[Mrs. Scott] said she hoped to goodness they would have no trouble with Indians. Mr. Scott had heard rumors of trouble. She said, "Land knows, they'd never do anything with this country themselves. All they do is roam around over it like wild animals. Treaties or no treaties, the land belongs to folks that'll farm it. That's only common sense and justice."
She did not know why the government made treaties with Indians. The only good Indian was a dead Indian.
- Little House on the Prairie, p. 211
My stomach did a literal flip-flop when I read those words out loud to my Native American foster kids. The only good Indian was a dead Indian. Seriously?! What can you possibly say after your mouth pronounces those words that are written in a book.
My kids choose the nightly chapter book themselves, and each child eagerly follows along in their own copy. They correct my error any time I might even mispronounce a word, let alone skip one; it's not like I could skim over an entire paragraph, or avoid a theme prevalent throughout an entire book. They had chosen Little House on the Prairie after we had finished Matilda, even though I mildly tried to talk them out of it. I'm not really into book censorship as long as it's age-appropriate, but I knew we were in for some early-1900's white thinking.
During the past few weeks I have awkwardly stumbled through sections where our protagonists react with hatred, fear, and even death towards those with perceived differences, while trying to create "thinking questions" as I read to help my kids work their way through tough topics. The first few times Ma, Pa, and their racist neighbors made comments about the Native Americans, my kids didn't flinch because they didn't know how or if they were supposed to react. Now, after having discussed hard topics throughout the book and having come to our own conclusions about them, they know that they can rightly express their indignation when the new settlers say things they have no idea about. "Ma is holding a gun in her lap because she thinks the Natives are going to hurt her," one child interrupts, unprompted. "She doesn't know that they're just like her."
Another night, one of the children jumps up from bed, arms thrown out, practically yelling, "Natives know how to hunt just as good as them! They even have better ways, like with a bow and arrow. And they don't need to stay in one place because they know how to use all the land. They talk bad about Natives and they have no clue. It's because they don't read any books because they lived in a wagon."
During the past few weeks I have awkwardly stumbled through sections where our protagonists react with hatred, fear, and even death towards those with perceived differences, while trying to create "thinking questions" as I read to help my kids work their way through tough topics. The first few times Ma, Pa, and their racist neighbors made comments about the Native Americans, my kids didn't flinch because they didn't know how or if they were supposed to react. Now, after having discussed hard topics throughout the book and having come to our own conclusions about them, they know that they can rightly express their indignation when the new settlers say things they have no idea about. "Ma is holding a gun in her lap because she thinks the Natives are going to hurt her," one child interrupts, unprompted. "She doesn't know that they're just like her."
Another night, one of the children jumps up from bed, arms thrown out, practically yelling, "Natives know how to hunt just as good as them! They even have better ways, like with a bow and arrow. And they don't need to stay in one place because they know how to use all the land. They talk bad about Natives and they have no clue. It's because they don't read any books because they lived in a wagon."
We have discussed how ignorance stems from not reading books and from not talking to people who look different from us or live differently than we do. I smiled on the inside that my child mentioned lacking access to books as a reason the settlers showed prejudice. Our conversations are working.
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