus landed in 1492 and some tribe or another drowned him in the ocean.  Would Lester FallsApart still be shoplifting in the 7-11?”  This is to say if the “invasion of Christopher Columbus” (Alexie Vision 2) had been stopped in some way would any Native American be in a the position of needing where crime was seen as necessary for survival?

The minority experience becomes an unending condition and the struggle with authority is seen as an aspect that remains.  As seen in Luis J. Rodriguez’s poem We Never Stopped Crossing Borders he writes, “We kept jumping hurdles, kept breaking the constraints, kept evading the border guards of every new trek (UA 6).”  The poem shows that no matter what “trek” or journey they strike out on the struggle will be a constant in their lives.  They have and “never” will “stop crossing borders”.  This constant is also seen in Louise Erdrich’s poem Indian Boarding School:  The Runaway where some young Native Americans are trying to runaway from the government school, but a “sheriff’s waiting at midrun to take [them] back”.  He then explains that the “worn-down welts of ancient punishment lead back and forth (UA 26).”  The minority experience becomes somewhat of a virtual tug-o-war with authority. 

Often the minority becomes a representative for their ancestors.  They carry the pain their ancestors felt from authority.  As is seen in Chrystos’ I Walk in the History of My People, the writer explains how her ancestors struggle has become her own.  She writes, “There are women locked in my joints for refusing to speak to police. My red blood full of those arrested…In the scars of my knees you can see the children torn from their families bludgeoned into government schools (UA 303).”  The minority experience takes all of the discrimination and harm that has been caused to the group in the past and envelopes them with the future.  The experience of their ancestors becomes a part of them they can’t escape from much like a “scar”. 

Crime in Spite of Authority and Standing up to the Police as a “Rite of Passage”

In The Lone Ranger and Tonto crime is seen as a “rite of passage” or a way for the young to become “warriors”.  “It was too late to be warriors in the old ways” and they now had to find “honor” in new ways.  This shows that the traditions of the Native American culture have continued, however, they have been skewed to encompass their new situation.   Two boys searching for this “honor” decided to use crime to show they were “warriors”.  They “stole a car and drove to the city…parked the stolen car in front of the police station” and then returned home.  When the boys got back home they were greeted by friends who “cheered”, and “their parent’s eyes shone with pride” because they had proven that they “were very brave”.   The boys were not only able to steal a car, but they were “brave” enough to sneak up on the enemy (police) and leave it on their doorstep. 

            Another example of the “rite of passage” coming into play can be seen in the assertion of oneself as being old enough to handle those in authority.  In Bob Blauner’s article Black Youth and the Ghetto Streets it is said that, “Right now the younger black is equating defiance of authority (best symbolized by the police) with a show of masculinity.”  If the young male is able to stand up to the police when he is confronted then he is able to assert himself as a “man”.  He also explains that they “really want to obey the law, but if this cat pushes him, he’s gonna let him know, ‘I’m a man (109).’”  This type of assertion can also be seen in an interview with writer Nathan McCall in Swing Low: Black Men Writing by Rebecca Carroll, where he explains that “one of the chief barometers of manhood is whether or not you can stand up to the white man.”  McCall says that when growing up he didn’t see his stepfather as a role model because he saw him “on his knees, working in white people’s gardens”, but when he “looked out on the corner of the block, and the brothers were out there posturing” he saw that as being a man.  It wasn’t until later on in life after serving time in prison that he learned “that you’re not more of a man if you can fight” and that he had been searching for a “sense of integrity” where he felt “unbought and unbossed (149).”

Empowerment Through Role Reversal

Strength Gained in Minority/Majority Role Reversal in Prison

When the minority is in a position to reverse the roles, some power is regained.  In Nathan McCall’s autobiography Makes Me Wanna Holler:  A Young Black Man in America he recalls an incident when a “white executive”, who was caught in a “white-collar rip-off”, had to spend a day inside his cell.  He explains the terror this white man had on his face saying, “For him, the world had turned upside down and inside out:  Black people were in the majority, and they ran things; white people were in the minority, and they were oppressed.”  The other minority inmates used this opportunity “to strike back at somebody who represented the very system that made life hell.”  In group session later on in the day everyone took turns asking him questions and “loving the sight of a powerful white man squirming in the clutches of powerless blacks” making this rich executive feel “like an alien in a hostile world” and like he was a “victim of recurring injustices (162-165).”  Even though they knew his stay at the prison would be brief and that he had enough money to find great legal representation, they felt power for a moment.  However, the power gained still contains the markings of a minority experience since they were only able to gain such power in the confines of a prison.

