Please note: One of the reasons I chose to write this post is that it seems that Aboriginal issues in Canada get more attention if they are brought to the government’s attention by whites. This post has been written with good intentions and in no way am I trying to “whitesplain” the issues herein.
This article talks about why the movement #BlackLivesMatter is being harmed by the rejoinder “All Lives Matter” in the United States in the wake of the murders of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.
Yes, racism against blacks is a huge problem in the US. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that.
I think a person’s experiences (ie diseases they have) informs a lot of how they think about this. There are just too many THINGS in the world to be each allotted every person’s 100% attention or sympathy.
So we have to pick and choose, and choosing to not deal with IMPORTANT THING #436 is OK, because there are enough people on the planet to guarantee that at least one other person will take care of IMPORTANT THING #436.
Another example: all children’s lives matter, which is a worthy and noble idea, but too much for one person do deal with alone. What a person can do is focus on their own children’s lives.
Please note: I’m white and Canadian, so am looking at this slightly differently. In Canada, racism is most evident in our country’s past and present treatment of Aboriginal people. In the past, it was residential schools that took young Aboriginal children from their homes and placed them with white Christian families and into a white-centred, largely Catholic- but some Anglican-run, horribly abusive school system bent on erasing their spiritual beliefs, heritages and mother tongues. Pupils were beaten if they spoke their mother tongue rather than in English. Rape was not uncommon.
In the present, the lack of support for Aboriginal people is most recently exemplified by the scores of young Aboriginal women who are missing, raped and/or murdered, and their killers are not being brought to justice – although PM Justin Trudeau is working to change that. More info on Policy Resolution 110 here.
If there are any Aboriginal people who would like to comment specially on my post with their thoughts and experiences, please do! Apologies if I have made any factual errors. If I have, please let me know, and I’ll fix it as quick as I can.
