Chrystos’ poem, “Today Was a Bad Day Like TB,” was a different type of poem. When I read it the first time, I automatically noticed how the author didn’t use any kind of punctuation marks, but she used spaces instead. I felt as if by the author doing so, it made us readers understand how bold the author’s words and feelings were.
Chrystos was a Native American writer who obviously felt as if her culture was taken over; she didn’t appreciate other “white” people attempting to imitate her culture. In the poem, she clearly seems racist towards the white man who did attempt to get her attention with his flashy red peace pipe. In the second line in the poem she states, “Saw young blond hippie boy with a red stone pipe.” She wouldn’t give that “blond hippie boy” any attention at all.
In class, we discussed if we thought the author was “racist” or not towards white people. I said yes at first, but after some thinking, I would have to say I “feel” for Chrystos. I have never had my personal heritage ripped out from underneath me, but who am I to call the author racist? She, along with many other Native Americans, had their culture torn apart, and many of their families had to suffer. The author doesn’t even have the power to take her culture/heritage back from us white people. She feels helpless, and in this poem, she clearly vented her aggravation.
Chrystos compared her bad day to tuberculosis, which I thought was a very neat comparison, and clever. Back in the day, tuberculosis was a dreaded disease to Native Americans. It was a disease that, then, wasn’t curable and killed many Native American Indians. The author thought so badly about losing her heritage to us white people, that she compared her conversation with the “young blond hippie boy” to TB. Clearly, she shows her perspectives between Native American Indians and white people.
Other lines that I thought were very strong and to the point, were the last four: “Today was a day like TB you cough and cough trying to get it out all that comes is blood and spit.” I feel as if the author was trying to say that no matter how hard she tries, she will never be able to retrieve her culture back again. It was already taken over in the past, and now she only has memories of it. She obviously is bitter about this fact, and like I mentioned earlier, she is defiantly clear about her personal feelings—she isn’t afraid to let her feelings show through. This is what makes the poem so unique; she expresses her feelings in such a way that other authors have never done before. So would you all her racist? Now, that I sat down and put some thought into it, I don’t consider her racist. She is just a very strong and proud Native American Indian that wants her heritage back where it belongs.
2 comments:
I, like you, originally felt like Chrystos was being racist towards white people. However, I cannot imagine how Chrystos must feel watching the same people who mocked her heritage and forced her families onto reservations now try to steal the items that make her background special. Her anger is definitely warranted. I also found the comparison to tuberculosis really interesting and loved the extra information you provided about the comparison.
I found this very interesting. I agree that the author is deffinitely bitter, and has a right to be because she feels that her culture, something she holds very dear, is being taken away from her. I would not call her racist because racism is prejudice+power. And she has no power in this case. The minority group can never be considered "racist" because they lack the aspect of power.
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