Unit One; Early American Lit.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

This passage is expressing the need to relate written work to history. Not only the obvious history, but to all histories and the feeling that imply.

An Indian Without Reservation

Everyone I tell so - accepts me as Indian
But nobody wants me to be one.
Everyone really rejects me as Indian
The minute I try to be one.
Keep my hair short, dress just like them
Is all I've done throughout life.
The whites all want me to be just like them,
But they forget - this is my life.
Everyone knows that I'm Indian,
But this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I'm Indian
Is the only way that I can live with them.
But I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit is Indian!
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian.
They adopted me out just so they could change
My original certificate of birth
But try as they might, they can't rearrange
My Heritage, established at birth.
In this country I can be what I want
As long as what I want isn't Indian,
This is something I cannot flaunt
Still to some, "The only good one's a dead one."
Everyone knows that I am Indian,
And this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I am Indian
Is the only way they'll let me live with them.
But I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit is Indian.
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian
I can be Indian behind closed doors
And can be one amongst my kind
But if I try it amongst whites outdoors,
I'm told I'm not the right kind.
The American society existing today
Can't have me there to remind them
Of atrocities performed in such a way
They would rather just shove behind them.
Yet everyone knows that I am Indian,
And this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I'm Indian?
If I can't be one, I won't live with them.
For I can't, can't you see? For I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit, is Indian.
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian.
I know what I am but by law can't prove it
They claim my record can't be opened now -
That's because at adoption they sealed it
I'm supposed to accept being white now
Some of My People won't accept what I am
Because I'm not from the reservation
But accept that I am because what I am
Is an Indian without reservation!
And everyone knows that I'm Indian,
I don't care that this really upsets them
To forgive and forget that I'm Indian?
I'd much rather live without them.
For I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, bless it, is Indian.
Though raised by the white American,
I've always been, and will always be:...Indian.
-- Unknown

This poem really reached out to me. I can relate to the "secret" Indian boy. He recognizes that he is not fully excepted by the white American, Yet he doesn't attempt to fit in. He knows who he is; for better or for worse.