Counting Coup by Larry Colton SHort essay on Racism in the book.

Essay by lord_fosterUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, December 2003

download word file, 3 pages 5.0

Short Essay #4 Question:

What forms of Racism did you encounter in this book?

The Answer:

Racism was prevalent early on in the book. There were many stereotypical slurs and comments by whomever the author spoke to about the Indians. The very first example of racism I encountered was where the Hardin High School boys coach made a comment on the powwow going on he said, "a place where a bunch of Indians run around drunk and nothing starts on time" (11). The people around town more or less despise the Indians from the reservation as well. They feel that the Indians are ruining their business and making their scarce customers go away and not come back. It appears that this small town is stuck on age old stereotypes from the early 20th century. Some of the property owners do not even list their rentals in the newspaper because they do not want to rent out to Indians.

Coach Mac later on gives the author her own point of view on why the Indians never get a scholarship from any major colleges, she says, " College coaches are afraid to take the chance of wasting a scholarship on an Indian who most likely wont survive academically, socially, or athletically on a college campus" (25). Are Indians any less superior to white people? Do they have some kind of genetic defect that disables their intelligence in some way? The answer is simple, no they do not. The only thing that makes an Indian different from a white person is they have dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. Racism is imbedded in our culture and we as white people take this racism out on anyone that is different whether they are Asian, Black, or Indians. However, we do it in a...