'Thank an Indian' shirt generates intense reaction

[soleiltropiques]

The experience of a Saskatchewan teen who wore a shirt with the message "Got Land? Thank an Indian" to her school and found herself in some hot water, is sparking animated discussions on social media about race and Aboriginal relations in Canada.

The original news item about Tenelle Starr on CBC's website garnered close to 100,000 views and

Comments

[ms_mmelissa]

"This is racism," she said. "Canadians are really getting sick of the double-standard. No white kid could walk into a school with a shirt that says that in reverse."

lmao. Pathetic.

Not surprised by the reactions unfortunately. :( White Canadians are racist as fuck when it comes to First Nations people.

[thelilyqueen]

That comparison is a truly dizzying example of false equivalence, isn't it?

I'm not surprised by stuff like this but it's still damn sad.

[deadsong]

White Canadians are racist as fuck when it comes to First Nations people.I found this out the hard way on a visit to Canada a few years ago. I'm part Native American on both sides of my family, but so mixed-race in so many variations it's pretty much impossible to tell what I am at first, second, or third glance other than "some sort of brown, but probably not African-American (or at least not wholly)." But I can pass for full-blooded Native pretty easily. And when I was in Niagara Falls with my (now ex) husband, a lot of the service people at restaurants and other places were really weird towards me, very rude and otherwise dismissive, often giving me strange looks or following me around shops like they were expecting me to steal. Despite living in areas of America where you can get pulled over for Driving While Black, I've never, ever been on the receiving end of such extreme treatment because I'm light-skinned enough to be non-threatening. (Which is a whole other issue, but smh...) And my ex was getting weird treatment, too,

[nesmith]

Not surprising since for white people being called racist is ever so much more horrible than racism. *eyeroll*

[oddityangel]

Oh, for crying out loud, such thin skin. Who the Hell gets 'immensely offended' by someone stating that we (general we) have benefited from past (and current) exploitation and mistreatment of First Nations people? It's a simple statement that reiterates a basic truth about this country, and no amount of foot stomping, false equivalences and attacks on thirteen year old girls is going to change that.

[sunhawk]

From Michele's website http://micheletittler.org/:

"If you didn't read it on my Facebook page, or hear it from myself on my videos, it's a LIE from the native cyber stalker gang of abusers from Idle No More. (see "STALKER PAGE

[sunhawk]

Also from her website, how handy!

These are only some of the Facebook pages the cyber stalker native gang created about me. I didn't start keeping a record of it until I realized that, even though Facebook removed their abuse pages, they were not going to stop. And this is only Facebook. They did so much more on You Tube, Twitter and on websites. It's a full on insane obsession from a couple of deranged girls

[svtstarlight]

Passionate about the plight of First Nations peoples? Yet wants to end any laws that actually might help them? Erm... yeah, no. It sounds an awful lot like the same rubbish the African-Americans are going through in the US with the removal of affirmative action and the mess that is causing.

I have so much I want to say but I've been burned by my opinions on this before (I have First Nations heritage myself and have lived on/near a reservation in Northern Saskatchewan) so I'll just leave it at that. I just hope this girl is as protected as they can make it against people like these.

[romp]

FWIW, I think it's okay to share your thoughts and experiences here. You might be asked some questions but the worst most people here do is ask others to think, IMO.

[svtstarlight]

I dunno if it's a case of that - most of the ppl who got angry with me accused me of racism when all I was doing was sharing my experiences. Which I know are not representative of anyone by any means, just what has happened to me and from my viewpoint

[soleiltropiques]

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I'm really really sorry you (and others) got treated like sh*t.

I really think you're right about Canadian education, too...