In the Indian Killer, scalping is an one of the things that the killer performs on his victims. The word itself evokes thoughts of savage indians attacking white settlers. However, the indians in this story are not savages, but common day indians trying to fit into a world that has rejected them for so long. So what is Alexie doing by portraying the killer as a savage indian. In the act of scalping his victims, the killer has just further enforced the stereotype of indians being savages. In a world where battles are settled in a court room, the killer rebells this civilized world by killing "innocent" white people. Not only is this killer avenging some kind of wrong done to him, but he is causing people to assume he is an indian. However, this stereotype gives the killer some cover. Since the white people are so caught up in the stereotype that they “know” the killer is indian. This slight laps of judgement on their part is responsible for all the problems that follow the killings. Since they are so quick to identify the killer as indian, Truck goes on his rampage and starts all of the hate crimes. Now, the killer is not only revenging what or whomever he is upset with, but he is indirectly causing the community around him to unravel.