Carlos Marquina

American Minorities: What Became of Our Dream?

               Chrystos’s poem, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” exposes the limitations of the American dream felt by Native Americans. She states, “No one wants to go there. This US is theory  illusion/ terrible ceremony… No this US is not a good idea  We declare you terminated/ You’ve had your fun now go home we’re tired.” The American dream that has attracted immigrants from all over the world over the past four hundred years is a failed experiment to what was an already established dominant culture for the Native Americans. America, based on the ideals of the basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, failed to include two major cultures into its experiment: the Native Americans and the African slaves that were brought to American shores by force.

               The difference between the immigrant narrative and the minority narrative is mainly the matter of choice. Immigrants choose to come to America and assimilate into the established dominant culture in the hopes of improving their economic and/or educational status. Native Americans, however, were already present when the first settlers arrived. The Puritan settlers, following in the tradition of the Exodus Jews, refused to mix with the natives. The Puritans believed that this “new” land was their Promised Land, where they could freely exercise their religious and social traditions. The theme of the dominant American culture “rolling over” the native culture is seen throughout the narrative selections for the course. In the story American Horse, by Louise Erdrich, Buddy dreams of “a large thing made of metal with many barbed hooks, points, and drag chains on it, something like a giant potato peeler that rolled out of the sky, scraping clouds down with it and jabbing or crushing everything that lay in its path on the ground.” Later in the story, the white social worker and policemen that take him from his home are described as “the sharp things all around him.” In Leslie Marmon Silko’s story, The Man to Send Rain Clouds, the priest is annoyed that he wasn’t informed of Teofilo’s death. When Leon tells the priest that Last Rites weren’t necessary, the priest replies, “For a Christian burial it was necessary.” There is no choice in the matter for the natives. Either they conform to the dominant culture brought by the Europeans, or they get rolled over and pounded into the ground.

               Although the immigrant chooses on his or her own accord to come to America and assimilate, there is still a period of resistance. During this period, the immigrant must decide whether she will conform to the laws of America or be expelled from it. In Far’s In the Land of the Free, Hom Hing explains to his wife that they must follow the law as immigration officers take away their son. America is not a system of laws, not people. Paper, rather than men, becomes the operating factor of American ideals. Both children in Far’s story and Erdrich’s are taken from their parents and home because of a paper order. The literary tradition of the dominant culture overshadows the face-to-face traditions of the Old World. This reliance on paper authority rather than human authority is the main criticism of Chrystos’s poem.

               The African-American minority has also suffered through the reliance of paper in the dominant culture. According to the Constitution of the United States, African slaves were to be considered three-fifths of a person and not eligible for citizenship. Native Americans were not eligible for citizenship either. The founding of the nation’s laws followed a color code where light (good, rational) and dark (evil, irrational) values were transferred to a person’s skin color. For the minority, this color code makes it impossible to ever fully assimilate to the dominant culture. Work ethic, religion, customs, and language can be changed but skin color can never be changed. From the point of view of the minority if the dominant culture associates whiteness with goodness, then blackness will always be badness. And blackness cannot be erased from someone’s skin. The narrator in Patricia Smith ‘s poem “practiced kissing, because to be blonde and white/ meant to be kissed…When I was white, my name was Donna/ My teeth were perfect.” Her poem, “Blonde White Women,” expresses her childhood desire to be a white girl. She desired for her white teacher to be her mother. To be white was to be first, to be something. Yet when the teacher rejects her because she is black, the narrator realizes that her beauty lies in her blackness. Even if this blackness removes her from the dominant culture.

               The immigrants, especially non-Europeans, also suffer from the discrimination that the color code presents. In Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs, Jayanti and her aunt are assaulted by some neighborhood white boys and are called “nigger.” Although they are Indian and part of a model minority that has achieved a higher level of success than other immigrant groups, the color code still blocks their access to complete assimilation into the dominant culture. Despite the difficulty of breaking through the color code, the immigrant still pursues access into the dominant culture. Color is just another barrier like language. The minority, on the other hand, refuses to buy into the American dream and do not assimilate.

               In The Lesson, Miss Moore takes the children on a field trip to a toy store where all the toys are way beyond their economic reach. Instead of being impressed and asking how they can gain access to this wealth, the children instead sense that something is wrong. They know that this is out of their reach. It won’t matter how hard they try or how much they fall into place. The American dream is not within their reach. Sugar asks, “Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don’t it?” The lesson disturbs the narrator and she seems to imply that she will play a different game. Not the game in which the dominant culture will always win, but a game in which she won’t be able to be beat.