By. Mariah Estrada
Recently I’ve been interested in learning more about Native American culture and what life is like for someone who actually balances their American and Native American backgrounds. I interviewed Micah Tapia, a former Springwater Trail High School student, to get to know more about his background and what has come out of it.
Micah Tapia is part of the Ojibwe and Chippewa Tribe. He is a first nation Native American, so his tribe is based in Canada, and possibly Minnesota. Micah said "Balancing Native American and American culture isn’t hard. You just have to be yourself. If you try to balance something you’ll end up with multiple personalities and I don’t want to do that.” He is very open and proud about his culture and things that have come out of it.
Micah has grown to love his culture more and more, but as a child he didn’t appreciate it as much. Micah explained, “As a young kid I didn’t appreciate my culture. My mom would take take me to Pow Wows and I never wanted to go. I always thought it was dumb, but she always made me go and I appreciated it more.” He now has a huge love and appreciation of his culture, and it's clear that he has his mom to thank for that.
With many good things there comes a bad right behind it. For example, discrimination. Micah explained that people used to call him "redskin." Not to be gruesome, but there is a sad reality behind that term. Micah said that the real meaning behind the term "redskin" was that “People thinks it has to do with our faces being red, but that’s not even close. It has to do with Natives being murdered and white men scalping Natives, and the blood running down their face.” Unfortunately, people don’t usually know the real meanings besides some racial slurs, but they use them anyways (and they shouldn't even be using racial slurs in the first place).
Micah said that he also loves helping his community more, being looked out by everyone and being around and hearing stories from the elders. He added that personally he does not have a difficult time balancing his two cultures, and stressed the importance of respecting those who respect you.
There are Native American tribes all around America. Some people balance and control things differently, but as long as you are proud of something in your life, and you be yourself, then it might make things a little easier.
