The
interview is about Lacey Hope, who is a 32 year old Native and her
development in the white society of Canada.
Hundreds
of years ago Lacey Hope’s ancestors settled down in Canada. She was
born there and had many difficulties on her way of growing up in the
English speaking society. She was a brave kid and very good at
school. But she never had a good relation to her teachers or her
schoolmates, because the Whites didn’t accept the Natives .She felt
like an outsider and tried to get over it while she starts taking
drugs and drinking alcohol at parties. She became a party girl and
very bad at school. She even had problems with the principal because
she starts fighting against the people, who were mean to her. But all
that let her forget about her hard life as a native inside a white
community.
A
special and sad event changed everything. One day her brother and his
friends went to a place in the forest to get their “special kick”,
like they used to say, when they drove around the place without
trees. It was their “kick” because it was illegal to drive while
they’re high and full with alcohol. While Lacey Hope was partying,
her brother crashed into a tree and died right away. She noticed what
happened when the boys were coming back. They seemed really sad. They
told the others about it but not her. Suddenly the police came and
brought her home. They noticed she had been taking drugs. Lacey
Hope’s parents were so disappointed of her and she decided to stop
her horrible behavior because of that terrible night. She wanted to
change herself; back to the brave girl she used to be. She thinks of
her departed brother, who is taking care of her.
In
the next step the interviewer asked Kyla about her feelings towards
the white people and how they treat natives. She is very disappointed
of their behavior. Especially because it is their land, they came to
it before anybody else did. The white people behave like the foreign
ones. Lacey Hope thinks that she and her native people are separated
from the society and treated unfair. They don’t get a chance to
integrate but they are still very proud of what they are. She can’t
explain it to herself why people still behave like this in the 21th
century.
Every
time she just hanged out with aboriginal people until one day. It was
the day when she met the guy, who is her husband now. The boy came
around to ask her for the way to the mall. But it was just an excuse
to get to know Lacey Hope. He felt sorry when he saw her sitting
there alone and he has the opinion that Natives shouldn’t be
treated unfair. They learned to tolerate each other but she can’t
still forgive the people in their past, who made it so hard for her
to live a normal life. Now she has white friends, without prejudice
and her parents love her white husband. They also want their other
daughters to marry a white man, too. Lacey Hopes’s special
intention is: “Never forget your origins and who you really are. No
one has the right to change a person”.
