In reading this essay, what changes would you make to make this essay easier to understand the concept

destined to be raped just because they were an Indian. Rape gave priests and soldiers so much

control over women, it made women seem like an object rather than a human. Physical and

sexual abuse gives authority figures so much power over Native Americans by subjugating them

and making them feel weaker, causing natives to carry the scars forever passing them on to their

children as well.

Although Miranda shows an abundant amount of evidence of the physical and sexual

abuse placed on Native Americans, some people still ignore the brutal truth. Recently Pope

Francis came to visit the United States and during that visit, he granted Father Junipero Serra

sainthood. Father Serra worked in missions, where he forced Native Americans to discard their

native cultures and convert to Christianity. He had them whipped, imprisoned, and worked or

tortured to death.

Saints are people who follow in the life and words of God, but there was no

God way of life at the missions, yet

Father Serra is being honored for abusing many of Native

American ancestors. The Native American campaign to stop Serra from receiving sainthood

never got a response from the Vatican, causing the Native Americans to feel invisible and

unimportant.

This seems like a sign of the Roman Catholic Church condones these wrongs

committed against native peoples. Relating to "Bad Indians", this proves that even today Native

Americans are being controlled by their past and treated unfairly.

Miranda creates the tribal memoir as a place where she could tell not only her stories, but

her peoples' as well to show the truth of the violence. Throughout the memoir, she shows how

the future is intensely affected by the past. The original generation of missionized Native

Americans

were traumatized from all the physical and sexual violence, yet they were never let to

heal completely. This caused them to change and treat their children the same as they were

taught. As generations go by, if there is any lineage left to continue, so much unaddressed trauma

Tran 4

has developed that it causes each generation to deteriorate. Even after all this violence and years,

the truth still is not heard and the injustices are continued on into the 21st century, showing how

the social control over the Native Americans in the past still lives on today.