Being Heard

[moondancerdrake]

One of the interesting things about being part of fandom online is that you are who you identify with, not who folks assume you to be based on a first visual impression. Your words paint others’ perceptions of you, for good or bad, which also means you have to choose them carefully. That said, the difference between my experiences at fannish/

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[0nlymemories]

As a biracial Caucasian/Native American (Cherokee too! There are, I suspect, more of us than we probably realize, since the Cherokee are so fucking thoroughly assimilated) I struggle a lot with being perceived as a white person for purposes of discussions of race, both by white people and by other PoC, since my "C" in this instance is fishbelly white. I got the bone structure, but my Welsh ancestry won out when determining my skin color. Growing up where I did (Northeastern OK... I was actually born at the Indian Hospital here in Tahlequah, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation) I never questioned my "right" to be Indian, but in a lot of other places it seems like I don't "get" to be a member of a cultural minority because, yeah, I don't look like Pocahontas. Or my cousins, for that matter.

But then I read something like Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card (it was assigned reading in one of my classes, can you believe) and I just, like. It makes me SO angry. And it really torques me off that no one seemed to understand why I was so upset. Sigh. I guess what I'm trying to say is I definitely feel your frustration here, and, you know. Keep fighting the good fight.

[moondancerdrake]

Thank you, my sister. It is good to know there are more of us out there. At lime it's easy to feel very alone. I wrote something called Being Seen a few days back that I think might resonate with you as well. It can be a challange to walk within who we are when others want to define what that is, but for the sake of my spirit and my children I do it anyways. I'm glad you do too. :)