Page 15 - Brave Bird at Wounded Knee - I Am America
P. 15
Patsy’s face burned. Was that what everyone thought
about Indians? Her dad was a mechanic. Her aunt, like
her mom, was a nurse. They weren’t alcoholics, and they
didn’t live off welfare.
“Do you or your father know any Native American
people?” Miss Ashman asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Umm, no,” Donna said.
“How could she? They all live on reservations, right?”
asked Carlos.
“No, Native Americans do not all live on reservations,”
Miss Ashman said. “In fact, quite a few live right here in
the Denver area.”
Patsy realized probably none of her classmates, not
even Laura, knew her dad was Lakota. It hadn’t really
come up. Mom, who was white, had chaperoned their field
trip to the zoo. But Dad had only been to the school to
drop her off. If her friends had noticed him, they’d likely
guessed he was Mexican. Lots of Mexican families lived
in their neighborhood. There were even a couple families
with one parent who was white and one parent who was
Mexican. Still, when she was out with both her parents,
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