Struggling With Activism
I'm cleaning off my desk today. It's almost like going through an archaeological dig - some things have been on here for almost a year! I found a bill that was supposed to be transferred to the Treasurer's hands (oops!), sample bulletins that have to go back to their owner that have been here since May (yeek!), and a few other things that just haven't moved, for one reason or another!
One item was in regards to Justice (yes, with a capital letter), which is a concept that I agree with in principle but have a hard time actually getting a handle on in my own head.
This is partly because I am most certainly *not* a member of a group that has been traditionally oppressed - I'm white, male, with Anglo-Saxon, Protestant roots! As I said in my previous post, I'm cisgendered. I'm married, never divorced. I drink more now than I ever have (as in, I'm pretty sure I have consumed more alcohol in the past month than I did in my five years in PEI), but it's still not "a lot" by any means! The legalization of marijuana is in no way a priority to me, as I've never used. Ever. Don't look at me like that - it's just a fact! I am also at minimum a third-generation Canadian - mom's parents were both immigrants, but dad's grandparents were the immigrants on his mom's side, and the Booses, well, as far as I can tell, the first one in NA was a Hessian mercenary who arrived in Pennsylvania in the mid-to-late 1700's, whose grandson went to Canada around 1820. I have nowhere to go "back" to - Canada is utterly "my country".
The Justice article was concerned with native issues, which is a massive hot-button right now, and for good reasons. The push is to have teaching about residential schools as part of the curriculum in the country's schools, from grades K-12. I'm personally not sure it needs to go that young but it is an issue that needs to be taught, I'll grant it that. It needs to be taught as much as Canada's involvement in the worldwide fur trade, two world wars, and the Olympic movement needs to be taught. It's part of who and what Canada is and has been. We learn about the past so as to inform the future.
That it's in a "Justice" issue gives me some pause, though, because when you hang that label on it, it means you have an agenda behind it. In the case of residential schools, I think the prime purpose is to ensure that it never happens again... which is a pretty safe bet in and of itself. Learning that the white man has treated the natives shabbily, and still tends to treat them shabbily, is hopefully a key to a time when all Canadians are treated as equals, period.
One problem that I see. though, is that a great segment of the First Nations' position is predicated upon the sense of "white guilt" - the White Man did this to us, isn't it horrible! (Again, note the caps: there's importance to my point there!) Old, white men are blamed for everything, and always seem to be apologizing (or having apologies demanded of them!) for everything.
After the 2015 election, though, there were some interesting stats:
Now, all this being said, the cases of missing and murdered indigenous women is another big issue of today - and if I have it right, it's the fact that these women have gone missing or have been murdered and the police don't seem to take the cases seriously because it's "just another Indian". The cases go unsolved, with the appearance of disinterest because of the ethnic background of the victims. I don't have comparative data regarding missing and/or murdered white women, black women, Asian women, etc. whose cases are unsolved, but I'm led to believe that they are a) not as numerous and b) pursued with slightly more verve and interest by the authorities.
My struggle with any kind of activism has always centred around "who exactly to yell at" and this case is no different, in my mind. Are we supposed to be angry with lawmakers, and new laws need to be passed / current laws amended or enforced? Or with the law enforcers, in which case, is the issue with certain individuals or is the problem systemic? That the kidnappers/murderers can get away with their crime is apparently due to the fact that the women are considered "unimportant", and won't be missed for a time. They're drunks, prostitutes, drug users, and the fact that they went missing was, at first, simply accepted by their friends and family, but when they still didn't turn up after a time, the disappearance was finally reported. Who saw them last? When? Was this usual? And when the answers are "I don't know" and "Well, yeah...", then, police have a lot less to go on than when they show up to gang shoot-up in downtown TO and the echoes have barely faded.
What's that? I'm blaming the victims? Or am I Whitesplaining? Mansplaining? What I'm trying to get at is that unless I know who to yell at and what I'm supposed to be yelling, and I'm convinced that it's the right thing to yell, you're not going to get me to yell! Screaming "Change This!!" will have me respond "Into what?!" Where do we change things? What "justice" for the missing women can there be, if there's no evidence to go on for their murders? Are we not to a point where it would be better to stop new women from disappearing? How do we do that?
How do we give actual hope where we're told there is nothing but despair?
What do we give that can actually make a permanent difference instead of bandaids and patches?
Why are alcoholism and drug use rates so high among Natives, and how do we address those issues?
If we don't get to the root, we'll just keep spinning our wheels, like we have for the past twenty years. And people like me, who have much more pressing issues on their plates, will continue to not prioritize them.
(Just for clarification, if I was to protest anything, it would be the Youth Criminal Justice Act, various aspects of the Children's Aid Society's mandate and operations, and the inability of parents to act in the best interests of their children due to the increased "rights" of children, which come with no explanation or expectation of accompanying responsibility. If I heard about protests in THOSE areas, I'd be in like Flint, because I'd know exactly what I was yelling about!)
One item was in regards to Justice (yes, with a capital letter), which is a concept that I agree with in principle but have a hard time actually getting a handle on in my own head.
