A strong voice

Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
January 31, 2008
Journal #13 Sarah Winnemucca


Quote:
"You call my people bloodseeking. My people did not seek to kill them, nor did they steak their horses, -no, no, far from it. During the winter my people helped them(Winnemucca 504).

Summary:
Sarah Winnemucca flips the savage stereotype that is given to the Indians by the whites and places the stereotype on to the whites.



Response:
For a Indian woman to say such true words takes a courage beyond measure. Not only was Winnemucca the first Native American published but in her first publication she calls out the white people as savages. I love how she completely flips the savage stereotype onto the true savages. If you listen to the word it even sounds harsh and demeaning. The word savage has a very strong and precise pronunciation that makes the impact of this word feel a lot stronger. It's funny how the European settlers received so much help form the Native Americans and taught basically how to survive, in these new lands, yet the whites have the nerve to call the Native Americans savages. The Native Americans were anything but savage. They lived in a lot more peacful communities, they shared all their land and they bathed and maintained their hygeine. It was the Europeans who had poor hygiene, smelled horribly and practiced in private ownership of everything. The irony of who is calling who a savage just overwhelms me. Every time I read about the European treatment of the Native Americans it simply startles me.

I wanted to end this blog entry by saying just how courageous Winnemucca was in calling out the whites as savages. The Piute people should be proud that they had such a strong voice in their community that spoke out for her people.The only unfortunate thing is that it has taken so long for scholars and readers to recognize the importance and impact that Winnemucca's writings had. The part that speaks to Winnemucca's positive influence is how Norton's Anthology and their scholars put Winnemucca into their anthology.