Native Americans Being Marginalized? Alex's Response

Shanice talks about in her essay that how will people find out that she is Native American. She talks about how many people are in her tribe and even outside of other tribes. Shanice Britton grew up in the indian reservation center in Covelo, California. She tells the reader about what tribes you can be involved in so she is in five tribes named Wailaki, Yuki, Pomo, Concow and Nomalaki. The meaning of her essay that she wrote is that she isn't different from any other teenager besides her being Native American. Since she is in five tribes she has a lot of traditions and clothing that they wear on one of her special days. In her community in where Shanice lives is really "comfortable" because everybody knows everybody which makes her feel that type of way instead of other cities where they make you feel like a stranger. She also talks about how she can keep the tribes running because her tribe died and now she doesn't know the language they spoke, anyway she still goes to ceremonies and figures it out there.

  Now that Shanice is seventeen she now has entered a college and the percentage of Native Americans that go there is .07%. Not many Native Americans around in school areas so when Shanice attends her college people always ask her questions about her culture on how she celebrates it. Shanice doesn't mind the questions because since there is only such a small majority of Native Americans it doesn't offend her. She doesn't always care about others, she cares about herself too because she is just like any other person there at the school by trying new things and trying on new clothes and even eating new foods. After reading this story it makes me and other readers think about how anyone can become successful by just following your dreams and also by trying new things because since she is Native American nobody is going to judge you on who you are, nobody is going to judge you on the way you wear your type of clothes or even on how you speak. It makes me think about you just being yourself the person that you are.

Question = What is the purpose of Shanice Britton’s essay? What does she want the readers to know about her and Native Americans living today?