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Racism: Personal Experience

 By: Barb Nahwegahbow     

Speaking of racism - the times when I have complained about racism and discrimination in the workplace (in the mainstream), - in fact, one time I went to the Human Rights Commission about an incident - it has been Aboriginal colleagues who have been the most upset with me for 'rocking the boat' or imagining things or taking things too seriously, or they said things like, he's really a good guy and not racist - even when the evidence was right there in front of them in writing. I think they believed I had put them and their jobs at risk by speaking up. I'd only been on the job for a couple of months - whose job was at risk? People, aboriginal or not, are so quick to jump to the perpetrator's defense. Here's another incident that illustrates that: Several summers ago I took a writing course at Haliburton School for the Art. I was so happy to see another Native woman in the course. One day I took my drum and I shared some songs with my new friend outside - it was a beautiful hot summer day. A group of about five or six women went by and they said, are you rain dancing? We need it, and they laughed and laughed like they'd made some kind of fantastic joke. I told them they were disrespectful. When we got back to class, we were doing status reports, you know, how are you feeling, etc. I reported the incident and you never saw twelve people including the teacher jump so quick to the defense of the perpetrator and saying things like, oh, they didn't mean it like you think, they weren't being disrespectful, they were just joking, they didn't realize what theye were doing. All of this from a group of people who did not even witness the incident. Telling me I was wrong to feel the way I did! that my feelings were not legitimate.The arrogance! I noticed after that, most of my classmates avoided me. You can be sure that incidents of racism experienced by our people stay with us forever. Mine have, not to make me bitter but to make me cautious and to reinforce who I am. I can tell you about racism I experienced when I was ten years old, when I was thirteen and so on. I continue to speak up and to assert my rights to dignity as a human being and as Anishnawbe. The most hurtful and potentially damaging thing about the Haliburton incident was not the rain dance comment, but the reaction of people in the class. I will continue to speak up and take action not just for myself but for others.

Published on: January 26th 2015

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