This is partly because I am most certainly *not* a member of a group that has been traditionally oppressed - I'm white, male, with Anglo-Saxon, Protestant roots! As I said in my previous post, I'm cisgendered. I'm married, never divorced. I drink more now than I ever have (as in, I'm pretty sure I have consumed more alcohol in the past month than I did in my five years in PEI), but it's still not "a lot" by any means! The legalization of marijuana is in no way a priority to me, as I've never used. Ever. Don't look at me like that - it's just a fact! I am also at minimum a third-generation Canadian - mom's parents were both immigrants, but dad's grandparents were the immigrants on his mom's side, and the Booses, well, as far as I can tell, the first one in NA was a Hessian mercenary who arrived in Pennsylvania in the mid-to-late 1700's, whose grandson went to Canada around 1820. I have nowhere to go "back" to - Canada is utterly "my country".
The Justice article was concerned with native issues, which is a massive hot-button right now, and for good reasons. The push is to have teaching about residential schools as part of the curriculum in the country's schools, from grades K-12. I'm personally not sure it needs to go that young but it is an issue that needs to be taught, I'll grant it that. It needs to be taught as much as Canada's involvement in the worldwide fur trade, two world wars, and the Olympic movement needs to be taught. It's part of who and what Canada is and has been. We learn about the past so as to inform the future.
That it's in a "Justice" issue gives me some pause, though, because when you hang that label on it, it means you have an agenda behind it. In the case of residential schools, I think the prime purpose is to ensure that it never happens again... which is a pretty safe bet in and of itself. Learning that the white man has treated the natives shabbily, and still tends to treat them shabbily, is hopefully a key to a time when all Canadians are treated as equals, period.
One problem that I see. though, is that a great segment of the First Nations' position is predicated upon the sense of "white guilt" - the White Man did this to us, isn't it horrible! (Again, note the caps: there's importance to my point there!) Old, white men are blamed for everything, and always seem to be apologizing (or having apologies demanded of them!) for everything.
After the 2015 election, though, there were some interesting stats:
- 88 MPs (26%) are women... with their own social discrimination issues
- A minimum of 10 elected MPs are Muslim, which amounts to just less than 3% of the Parliament, but it proves that Muslims can be elected in Canada! This despite Islamophobia being at an all-time high and a perceived systematic persecution underway (e.g. is the niqab something that fits in with the values of a modern Canada?)
- There were also 10 First Nation's MP's. Pretty cool. But where there are 1.4 million First Nations people in Canada, there are now 1.1 million Muslims. These numbers are not trending well for Natives.
Now, all this being said, the cases of missing and murdered indigenous women is another big issue of today - and if I have it right, it's the fact that these women have gone missing or have been murdered and the police don't seem to take the cases seriously because it's "just another Indian". The cases go unsolved, with the appearance of disinterest because of the ethnic background of the victims. I don't have comparative data regarding missing and/or murdered white women, black women, Asian women, etc. whose cases are unsolved, but I'm led to believe that they are a) not as numerous and b) pursued with slightly more verve and interest by the authorities.
My struggle with any kind of activism has always centred around "who exactly to yell at" and this case is no different, in my mind. Are we supposed to be angry with lawmakers, and new laws need to be passed / current laws amended or enforced? Or with the law enforcers, in which case, is the issue with certain individuals or is the problem systemic? That the kidnappers/murderers can get away with their crime is apparently due to the fact that the women are considered "unimportant", and won't be missed for a time. They're drunks, prostitutes, drug users, and the fact that they went missing was, at first, simply accepted by their friends and family, but when they still didn't turn up after a time, the disappearance was finally reported. Who saw them last? When? Was this usual? And when the answers are "I don't know" and "Well, yeah...", then, police have a lot less to go on than when they show up to gang shoot-up in downtown TO and the echoes have barely faded.
What's that? I'm blaming the victims? Or am I Whitesplaining? Mansplaining? What I'm trying to get at is that unless I know who to yell at and what I'm supposed to be yelling, and I'm convinced that it's the right thing to yell, you're not going to get me to yell! Screaming "Change This!!" will have me respond "Into what?!" Where do we change things? What "justice" for the missing women can there be, if there's no evidence to go on for their murders? Are we not to a point where it would be better to stop new women from disappearing? How do we do that?
How do we give actual hope where we're told there is nothing but despair?
What do we give that can actually make a permanent difference instead of bandaids and patches?
Why are alcoholism and drug use rates so high among Natives, and how do we address those issues?
If we don't get to the root, we'll just keep spinning our wheels, like we have for the past twenty years. And people like me, who have much more pressing issues on their plates, will continue to not prioritize them.
(Just for clarification, if I was to protest anything, it would be the Youth Criminal Justice Act, various aspects of the Children's Aid Society's mandate and operations, and the inability of parents to act in the best interests of their children due to the increased "rights" of children, which come with no explanation or expectation of accompanying responsibility. If I heard about protests in THOSE areas, I'd be in like Flint, because I'd know exactly what I was yelling about!)