C.P. Ellis
When I first started reading the story of the former klansman, I judged his morals. He said that he joined the Klan because he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, belonging is a necessity to achieve wellness. The KKK was a group that joined all of these people who felt like they didn't belong to belong somewhere. These klansman were low classed, had minimal education, and were shut down from the society. Fear could be interpreted as the cause of the KKK's outbreaks. Joining a group like the KKK was a release of all the fear and anger that built up inside them. They took it out on black people because whites were supposed to be superior, but instead, the black man was learning to read and write and would quickly surpass the white man. After Ellis worked with a black demonstrator, his experiences with the race had changed. His character changes as he learns that the blacks were humans just like the whites and they all had something to gain out of working together. Both Ellis and Ann had realized the racism of the younger generations and both were outcasts of the perfect white citizen that was portrayed in the higher social classes. I think that Ellis had grown as a person and without taking the chance of working with Ann, he would have never realized that there isn't a superior race in society. He found that his place in belonging was to help integrate schools. Ellis's story made a connection to life today. There are people out there that don't fit into society and in order to get the attention that they need, they go out mass murdering innocent people or people they feel responsible for their pain. If Ellis could change, it raises the question if people are to be more conscientious of the people around them, would these murders and psychopaths be able to change as well.
Vine Deloria
The American Dream was an image of the past. When reading Vine Deloria's story, I could connect to his feelings about having to be like a white American. Because I'm Taiwanese, I feel like there is still mixed feelings when my race is of the minority. As a minority, kids are growing up in the American society but our parents are still teaching their kids the ways of when they were growing up. In school, Deloria learned that the United States was perfect. They talked about all the positive aspects of being an American and covered up the history of the minority groups. The Indians were forced to integrate. They were expected to lose their beliefs and their ways of life and change. I think growing up today is much easier than when Deloria had grown up because now we do have the freedoms to believe what we want to believe and we aren't being forced into another way of life.
