Racism alive and well

While searching for something else, I happened across this 2004 news item from The Turtle Island Native Network. (For those who may not be aware, Turtle Island is the original name of North America.)

"Discrimination against Native people is widespread according to Three City Anti-Racism Initiative. Anti-racism educators in Northeastern Ontario have known for years there is a serious issue that must be addressed, but they have never had the data to prove it. Until now."

A nine-month study of racism in Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins has concluded the "discrimination against Native people is widespread."

"Don Curry, the project director read all the questionnaires and listened to all the taped interviews from each city, and said he noted racist comments made by people who claimed not to be racist."

If you ever want to hear how racist a supposed non-racist is, just let him talk. Here are a couple of fine examples from white, male respondents in North Bay.

“I don’t think what I’m discussing with you is racism. I don’t believe I’m a racist. There is racism, with the Ku Klux Klanfor example. We can tolerate all the different ethnic nationalities but we single out different groups. If that’s racism, then we have it. I’ve never seen a racial incident and I’ve lived here all my life. I hear people make fun of natives,and of black people, and of Chinese people. I suppose that’s a form of racism. Native people get treated differently in North Bay because they’re special. They have special status. Everyone has special status except we, the white, middle class, working taxpayer. The only reason governments give this special treatment to everybody is to buy votes. Everyone should be equal. Period. There’s more and more hatred. I can see it. When you sit down and have a beer that’s when you hear most of this stuff. If you want to find out just go sit in the hotel for a while and talk to people. It comes up time after time after time. Especially if you talk about hunting or fishing.”

“There is not enough racism in North Bay for it to be an issue. If anything, it has gone too far the other way. Natural born, working Canadians pay for everybody else. Aboriginal people get too many handouts. Racism would disappear if government favouritism would stop.”

Now, to be fair, there were also many comments from white males and others against the racist comments they hear. I cite the examples above as I believe that we too-often pretend that racism is a thing of the past when it is not.

"He [Don Curry] said he also read comments from Native people who have heard and seen enough and don't even react to racism anymore. But then there are the fighters -- the Native people who speak out when they are being discriminated against and contact the store manager, the school board director, the hospital CEO and demand an apology..."

"Maurice Switzer, director of communications for the Union of Ontario Indians and a project leader said, 'Virtually every Aboriginal person I know has had issues in stores related to the status card. This study documents what all of us have known for years. The general public is not very knowledgeable about treaty rights. Racism is an issue and we must work together as a community to create solutions.'

"Aboriginal comments... [in the survey include:] 'The Sault has two faces and hides one very well. . .' 'Discrimination against native people in North Bay is widespread. In finding an apartment, going shopping, eating out, playing sports. . .' 'It happens once a week or every two weeks. I'd be walking with my girlfriend and people driving by or stopped at a light would bang the side of their car and say something. I get that a lot. It doesn't surprise me because I hear it so often.'

"The nine-month project, named Debwewin, the Ojibwe word for [to speak from the heart or] truth, involved the dissemination of questionnaires to the public, printing the questionnaire in local newspapers, follow-up interviews, cross-cultural training sessions in each community, media relations training for anti-racism practitioners, creation of a new web site at http://www.debwewin.ca/ full of resources, and a print media monitoring project."

You can find the full studies at the above link, but before I sign off, I'd like to share some scientific info on the notion of race as taken from the final report.

"Scientists and social scientists have shown consistently that race is a false concept. Conferences convened by the United Nations since the late 1940s have established that there is no genuine basis to differentiate any human attributes as functions of skin colour, eye shape, forehead slope or other physical characteristics collectively associated as characteristics of “race” (Celious and Oyserman, 2001; Henry et. Al. 1995; Johnson, Rush and Feagin, 2000; Twine and Warren, 2000.) Blackburn (2000) explains how the differences in DNA between humans are less than 0.6%. The widest variation is between ethnic groups of Africans; the variation between so-called “Caucasians” and either Africans or Asians is less."

So much hatred and derision over such an insignificant difference.

If you'd like to check out the Turtle Island Native Network for late breaking news, click here.

Colleen

Millbrook Powwow 2007

I had the pleasure of attending a Powwow last Saturday. Although I wasn't familiar with the customs of such an event, Cathy Martin, an independent filmmaker and member of the Millbrook community, was on hand to provide visitors with an orientation -- the do's and don'ts, and some background on various elements.

(Orientations are arranged through the Tatamagouche Centre -- tata.ca -- for all Powows in NS and NB.)

