ᐅᑎᓂᑖᐠ ᐊᐢᑮ ᑮᐦᑕᐧᒼ

true crime has done irreparable fucking damage to middle class white women

every time i see some middle class white mom of two saying “girlies! you need to get a visible tattoo because then a rando won’t try to snatch you in broad daylight in the middle of the walmart checkout to put you into sex trafficking!” i get pissed off because you are NOT the primary target of trafficking! poor children of colour in underdeveloped countries, indigenous women, sex workers, these are the people in danger!

true crime podcasts always talk about the rare instance a middle class white woman is taken and so these true crime girlies only ever hear about it happening to women like them and start thinking they’re the main target, but if there were a true crime podcast for every poor non-white child who has been trafficked there wouldn’t be enough data centres in the entire world to hold them all! the fact that white women are the focus of these things is because society only gives a shit about white women, and turns a blind eye when women of colour are the ones being victimized!

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

They want buckskin and face paint, drumming, songs in languages they can’t understand recorded for them but with English subtitles, of course. They want educated, well spoken, but not too smart. Christian, well behaved, never question. They want to learn the history of the people, but not the ones that are here now, waving signs in their faces, asking them for clean drinking water, asking them why their women are going missing, asking them why their land is being ruined.

They want fantastical stories of Indians that used to roam this land. They want my culture behind glass in a museum.

This statement may or may not be true, but either way its declaration is largely anecdotal, and only acknowledged when it's perceived as beneficial to them, i.e. a job, a scholarship, a new boyfriend's Pocahottie fetish, or as an excuse for why it's ok for them to wear a headdress while half dressed and drunk on Halloween or at a concert, festival, or sporting event.

These folks will go weeks, months or years without considering their Native ancestry and it's certainly not a part of their everyday lives.

That's why they don't care about the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, treaty rights, or extreme poverty in Native communities.

While not a “full blood” others with mixed ancestry can and do embrace their Native roots and a sense of ownership takes place.

When they see race based mascots or ridiculous Native caricatures, they don't see some remote extinct group being "honored." They see that they personally are being mocked, and know they are not a buckskin pantied sexbot, or a silly redskinned stereotype.

They know Natives are alive, human and real because they are Native. They also understand that the land and water and our ceremonies must be protected, because it is theirs as well as their grandparent's, and children's, and children's children.

They are not just descendants- they are Native. As such they will seek out the truth of their heritage and you will find them thirsting for knowledge about their people, culture, language, and ways. They become part of the whole- from tiospaye to Oyate."

also my sister is beading earrings this summer, and has these shoulder dusters for sale!! i’ll be helping them plug their earrings, bc whew the algorithm 😮‍💨

their beading ig page is below:

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called the upcoming Alberta referendum on separation from Canada a "dangerous bluff", comparing it to the Brexit vote that saw the UK leave the European Union. Carney, who led the Bank of England during Brexit, said that 10 years on from the referendum the UK was "trying to undo what people didn't think they were voting for, but what they ended up having". He also cautioned against voting in favour of a separation vote as a way to strengthen Alberta's negotiating position with Ottawa, saying it may bring unintended consequences. Albertans will decide 19 October whether they want to remain part of Canada or hold a binding vote on separation at a later date.

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WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools (and SA if you click read more).

Roberta Hill remembers being sent to the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ont., when she was six years old. Although she attended with five of her siblings, including her youngest sister, they were separated upon arrival. "I never saw her again for years after," Hill said. "She was my favourite little sister. So that was the start of the separation and the trauma." Hill, who is from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, was part of a group of residential school survivors who gave witness testimony to the Permanent Peoples Tribunal in Montreal on Tuesday.

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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419 for emotional and crisis referral services for survivors and those affected.