Undoing 'Assimilate or face the consequences' training

As a white woman living in dominant US culture, at some point in the past my ancestors were willing/able to buy into the old melting pot assimilation model. I remember in elementary school being taught how our ancestors did this because in exchange for giving up their language, heritage, old fights, ties, etc, they would get all kinds of economic benefits and privileges.

What they left out was that people who resisted assimilation, including Native communities across the continent, lose or have repeatedly been denied access to the same benefits and privileges.

What they also left out was that connections to our ancestors and the land also has costs as well as benefits.

A few weeks ago Paco mentioned that tribal governments should be studied alongside of the legislative, executive and judicial aspects of US government, so we can understand how the nation to nation status works. I agree, we have to be educated in order to stop, reverse or at least mitigate the ongoing legacies of racism.

Some dominant culture/white people tell me that while they agree that racism is bad and so forth, they really think we should focus on the future and build for a better tomorrow. It sounds so simple when they say it, yet how do you do that when history and the present time continue to batter you, economically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc?  Also, when there is talk of building a better future, can we truly do that if many of us really don't know what really happened in the past or what is happening today on the ground that we live on?

Can we move forward while also learning about the past? Can we create a new model that doesn't punish those who refuse to assimilate? Can we create a society that encourages all of us to remember, see and continue to learn about each other?

Washington State Representative John McCoy, helped pass HB 1495 in 2005 "Encouraging tribal history to be included in the common school curriculum."
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2005&bill=1495 

In September 2010 an extensive and well thought out website was rolled out to help people implement the 2005 HB 1495 with lesson plans, resource lists and links, for all levels in k-12 called "Since Time Immemorial" http://tribalsov.ospi.k12.wa.us/  While many people were involved, Shana Brown and Denny Hurtado led the effort I heard. Anyone can access the site and it is less than a year old, so please tell teachers and anyone else you can think of about it. HB 1495 and the Since Time Immemorial website show us a way of resisting the assilimate or face the consequences training. It would cool to hear what other efforts are going on in various places.

The Matrix- an analogy of race relations?

Alright, so the movie The Matrix and the two following parts of the trilogy have been viewed from many perspectives, including many religious and philosophical traditions, yet they are also interesting to think about as analogy of race relations in the US.

Since I'm not sure how many people have seen this 1999 flick, here is the basic outline:

Storyline http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ 

Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a malevolent hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents, super powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion. Written by redcommander27  
Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

So, Thomas/Neo gets a choice between taking a blue pill and reality will keep looking like the computer generated one or he can take the red pill and see actual reality- which is not at all pretty. He takes the red pill. To get to the point about race though you need to skip ahead to when they visit Zion, especially in the second and third installments, where those not in the Matrix live. There are some great scenes in Zion, and if you look around the majority of people there are not white. I mean a visually overwhelming majority are every shade of black and brown. This is not a mistake and it makes sense, who would be most likely not to get to believe in the shiny fake-pretty pre-packaged reality? Does anyone else remember this or being struck by it?

Sometimes I think taking the red or blue pill is a choice some of us have the privilege of making on an almost daily basis, while for most others it is not.

For anyone who is thinking about taking the red option (or always have) and then trying to do something about it, I wanted to point out Tim Wise. He is a white anti-racist activist, which even he admits is because of privilege, yet he is a anti-racist role model and can be humorous too: http://www.timwise.org/appreciation-and-accountability/

 http://www.timwise.org/f-a-q-s/
3. Do you think all whites are racist?
I believe that all people (white or of color) raised in a society where racism has been (and still is) so prevalent, will have internalized various elements of racist thinking: certain beliefs, stereotypes, assumptions, and judgments about others and themselves. So in countries where beliefs in European/white superiority and domination have been historically embedded, it is likely that everyone in such places will have ingested some of that conditioning. I think all whites — as the dominant group in the U.S. — have been conditioned to accept white predominance in the social, political and economic system, and to believe that white predominance is a preferable arrangement for the society in which they live, the neighborhoods in which they live, the places where they work, etc.