Helpful tips included not asking to use someone's drum -- it'd be like asking to borrow someone's toothbrush. We were also warned away from picking up any feathers that we might see on the ground although it'd be a good idea to point it out to someone who could do something about it. Because eagle feathers are sacred -- the eagle soars high and is, therefore, closer to the Creator -- a ceremony must be performed before an eagle feather can be lifted from the ground. Everyone tries to never allow their feathers touch the ground. It was also pointed out to us that no one with alcohol or drugs in their system is allowed to dance or approach the sacred fire.

The atmosphere was extremely welcoming. There were people in attendance from around the world, literally. Young people from the YMCA's multi-cultural society were there as was a group from Africa organized through St. FX University.

The Powwow took place in an open field. Vendors set up their displays along the perimeter. The sacred fire was off to one side. A circular roped off area provided an area for Powwow dancers and in the centre was the arbor -- a round, outdoor room that housed the drummers. There were four groups of drummers, the host drummers who kicked things off and drummers from other communities. This last area was off-limits to visitors as it is sacred and one would need to be somehow prepared to be there -- cleansed, perhaps? I'm not sure. However, drumming is extremely important and represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

The MC was terrific. He announced the dances and let us know when photos were allowed or not allowed. He cracked a lot of jokes too which added to the friendly atmosphere.

The ceremony began with the grass dancers. Long before the invention of lawnmowers, these energetic, young men would be responsible to stomp down the long grass to prepare for the Powwow dancers. Traditionally, this would have happened the day before the Powwow, but today it is ceremonial rather than practical in nature.

The host drummers provided the drumming and singing that accompanied the parade of elders and veterans carrying flags, and dancers as they entered the dance circle. Visitors were also allowed to participate in this ceremony. Flags represented various nations and groups including Mi' mkaq, Mohawk, American Indian Movement, Native Veterans, and so on. These flags were placed around the arbour.

After prayer, dancing begins. There are shawl dancers, fancy dancers, bell dancers, among others. It was great to see younger ones participating either as babes-in-arms or as junior dancers. Periodically, an inter-tribal dance is announced at which time everyone is invited into the circle to hold hands and dance. Given the number of nationalities represented there, it was pretty cool to watch.

Asides from being a social gathering, a Powwow is a place for contemplation and healing. Dancing is considered to be prayer in motion. Dancers can pray/think/focus on themselves or others. Singing is the same. The sacred fire is another opportunity for prayer. Anyone may approach the fire to pray and offer tobacco to the flames. (If you are a woman, you should wear a skirt if you want to approach the sacred fire.)

I should comment on the use of tobacco since, if you are like me, you may be wondering why it is considered to be so important. Tobacco is one of four sacred plants. Sweetgrass, cedar and sage are the others. Tobacco was the first plant given by the Creator and is used to communicate with the spirit world. An offer of tobacco opens the door to prayer and communicating feelings. If you want to approach an elder to ask something, offer tobacco. Your request will be considered appropriate. Pouch tobacco is preferred.

To round out our understanding of the other sacred plants, sage is used to prepare people for ceremonies and teachings. It is also used for cleansing homes and sacred items and has medicinal properties. Sweetgrass is the hair of Mother Earth. Its sweet scent reminds people of her kind ways and gentleness. Cedar is used to purify the home and for curative purposes.

But tobacco is key and used for all things including activating the spirits of other plants.

Here are some photos of the Powwow. If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to attend a one this summer.


Arbour with drummers

Thanks to the Cathy Martin for her time in sharing a bit of her culture with us.

Colleen

Native vs Non-Native Culture

I am heading out to a Powwow this weekend and was informed that it will get underway at noon "Indian time." That's okay, I wanted to say, I've already had to get used to Nova Scotia time, could Indian time be any worse? Apparently so, at least for someone like me who likes things to start at the appointed hour. I will, however, deal with it.

The comment about time reminded me of a website I'd come across some months ago: Sota Lya Ye Yapi . This site outlines history and culture of the Dakota tribes including a section that compares Native and Non-Native values.


As I wrote on Wednesday, learning how we communicate helps us bridge our differences. I hope you find this interesting.

Here are a couple of examples of the differences as posted on the site.



Time


Native Values: Time is unimportant. Clocks are not watched. Things are done as needed. Often the family gets up as the sun rises and retires soon after the sun sets. "Indian time" means when everyone gets there. A community meeting may be set for 1:00 p.m., but people come as much later as they wish, so the meeting may begin an hour or two later. This bothers no one. (Additional: If people gather before a scheduled event, it may begin earlier than announced...)

