The Ghost Dance and the Slaughter at Wounded Knee (page 3)

frankiespeakin

Funky,

Just one greedy white man? Shouldn't have been too hard to overcome

No comment.

Ab,

The Lakota seemed to take a more radical slant on it, believing (as anyone who has read Black Elk Speaks knows) that it would cause the white man to be swep away. As westerners first contact with the movement was through the Lakota we call it by what they called it. It's adoption frighten ignorent and brutish reservation supervisors. Yet another tragedy followed on from that.

Agreed, while it was a peaceful gathering, the idea was that thru natural disasters Mother Earth would take care of the white man(men for FunkyD comprehension). Not so peaceful outcome but peaceful as far as the indians rising up to fight the governemt that had broken treaty after treaty.

funkyderek

frankiespeakin:

No comment.

There's no need to write "no comment" not to comment. Just don't comment.

My point was simply to highlight the bigotry and stupidity inherent in referring to a group of people in the singular form. It's a common trick used by racists to homogenise and demonise "the other".

frankiespeakin

FunkyD,

My point was simply to highlight the bigotry and stupidity inherent in referring to a group of people in the singular form. It's a common trick used by racists to homogenise and demonise "the other".

What would be your suggestion then for an alternate wording that would more accurately discribe the situation?

funkyderek

frankiespeakin:

What would be your suggestion then for an alternate wording that would more accurately discribe the situation?

Wow. I thought I was crystal clear, but I guess I must be losing my touch.

Instead of "the greedy white man and his government" you should have written something like "the greedy white men and their government." You know, because there's more than one. Use the plural form instead of the singular. Given that you were unable even to think of what the correct wording might be, I can accept that it was a mere grammatical oversight rather than deliberate racism (although you somehow managed to correctly write "desperate Indians" rather than "the desperate Indian"), but you should probably be aware of how such a phrase can be used to characterise people of the same "race" as a single homogeneous entity.