American Dreams Lost and Found: C.P. Ellis + Vine Deloria

The account of C.P. Ellis, a former clansman, was fascinating to read. It was most interesting to follow his changing views regarding himself and blacks as he progressed throughout the different stages of his life. C.P. started out his life in in the lower class, and remained that way for most of his life. However, although the amount of money in his pocket never really changed, the ideas in his head were changing throughout his life. After being poor for most of his life, C.P. was sick of it. He began to get bitter, as he says, and didn't know who to blame. So, he jumped on the bandwagon and began blaming blacks. It's important to note that he did not hate blacks; rather, he just blamed them for why he was in the economic situation he was in. With his "hatred" of black people came his activity in the Klan. It was fascinating to read his views of the other Klansmen and his assumptions for why they joined the Klan. He says, "Maybe they've had bitter experiences in this life and they had to hate somebody. So the natural person to hate would be the black person. He's beginnin' to come up, he's beginnin' to learn to read and start votin' and run for political office. Here are white people who are supposed to be superior to them, and we're shut out" (66). Most members of the Klan did not really hate black people; they were simply self-conscious and egotistical and felt that there out to be levels of class in their society with black people being on the bottom. It is even more interesting to note that most Klansmen, as Ellis said, were very poor. This is interesting as they were all very hypocrital because they were on the lowest level of class in society, and to make them feel better about themselves, they had to make themselves feel superior to someone, in this case to black people. Reading the rest of Ellis's story is very inspirational. Ellis, fighting the pressures of the rest of society to simply conform to the accepted standards of the time, was able to cause major changes in his life as well as in others' lives; for whites as well as for blacks. Initially, as a Klansman, he was ignored by the public. He was only seen as a rascist, bigotted man, and thus his ideas were largely put to waste. However, when others heard of his ability to speak the truth, to say what was on everyone's mind but what they refused to say out loud, he finally began making a difference. He was elected as co-chairperson of a group put in charge of making a difference. Ironically, he was co-chairperson with a black lady whom he very much so despised. However, after working with her and seeing that she was a human being just like himself, his view of blacks and of Jews and of Catholics was completely altered. He was able to put these differences aside by instead focusing only on what they had in common as opposed to how they differed. This is very connected to the American values that we have studied throughout the year. It shows how if one is able to fight through pressure and remain adament in one's beliefs, a real change can be made.
The account of Vine Deloria is told from a completely different perspective, but reveals similar ideas. Vine is a Sioux Indian and he reveals his views of his past and its influence over his present and future. He says, "You have to take a new look at what you thought America was before you can figure out where it's going" (35). He means that we must constantly be drawing on our own experiences so that we may make better decisions regarding our futures. Vine draws on his own experiences, growing up on a reservation in South Dakota, being taught in school that "We're all Americans and none of us is ever disloyal. The United States has never been on the wrong side of anything" (35), to formulate views of where he thinks our country is going. He sees his own heritatge slipping away from the people of his generation and replaced with American ideals that he feels are poisonous. This offers an alternate view of the "American Dream," an idea that is so engrained in our lives as Americans. Deloria sees the American Dream as only in the past, something to reflect on as opposed to something that can be achieved. Because of this, he can only see a future of "grayness" (38). He says that we all must grow up eventually; even our own country must do so.