How do we also help the people who are immediately on our communities while also pushing for systemic change?
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I think the answer is different in different people and different communities, but for me it feels less invasive to donate funds to organizations within oppressed communities, and divert my personal attention and donations to my direct neighborhood.
I also typically will look for orgs that already exist that are asking for specific types of help. Iāve never felt comfortable organizing on behalf of a community Iām not part of, with the exception of immediate disaster relief in the very early stages (e.g. within a week effective organizing means the affected community should be given the reins to decide what is needed).
This is all my opinion of course, and my personal comfort level. I am very white by culture and happen to live in an area with a lot of opportunity to help in ways that donāt detract from the bigger goals, which definitely affect my thoughts.
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I am also very white by culture, and less than 2% of the local population is Black, but the views expressed in my last post were from that organizing group Iāve been involved with.
Maybe I do need to take a step back and refocus on what I can do, because like most things I agree, itās systemic.
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I think what I feel comfortable with is a different dynamic with different demographics. Itās easy in Minneapolis to find opportunities right outside my door. If the population is 95% white then is it really fair to put the work on the 2% Black folx? Iāve focused more on things like access to healthcare initiatives in terms of my direct involvement when Iāve lived placed like that.
I think, too, that thereās a huge range of opinions among POC about what people should be doing, and as long as we are trying in a way that is not inadvertently harmful, we are still pushing the needle the right direction. If we know a person or group we work with has specific ideas about dos or donts yeah we should adjust, but thereās risk in getting too invested in doing it Right 100% of the time and becoming overwhelmed.
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Iām not Canadian but I might sign up for this, it looks super interesting!
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That looks really good.
I just did a morningās course run by a local Noongar man, but organised by a statewide organisation (that might be affiliated with the government?). He had the freedom to talk about wire supremacy and our white Australia policy, plus intergenerational trauma as he has also worked as a social worker. It was hugely valuable. I would be keen to do a longer course later, but first I have to make it through my language course.
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Would people be interested in a āwhat small anti-racist action did you do today?ā thread, similar to the saving money/ environment threads, or just adding that to this thread?
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I would for sure. Trying to keep a balance of internal learning/organizational change as well as externally tangible action.
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ooooh that is an excellent idea! Or even amending the title of this one if we want to do it here.
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Copying this over here from the election thread - I always forget where I read this. Cheryl Strayedās last comment is one I particularly like.
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Not anti-racism specifically but I found this interesting.
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I am going to re-read this a few times to let it sink in, about the dynamic and alive nature of indigenous cultures.
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declaring something as already dead or unfortunately impossible to save is a very effective tactic for killing them off
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I have had to give a few talks at work during NAIDOC week and I keep mentioning that Indigenous culture is alive and evolving just like every other culture in the world and peoole shouldnāt keep talking about it like it was something that ended 200 years ago.
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Weāve had a few conversations about this at work recently, especially the concept of being fractionated Indigenous when in most (maybe all) north american Indigenous nations there is no such thing: you either ARE registered or you ARENāT native, full stop, regardless of your ancestry. Stating partial ancestry is shown over and over to erase the Indigenous culture. Itās the literal opposite of honoring it.
I also had some very awkward conversations around Halloween and costumes, and why itās sooooo not okay to wear a costume depicting Indigenous persons. Necessary conversations for sure but awkward because the people I talked with are coworkers I donāt know well and itās harder to know how to approach the subject than it would be with my friends.
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I think I said this up further but blood fraction quantification of āIndian nessā was a deliberate strategy by the US government to breed everyone to 1/4 or less and officially eradicate the tribes (nations).
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Yes! I knew weād talked about it before but didnāt remember where.
And even if you did say it in this thread, itās worth repeating. Like, my cousins are Sioux. I am not. Even though we have the exact same bloodline connected to the land on which we were born.
I personally feel for me ever to state any personal link to Sioux Nation is to knowingly perpetuate cultural genocide. Even if Iād grown up in the same house as my grandfather.
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Uhā¦Iām assuming this conversation was directed at people who donāt actually identify as a member of a Nation, right? Because I can safely say that if you tried to tell a friend of mine whoās very much a registered and involved member of the Cherokee Nation that she shouldnāt be talking about her half-Irish/half-Cherokee ancestry, sheād have more than a few things to say about how interested she is in your opinion of how she speaks about her familyās history.
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Yes.
More specifically, aimed at (usually white) people who incorrectly and casually identify as (1/8 or 1/16 etc) Indigenous when they are not registered members.
Iām white. Itās one thing for me to say my grandfather was Sioux. Itās another thing entirely for me to say Iām 1/4 Sioux when Iām not registered and therefore am not Sioux.
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Does every group have the same rules around having to be registered as a member of a Nation to be able to call themselves a first nationās perrson?
Or is this a specific Sioux rule?
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