Non-Native Values: Time is important. Time is of the utmost importance. When someone says they will be somewhere at 10:00 a.m., they must be there at ten. Otherwise, it is felt they steal another person's time. More and more, non-Indians rush. In these cultures, it is felt that using time to its fullest extent is good.


Today vs Tomorrow


Native Values: Today concept. Indian people generally live each day as it comes. Plans for tomorrow often appear to be left until the future becomes the present -- although gathering, harvesting, and storing of foods for winter months was a traditional method of survival for many tribes.


Non-Native Values: Tomorrow concept. Non-Indians constantly are looking toward "tomorrow." Such items as insurance, saving for college, planning vacations, and so on, suggest to what extent non-Indians hold this value.


Patience vs Action

Native Values: Patience. To have much patience and to wait is considered to be good and respectful.

Non-Native Values: Action. The person admired is the one who is quick to act. They get things done and move on quickly to the other things. To sit idly, and let the competitor pass by acting more quickly, is considered bad.


Shame vs Guilt

Native Values: Shame. The Indian community groups often shame an individual (to instruct, or encourage re-entry into what is considered by the group to be acceptable behavior), but once this is accomplished, no lingering guilt is felt by the individual.

Non-Native Values: Guilt. After a non-Indian commits an act that he or she believes to be wrong, he/she carries inside the burden of having done something wrong. This terrible feeling may make them ill mentally and physically.

There is also a section on differing communication behaviours that you may find interesting.


Differing Communication Traits


"Another way of assessing differences is in how people communicate with one another, their body language for example.


"Here are several generalizations concerning differences between indigenous and non-Native cultures:


Eye contact during conversion

Native: Very little eye contact; most conversation conducted while looking away from each other; direct eye contact may be considered disrespectful to other person.

Non-Native: Eye contact is continuous or nearly continuous during conversation; lack of eye contact considered lack of respect, not paying attention to the other.


Manner in speaking voice

Native: Tends to pitch voice lower and speak more softly and slower.

Non-Native: Tends to speak with a higher pitch and faster and louder.


Custom of handshake in greeting others

Native: Traditional handshake is soft with only one or two "pumps" of a gentle nature, gentle pressure.

Non-Native: Handshake is firm, with several "pumps" of the hand; premise is that the firmer and longer the handshake, the more sincere the greeting.



A Native and Non-Native try to communicate

Native: Is in no hurry to begin a conversation, is not uncomfortable with periods of silence at the beginning of, or during, conversation.

Non-Native: Feels must get conversation going quickly, is uncomfortable with silence, thus tends to be over-talkative.



Answer to a question

Native: Reply is delayed until facts are sifted through; thus, a few moments of "silence" may be appropriate before making a reply.

Non-Native: Reply is immediate although the first words of a conversation often contribute little to the answer; may talk while formulating answer.


An anxiety provoking social situation

Native: Remains motionless and watches for cues from others or from the situation; once the pattern, or situation is interpreted, only then is action taken.

Non-Indian: uses "aggressive experimentation," to try again, until the pattern is discovered and/or the situation no longer exists or is a threat.



Colleen

An end to The Indian Act?

Provincial premiers agreed yesterday to play a bigger role in Indigenous affairs with the death of the $5 billion Kelowna Accord earlier this year.

Under The Indian Act, the feds are responsible for everything to do with Aboriginal peoples including health and education, issues for which the provinces control for the non-Native population.

I wonder if this might not be the first step in abandoning an Act which has been responsible for entrenching dependency, poverty and abuse; stealing status from Indigenous women and their families; and creating on-reserve hierarchies that, in some cases, have led to corruption.

I hope that provincial involvement will not spawn more delays in progress and encourage you to follow up with your provincial premier to demonstrate your support of provincial action and to let him know your vote is predicated, at least in part, on his action in this area.

Here's a link to the CBC story.

Colleen

Mi' kmaq: a language of interconnectedness

I am fascinated by the way language shapes the way we think and so, was interested in yesterday's Daily News which ran a series of articles on the Mi' kmaq language. I believe when we work at understanding how someone communicates, we begin to learn who they are and to bridge cultures.

"Statistics Canada says Mi'kmaq is the sixth most widely spoken of Canada's 50 aboriginal languages, with almost 9,000 reporting they understood it in 2001. That's remarkable, considering the Mi'kmaq might have been the first aboriginal people in Canada to encounter Europeans.(*) They were almost killed off by imported disease and state-sponsored murder. The government in Halifax put a bounty on the head of all Mi'kmaq men, women and children in the 1750s."

(** I would guess it was more likely the Beothuk in Newfoundland who would have encountered the Vikings who landed there. The Beothuk where wiped out.)

