Annotated Bibliography assignment
The Summer of Our Discontent Revisited by Drew Hayden Taylor looks into the treatment that was accorded to the native. The concern was based on the preferential treatment that they were accorded. A number of people from within and without the government were concerned the existence of the two sets of laws in Canada; with one of the sides supporting the natives and the other was for the whites. When the white people did things that the Indians were doing, it is the Indian person that would get the pressure while the whites were left without getting any say for it. Desire was rife that the two groups ought to be accorded equal rights.
The fact that there were varied laws for the whites and the Indians was agreed to by Chief Tom Bressette who was from the Stony-Kettle Reserve (Tailor). The Indians got the raw deal in all the undertakings while the whites were more favored.
The Native community is quite familiar with the high numbers of the Aborigines who are incarcerated in the provincial and federal prisons. Considering that the natives form up five percent of the whole population, they in more instances add up to almost half of the ones in Jail.
The problem is very well known by a number of people who are familiar that the natives have never had the need for jails. The unexpected increase from the lack of need to use jails to the increase in incarceration has been noted as a point of concern that the politicians should take into consideration. It is seen as though in a limited time period there has since been no regard for the law of the country or there has seemingly been a sense of double standards. The justice system of the Canadian government has been quite rigid or unable to handle these issues based on what is right or wrong. For example, the white community admires the aspect of the nuclear family while on the other hand the native society is set up based on the extended family. It is through such instances that the native children were removed from the community by force and given up for adoption and sent into residential institutions. Such conflicts brought about misinterpretations for instance ‘the scoop up’
A number of years had gone by when they suffered from alienation; dispossession and insensitivity had resulted to them getting an impact. What results from the native being removed from their set up is a vacuum. This is something that is not desirable to anyone. There has to be a way to fill this up considering that anger and frustration are what takes up this vacuum. The natives are known to not like violence and urged to manage their emotions for this not to result.
The texts main argument speaks of the contrast between how the whites and the natives were being handled. The law did not offer equal opportunities for both the whites and the natives. The justice system was noted to similarly lean on one side by not taking actions against the offenders. The writer of the book is a native who desires to see a calm society that is without any violence.
The source is quite useful in that it offers a good picture on what the natives go through in a society that does not offer equal opportunities to the two communities that are there; whites and the natives. The natives being the oppressed have been noted to put to an end this demise and acquire a sense of equality and no desire for anger. The article offers a view of the discontent hearts that desire justice and an end to the sense of inequality.
Reference
Tailor, Drew Hayden. Summer of our discontent revisited. n.d. pp. pp. 327-378.