Of course I am not surprised that the government or media does not expose the real history of things, at least not when I was younger. I find it very interesting that Jimi Hendrix is native. When I went to school in California, our history teacher allowed us to take a trip to Alcatraz on Thanksgiving morning so we could learn more about the native history. I will say that it was one of the most eerie things I’ve done. I arrived on the island at 6:30am so it was still black outside. Eventually, we got to one of the “cliffs” of the prison and there was a ceremony taking place right at sunrise to honor all the natives who were forced onto the island and imprisoned.

Anyways, back to the reading, I am not surprised that I learned more disturbing things about American history that I did not know about before. When I went to Alcatraz, I wondered how long American school systems will keep up this act of “Thanksgiving” and how the Indians/Natives and pilgrims got along and had a wonderful feast together. I enjoy this book in a way that it is challenging the American tradition of covering up the dark things of American history.

Reading the oppression that goes on reminds me of Wedding Banquet and East Main Street “Apu’s voice.” The power of deceit. When we are children we are fed this idea of harmony and peace among each race and we are blinded by it that school systems sweep true history under the rug; at least, up until high school we learn that history was never really taught until that moment. In Wedding Banquet Wei Tung feeds his parents this absolute fake identity of a straight, successful, soon-to-be married man. While his parents just accept it because it’s what they want to hear and they never knew about him (at least his father did at some point). The makers of Simpson’s know that the voice of Apu is nowhere to being Indian, but still sells it to the audience, knowing it is not a true Indian.