"Anna Nibby Woods, a Mi'kmaq master's student at Mount Saint Vincent University, said people who grew up with an aboriginal language find it difficult to express themselves in English. They find English words are inadequate, because they have little relationship with other words, or with the environment.The Mi'kmaq words for headache and the cure for headache are related to the word for a plant that cures headaches, she said. In English, there is nothing in common between the words 'headache' and 'aspirin.'"

"[Eskasoni resident Joel] Denny said he has been studying Mi'kmaq for 20 years, collecting old songs and figures of speech. He's convinced it originates from the sounds heard in the environment, and is vital to understanding the environment. The meaning of words is embedded in those sounds.'When you talk Mi'kmaq, you talk feelings, you talk description, you talk what happened and what's going to happen,' Denny said. 'We don't name stuff. We describe stuff.'"

"'There's no good or bad in Mi'kmaq. There's just consequences,' Nibby Woods said. 'Everything is interconnected and interrelated. That's why there is respect for everyone around you.'"

You can link to the full article on the link above. The text below is a reproduction of Brian Flinn's article on sample words.

Mi'kmaq words are more descriptive
'Skunk' gets to the point
BRIAN FLINN

Like many people who speak Nova Scotia's native language, Joel Denny bristles at the word "Mi'kmaq." He finds himself saying it, but the first time Denny remembers being identified with that word was 1973, when he was in his early 20s.

Mi'kmaq means "friend" or "ally." It's the word Acadians adopted to describe their relationship with the native people.

"There's no such thing as a nation of friends," Denny said.

The word preferred by many Mi'kmaq speakers is "Lnu." It sounds almost the same as the word "Innu," used by native people in Labrador and eastern Quebec, and "Inuit," used by people in the Arctic.

And it means the same thing: human.

Here are some other words in Nova Scotia's native language:

Springtime: siwkw, "time of draining out."
Summer: nipk, "the time when everything turns green."
Autumn: toqwa'q, "cold weather has arrived."
Winter: kesik "the slippery time."
Skunk: abigjilu "an animal that steps backward and farts."
Caribou: kalibu "an animal that scrapes snow."
Dog: imu'j "an animal that howls"
Wolf: paqtesm "an animal that's echoing all over the place."
Halifax: Jipugtug (often Anglicized as Chebucto) "the greatest harbour."
Cape Breton: Unamagi, usually translated as "foggy land," Denny says it actually means "land of the white dolphin."

(Spelling from various sources. Definitions from Joel Denny).

Here's another article on Mi' kmaq language in schools.

Colleen

Buddhist extremists?

Today's news reports Buddhist extremists have been accused of carrying out an assault on Muslims.

''We don't shoot innocent Muslims. We only shoot insurgents,'' he [Maj. Gen. Phitak Iadkaew, founder of Thais United] said. ''They deserve to be killed.''

The last group I held out any hope of continuing their tradition of pacifism has now got its own set of extremists.

Colleen

Call to Aboriginal media artists

The following was sent out by the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia:

Métis Media Festival call to Aboriginal media artists: This is a call for all forms of media work, including digital photographs, videos, radio plays, websites in a variety of styles from documentary to experimental in common digital formats such as JPEGs, MP3s, Avis, Moves, DVDs and Audio CDs.

Visit http://www.graham.gs/metis_media_fest_2007_p2.html to submit.

Deadline: August 15.

For more information, please email: graham@graham.gs

Colleen

UNREPENTANT: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide

When I was a little girl, I was pretty cute, if I do say so myself with my blond, curly hair, blue eyes, shy smile and friendly nature. My biggest worry was finishing homework early enough so I could go outside and play. My life was made up of going to school with teachers whom I mostly adored; having fun at a free day camp during the summer; camping; piano, tap dance and swimming lessons; sleepovers; learning how to sew with my mom; pick-up sports with the other baby boomer kids on the block; and family board game nights.

That was life in small town, white Canada.

Had I been copper skinned, I would have known none of these things. Despite my black, silky hair, brown eyes, shy smile and friendly nature, my worries would have been many. I would have been taken from my parents somewhere between the age of three and seven. I would have been sent to a school run by people I didn't understand and who didn't understand me. Punished for speaking my language or following my culture's rules of courtesy, I would have been sexually, physically and emotionally abused. At least fifty per cent of my friends and siblings would not have made it through school alive. When I made it out of school, my relationship with my family would have changed, we may no longer have spoken the same language or had the same values. My community would have been broken as it could only have been when abused people fill the houses.

That was life in small-town, red Canada.

