Misreploring Stereotypes In Melissa Kay Thompson's Native Americans

Thompson believes that if the majority of critics say that they enjoyed a reading and only a few say that they didn’t like the plot of the story Native Americans will continue to be portrayed in a negative manner. These books are used in educating children and they are false accounts of the tragic events that happened to Native Americans because white people are viewed as the victims. Thompson also points out some of the flaws that are obvious in several scholarly books that discuss the misrepresentation of the Native Americans. Scholarly authors will shame the authors that created the novels for the stereotypes but, will praise a novel for having good plots or storylines. Lastly, Thompson discusses the main issues in her conclusion. She explains

Moreover, one interesting claim was the fact that some novels regarding Native Americans have the underlying theme of white supremacy. This fact is interesting because I realized that white supremacy has plagued our country since European settlers came here. In addition, Thompson displayed an adversarial yet, passionate tone of voice in this article. Thompson has the ability to debate her topic with ease and articulates her argument well. For instance, she discussed how members of the legal system use their power to diminish the Native American culture and take their land in order to build up the white culture. In turn, she supported her claims by analyzing several U.S. Supreme Court cases. Thompson discussed how the several Justices justified taking land from Native Americans by stating that they were basically incompetent savages that wouldn’t appreciate the blessing and wouldn’t put the land to good use anyway. Additionally, this article implies that white settlers didn’t try to understand the Native American culture. Settlers forced their beliefs on indigenous people and gave them an ultimatum of being punished or killed by not accepting those beliefs. Thompson demonstrates how despicable the Native American stereotypes are and how institutions still use them as an accurate portrayal of Native Americans. Lastly, it is implied that Thompson is an essentialist. She believes that Native Americans should solely discuss their own heritage in children’s literature so that children of all races can learn accurate descriptions. Furthermore, the biggest implication is that Native Americans won’t be able to give their accounts of the Native American life because their books will not published. Publishers do not