However, this doesn’t mean that all whites, having been conditioned in that way, are committed to the maintenance of white supremacy. One can challenge one’s conditioning. One can be counter-conditioned and taught to believe in equality, and to commit oneself to its achievement. These things take work — and they can never completely eradicate all of the conditioning to which one has been subjected — but they are possible.

In other words, we can be racist by conditioning, antiracist by choice. That racism is part of who we are does not mean that it’s all of who we are, or that it must be the controlling or dominant part of who we are. By the same token, just because we choose to be antiracist, does not mean that we no longer carry around some of the racism with which we were raised, or to which we were and are exposed.

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Alright, so there are loads of others doing social justice work, carrying on the legacy of the civil rights struggles. Anyone want to share other favorites?

Kohl and Paco ROCK THE HOUSE!!!

So today both of my English 102 classes got a chance to meet and hear from two students from NWIC-Tulalip. Paco and Kohl graciously agreed to come and share some of their stories and experiences with us, which I deeply appreciate.

It was great to get to hear and watch them in both classes, because while they hit some of the same themes, they were two totally different presentations. I think we laughed more in the first one and were a bit more serious in the second, although Kohl and Paco might have a different perspective on that.

It was fantastic was that they were able to hold people's attention for nearly two hours in each class. This was impressive for a number of reasons, including that both classes are held in computer labs, so somehow they managed to compete and win students attention over Facebook and whatever else is online! I'd like to also thank all of the students who did listen so respectfully, asked and answered questions and who came up and talked to them after class!

Another thing that really struck me was how much information, ideas and stories Paco and Kohl were able to share in each class, and it didn't feel rushed or overwhelming. Standing up in front of a group of strangers and sharing so much of yourself, your history and your cultures is not an easy thing to do, yet they made it look effortless.

Since it would take too long to write down all that I remember them saying, I will just give some highlights:

Kohl reminding us about the Gulf Oil Spill last year, and sharing with us his perspective on it.
Paco talking about identity and finding balance within yourself.
Kohl sharing some family stories and some of the historical events that have shaped them.
Paco just getting into various things he was saying, and hearing him talk with the passion and inflection
of a Baptist preacher.
Kohl explaining how generosity works amongst the Lakota people. The idea that sharing increases your status is an important one for many of us to try and understand.
Paco giving us insights into why Native people are still struggling with historical trauma, and the need for us to keep (get?) an open mind about this and other things.

Alright, so I could go on and on, yet those are some highlights. I am also enjoying hearing and reading what my students learned from Kohl and Paco today.

I want to thank Paco and Kohl for being such amazing speakers, student scholars and gentlemen.

Doing our heads in.....with privilege.

"Melissa, no matter how cool a white person is, no matter how much work they've done on themselves around issues of race, class and creed, I always hit the limit of their ability to understand my experience, I find I hit the limit of their privilege- and it always hurts."  B. May 2003

When B. told me that I was at first selfishly heartbroken. I had thought if I worked hard enough I could totally get over having white privilege, that I could somehow examine my conscience, behaviors, actions, thoughts, etc until I was completely free of it and the pain I caused others with it. Knowing it wasn't possible hurt, although not nearly as much dealing with it from the other side. Realizing B. was willing to be my friend, even though he knew I would eventually hurt him with the limits of my privilege, hit me even harder. How could he ever let me or any white person be his friend knowing that?! I'm not sure I could be as open with people I knew would hurt me, even if we are all individuals and hope does spring eternal.

This is one story and many people have stories, opinions and perspectives, yet I've found from other friends that his story is not unique. Some may shrug this off as simply part of being human, making mistakes and forgiving each other, yet it is deeper than that in my opinion. Why and how much deeper? Perhaps others could jump in and share how it works for them?

Colonialist Justice: Step by Step

http://www.hanksville.org/sand/stereotypes/images/justice.gif

A Concise History of Black and White Relations in the US

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/06/13/a-concise-history-of-black-white-relations-in-the-usa-2/