Finding Her Voice

By not saying a word, Amanda LeClair thought it would make her invisible.

Being one of the few American Indian students in a predominately white high school can be a challenge for any Native, LeClair said. She experienced prejudice while attending school in Lander, a town off of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.

The racial tension made her want to be invisible at times. "I thought, ‘Well, if I'm quiet, no one will notice me,' " said LeClair, now 21.

Dealing with racial slurs from fellow students, teachers who didn't understand and consistently having to prove that she was just as smart as the non-Indian students took a toll on the young Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe's self-esteem, she said. While times were hard, it only made her work harder, knowing that something bigger and better was beyond Lander Valley High School when she graduated in 2005.

"I was ready to leave," LeClair said. So when the opportunity came to go to college at the University of Wyoming, she took it.

Entire article: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/fe...ding-her-voice