Crime as a Role Reversal

Minority literature sometimes takes power in role reversing acts, which require a criminal aspect to them.  The literature I have viewed talks about crime as a way to “even out the score”.  One such example can be seen in David Hernandez’s poem Martin and My Father where he says, “I used to pack a .357 Magnum and if anybody messed with me I would aim, pull the trigger and feel the kick of the gun saturated in spic anger.  I wanted to kill all the racist pigs in the world (UA 349).”  The writer talks about getting rid of those in authority who are “racist” towards him and his people in order to gain power.

            Another example of power gained through crime can be seen in Morrison’s Song of Solomon with the “Seven Days” the society that Guitar belongs to.  This group looks for cases of blacks being murdered by whites and if “nothing is done about it by their law and their courts, this society selects a similar [white] at random, and they execute him or her in a similar manner if they can” so they can ensure that justice is done.  Guitar and the other members do not see anything wrong with their actions since the “crimes they committed were legitimate” and only meant to be used to “even out the score”.

Alternate Role Reversal

Another form of the role reversal can be seen when the minority flips the situation around on those in authority and regains some power.  This can be seen in the poem I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government by Chrystos when she writes, “We declare you terminated…We revoke your immigration papers (UA 304).”  The minority in this poem takes the power away from the authority and sends them on their way.  Even though she hasn’t actually removed them, she gains power in stating her wishes.  This is the most positive of the empowerment options I have found in minority literature.

Conclusion

When setting out to begin my research I wanted to get a good feel of both the historical and the literary relationship between minorities and those in authority.  I was curious to see whether a strained relationship was a valid “quick check on minority status”.  I have found an overwhelming amount of information that backs up the reason for the relationship and the fact that this unique relationship still exists. 

In the first half of the research I felt the survey results showed that, even though the security department at SCH was informal they had an impact on the initial comfort levels of minority crew members.  In my interview with the minority police officer I found that being a member of authority overall outweighed being a minority, except when it is seen as a possible way to find weakness.  In my analysis of Jeffrey Reiman’s text Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison a great deal of evidence backing up the idea that unfair policy and procedure has created a false image of the “typical criminal” and the criminal justice system has helped to reinforce the strain in the relationship of minorities and authority. 

In the second half of the research I looked at the representatives of authority found throughout African American, Native American, and Mexican American literature.  I wanted to find certain recurring themes of the relationship with authority in order to get a better grasp of the relationship.  The most interesting themes found was the comparison of the minority experience to prison, the comparison of their current struggle with authority to the struggle of their ancestors, standing up to authority as a “rite of passage”, and empowerment through role reversal.  What do these themes say about the minority/authority relationship?  Overall I found the relationship to be portrayed as a characteristic of minority literature that is an unending constant often seen as a form of imprisonment.  I also found that empowerment is often gained through untraditional means, and a sense of self is often felt when the minority is able to stand up to authority.

Works Cited

---.  “New Perspective of The West”  Juan Seguin. 2001. The West Film Project. http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/seguin.htm

Alexie, Sherman.  The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.   NY: HarperPerennial, 1994.

Brown, Wesley and Ling, Amy.  Imagining America – Stories from the Promised Land:      A Multicultural Anthology of American Fiction.  NY: Persea Books, 2002.

Blauner, Bob. “Black Youth and the Ghetto Streets.” from Black Lives, White Lives: Three Decades of Race Relations in America.  1989:  107-121.

Carroll, Rebecca.  Swing Low: Black Men Writing.  NY:  Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995.

Fee, Chester A. Chief Joseph: The Biography of a Great Indian. NY: Wilson-Erickson, 1936.

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.  The Classic Slave Narratives.  NY:  Penguin-Mentor:  1987.

Gillian and Gillian, eds.  Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry.  NY:  Penguin, 1994.

Hening, William Waller.  “Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia” Vol. 11 (1809-23): 170, 260, 266, 270.

Johnson, Venice.  Voices of the Dream: African American Women Speak.  San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995.

McCall, Nathan.  Makes Me Wanna Holler:  A Young Black Man in America.  NY: Vintage, 1995.

Morrison, Toni.  Song of Solomon.  NY: Plume, 1987

Neihardt, John G. and Black Elk.  Black Elk Speaks.  University of Nebraska Press: Bison Books, 2000.

Reiman, Jeffrey.  The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice.  American University:  Pearson, 2004.

Sapphire.  Push.  NY:  Random House, 1996.

Williams, Juan.  Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965.  New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1987.