The first story that I read was by Andy Johnson. He was a Finnish immigrant that travelled from Finland to America by boat. When he came to America, he had to go through Ellis Island to make sure that he did not have any diseases. His dad was already living in America in a finish neighborhood which is where they met him. Johnson stated, “Coming to America was like being transferred from one century to another.” In America he saw his first African American man. He did not understand that people were different from them. He thought that the man was very dirty because he never took a shower. This is similar to when people have never met a Jewish person before. Sometimes, people hear rumors that they have horns on their heads. This is only because they have never met one before because they have never realized that there are people that are different from them. As a little boy, he did not understand the concept of slaves in America. Later, he moved to a home that they received from the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act gave land to people for free because the government had land that they took away from the Native Americans. All of the land was west of the Mississippi River. Johnson observed that there were many people that were filthy rich and had well-paying jobs while others were barely able to buy food. He thought that it was not fair and that the people are the ones that can change this, but no one has enough courage to say something about it. He said that every month he wrote at least one paper to newspapers talking about his concern towards this issue, but no one ever published it.
The other story that I read was by Vine Deloria who was a Native American author and teacher. He described his life as a boy living with his family and celebrating his culture. He lived near Wounded Knee which was where one of the battles took place. The Battle of Wounded Knee took place in 1890. The U.S. military took the Spotted Elk's tribe and walked them to Wounded Knee creek where they made a camp. One of that Native Americans accidently made a shot from their rifle and the U.S. started shooting people randomly killing men, women and children. Deloria thought it was interesting to live next to such an important landmark in his history. In school, he learned that America's government is the best and always makes decisions for the greater good and it is always loyal, but they never talked about the history of Native Americans or African Americans who were the minority. Throughout his lifetime he witnessed many Native Americans start to add more American values into their life instead of staying with their Native American traditions. He thought that "Native Americans now die whiter and don't embrace their culture." Deloria wanted people to know that only a few Native Americans have a meaningful life and enjoy everything from it.
