Taylor Leyva
A.P. Language
Jackson
29 January 2012
Critical Response: Deloria

In this excerpt from We Talk, You Listen, Deloria campaigns on behalf of the rights of all minorities, but namely Native Americans. The unorthodox way he went about it, however, was the most interesting. Unlike most advocates for this cause, Deloria suggests that rather than attempting to join in on white history, minorities should remember and celebrate their own. He downplays the importance of a national sense of unity in order to promote togetherness between racial groups. Thinking back in history to the most well-known battles fought by minorities, the Civil Rights’ Movement definitely stands out. However, it seems that in this instance African Americans wished to fit in to a “white man’s world”. Of course this is understandable, simply because of what we believe of human nature. As Mark Twain said, “If [a man] would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors” (717-718). This desire to be apart of what others are, to join the majority is, in a sense, refuted by Deloria in this excerpt. He gives specific examples in which it seems the truth has been stretched in order to include minorities into white history. This supporters of this theory think that, “Crispus Attucks, a black, almost single-handedly started the Revolutionary War, while Eli Parker, the Seneca Indian general, won the Civil War…” (731). Deloria says that this theory, “takes a basic “manifest destiny” white interpretation of history and lovingly plugs a few feathers, wooly heads, and sombreros into the famous events of American history” (731). He believes that this isn’t helpful to these minorities’ own histories, though. In relation, Deloria also states that, in order for minorities to truly embrace