the hunger of colonization
I transport the account of colonizer on my skin,
The karma of my ancestors, a vicious quantity left by the need to win
Every mis step taken is another memory within my brain
My ancestors did nought for creation⌠in fact they were quite vain
There is nothing I can do about altering the past
All I can do is put in sufficient exertion to make the change of energy last
My grandpa used to say, â There are good Indians and badâ*
HOWEVER, It was on their backs that Iâve received everything Iâve ever had.
Whenever these words were spoken I would shut my ears off from it
pretend I was in my happy place and acquit them from all judgment.
I know now that doing that wasnât the right decision
That I should have made standing with my friends my one and only mission.
The speeches they expressed around me never rested well in my stomach
I could see all the privilege Iâve been provided from it.
You may look at meâŚ.
and ask what backs behind me I see.
I see Grandmas and Aunts. Uncles and Dads.
Babies, friends and some very injured lads.
I see their home and land
being given to people because of the color of skin they had.
I know what it feels like to have your home ripped from you.
To only be able to look at a distance as your home is used without you.
Being told you were never welcome in the first place
That you need to leave so someone âbetterâ can take your space.
The words that left my mouth much were, âWHAT HAVE I DONE WRONG?â
âDID I NOT TRY TO TO EVERYTHING YOU ASKED, HAVE I NOT BEEN STRONG?â
When I opted to make my life about making things better,
I ungracefully untied knots that had always been together.
Knots within myself and the people around me.
Knots within the very constructs of society.
a lot of those knots never parted whatsoever,
A lot of the people thought their remarks were quite clever.
They really werenât clever in the slightest.
A lot of their views were incredibly rightest.
The year right now is twenty one years past the millennium,
I still have aunts that worked and slapped kids in gymnasiums.
They hide under their veils and hoards of cloth.
Sitting around tables together to scoff
I know this to be true because Iâve seen it with my own eyes,
Resting over tables and telling each other lies.
The color of your skin should not dictate your worth.
Certain things should not be a guarantee from birth.
The path forward is curvy and long
The start of it wasnât marked with the bang of the gong
For a lot of us this will be our lifelong matter
I really hope that at some point we can all work together.
My skin is pale and white.
but please understand I am still trying to do what is right.
There is no way in the world I could ever fully comprehend,
Id like to help with anything to try and make amends
Saying sorry does nothing at all,
Itâs the actions that go with them that allow a person to stand tall.
If you filled a room with my family youâd see
Half of them are bending backwards screaming like Bansheeâs
Their screams fill the room with darkness and hate.
Their ideas and opinions have become stagnate.
Its time now to hear the voices of those who were hurt
For me and my people to help them burn down the church.
This system was built on all of their blood and sweat
changing from residential schools to foster homes with very little and yet
Many middle fingers are still raised high
Justin Trudeau are we allowed to ask why?
Why was there an âIndian problemâ** to be fixed?
Why is there so much internal trauma thatâs so deep and all mixed?
People in these positions of power
doing the same over again despite the people getting louder
If the ancient Greeks travelled here to see democracy in action theyâd cry
kneel to the ground and Throw their hands to the sky
âWhy doesnât everyone have a voiceâ
âWe invented democracy so people would have a real choiceâ
If I had a child in the world today,
I would be so wary of the words people use around and say.
How big a deal it is to raise our babies into Earth Warriors,
never knowing pain and only being filled with wonder.
Full disclosure?
I have no idea what I am doing
all I know is I need to get behind what is brewing.
This us and them has gone on forever
youâd think after a few hundred years we would have gotten much better.
I read columbusâs*** journals in my first year of university,
A book wrapped in hate and providing much clarity.
âThese people are beautifulâ he wrote in his journal
âThey would make excellent slavesâ he said and I hurled
This journal entry has impacted the lives of you and me
These journal entries shaped our entire society.
At one point in time, I was racist
and all of my views were undeniably baseless.
I some times remember those views in the back of my mind
how can people who speak those thoughts ever think they are kind?
We need to tell people to stop spewing inappropriate garbage
Stop looking at all these people as targets and listening to their knowledge
Thereâs a man in my town who stands on a box with a mic
His speakers being over used with too much force and might
Babies and kids walk past him with their mothers.
Hearing from him that God hates their sisters and brothers.
Freedom of speech only goes to far
Human rights need to not be seen as bizarre
I come from the settlers of this land
coming here being promised something very grand
When I walk on the sidewalk people clear the space for me
If only they knew for them id take a knee.
I am starting to understand what it can feel like to be hyper aware of your skin.
To not feel totally comfortable in any space that you are in.
I have friends who are both one and the other.
Getting blamed by both communities for not being another
The internal struggle they wake up daily with is something we need to start understanding.
That being part of both communities should be something rewarding.
I used to be a day camp counselor,
getting to work with amazing kids every summer.
One week a child came in my care,
being sent with a rap sheet I was hyper aware.
The week started just like any other,
telling the kids the rules and to get along with one another.
He sat separate from most of the children,
asking every ten minutes to go to the washroom.
After the second day I pulled him aside to just talk
we ended up on the forest path outside and walked
The child was going to the washroom you see
To wash his hands it was not to pee.
âI do it every ten minutes,
because out of all the kids I am certainly the dirtiestâ
He showed me his beautifully tanned skin and he sighed
feeling like all of himself was something to hide.
Tears filled my eyes and started to fall,
I didnât think anything I had to say would have any pull at all.
this sweet baby in front of me was hurting so much it was a crime
To make an innocent child believe they are covered in slime.
âBaby boy I am going to tell you this once and very clear,
there is nothing wrong with your skin at all my dear.
You are a child unlike any other,
being blamed for the anger and called a great bother.
I see you my child
I see you so clear
You are so beautiful this breaks my heart and fills it with fear
I worry that someone else is going to say something like this to you
and that you will try to mend the cracks yourself with nasty unfit views.
When you stand in the pond out back of the center,
the tadpoles come to you like youâre an energy center.
The bees fly around you with so much glee,
I know no other person who has bees sleep on their kneesâ
We really need to get into everyoneâs minds that being racist isnât cool
and all of that knowledge hand off starts within our schools
If I had been educated properly maybe getting thrown into it wouldnât be so bewildering
That colonization hasnât done much good for the world, its sent us all spinning.
When I was growing up I was told there are three sides to every story.
That the truth was hidden somewhere in the middle of all the hate and swearing.
I think if we all just sat down and centered with the earth once a day.
We would all pay more mind to what these people say.
*This sentence isnât appropriate and is incredibly wrong. I loved my Grandpa very much but his views werenât right.
**Duncan Campell Scott said this in parliament quite a few years before Hitler announced that Germany âHas to fix the Jew problemâ This is genocidal speech.
***we do not capitalize the names of those who do not matter.