The residential school system in Canada -- where Native children were taken from their parents and sent to live in schools runs by religious orders -- was made possible by the Indian Act. This Act became law in 1876 and stemmed from the Bagot Commission . Legislation was guided by the Catholic and Anglican Churches.

The Indian Act makes Native peoples legal wards of the Canadian State with the same status as children or those who are mentally incompetent. One of its goals was the Christianizing and assimilation of Native peoples into white society.

One of the tactics used for assimilation were residential schools established in the 1840s. Native parents were forced to surrender the guardianship of their children or face jail. The last residential school was closed in 1990.

While the Canadian government and religious groups have recently apologized for the abuse and other suffering that took place at residential schools, no one has admitted to the murder, medical experimentation and sterilization that also took place.

These are the facts and stories featured in one of the most disturbing documentaries imaginable, Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide which you can watch online.

The documentary was the winner of Best International Documentary at the 2006 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and Best Director for an International Documentary at the 2006 New York International Film Festival.

"This documentary reveals Canada's darkest secret - the deliberate extermination of indigenous (Native American) peoples and the theft of their land under the guise of religion. This never before told history as seen through the eyes of this former [United Church] minister (Kevin Annett) who blew the whistle on his own church, after he learned of thousands of murders in its Indian Residential Schools..."

According to Wikipedia: "Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic or national group.[1] While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, the most prominent definition in international law is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of the CPPCG defines genocide as 'any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• killing members of the group;


• causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;


• deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;


• imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and]


• forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.'"

It isn't important to know our history so we can point fingers at each other. Unless we know what has happened, we can't understand the present or move into the future. I invite you to sit back and watch the documentary. (The information shared is disturbing but not graphic.)

To find out more, including what has taken place since the documentary came out, visit Hidden From History.

The United Church's rebuttal is posted here.

Colleen

White vs Native Morality

Someone near and dear to me has accused me of the following thinking:

White = Bad
Native = Good

This is an odd notion at best, inflammatory and devious at worst.

There have been and are many whites who help Native peoples, whites who care about the environment, whites who fight for justice, etc. I am white. I am not bad, flawed certainly, but not bad. Therefore, it follows that white can't equal bad. At least not all the time.

There are also examples of Natives who don't respect the environment, Natives whose self-interest harms their people, Native communities where violence against women is a big problem and so on.

But what is the value or goal of this trajectory? In my view, it serves one purpose only and that is to take attention away from the real issues that must be addressed. Native poverty, education, health, land rights, self government, restitution, reclamation, among others.

Sidelining the discussion by debating inconsequentialities achieves nothing more than foot-dragging and carries the depredations of the past and present into the future.

So, let's agree to not waste any more time on such nonsense.

When Euro-Canadians and Americans look around the globe at the atrocities committed against other country's aboriginal peoples, we are appalled and often driven to action. Why then, do we hunker down allowing our sense of what's right to shrivel up when these same things are happening in our own backyards?

It's easier to point the finger at someone else, isn't it?

It's easier to read something in the newspaper and fire off a cheque to the Red Cross or Amnesty International or some other non-profit, than to try to figure out what the hell we can do here. (And keep sending those cheques to the non-profits, they do good work and need whatever help we can provide.)

We can make a difference here too. Here's a list. Pick one thing off it, and do it.

1) Get educated. Stop complaining about Natives getting free graduate education without knowing the facts or the context. Stop complaining about inadequate housing despoiling your view as you drive down the highway before you understand why.

Here are some resources:

Check out the links to the right for the American Indian Movement, The Assembly of First Nations, the Aboriginal People's Congress.

Read: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, considered a classic by any account; and I Have Lived Here Since the World Began by historian Arthur Ray.

From there, you may wish to expand your reading to include, among others: Iskwewak: Neither Indian Princesses nor Easy Squaws by Janice Acoose, We Were Not the Savages by Daniel Paul, and Native America: Portrait of the Peoples by Duane Champagne.

If you get through even some of these references, you'll be better educated about history -- past and and current -- than most non-Native people.

2) Follow the news. Find out what's happening today. Here's a great link to the CBC where information is organized and easy to find on Ipperwash and Caledonia, as well as Native rights and health care. You will also find information at the links to the right.

3) Get active. Start talking. Share your knowledge. Write letters and let your MP and MLA, your Governor, Senator, or other representative know that you care about his or her voting record on Native issues. Believe me, when you care, they'll care.

4) Don't give up. Keep at it. Native peoples have been fighting this battle for hundreds of years, mostly alone.

Let's see if white morality and stamina is up to the challenge.

Colleen