AuDN4T

I do want to own up to my comments and conversations on fb years ago and with friends.

I truly believe we are constantly learning. I’m also learning that my conversations or comments may come off wrong. I do also want to take accountability for that. Because I recognize it can still hurt and when you’re left with a very short comment snippet where the communication between people can be very short and RSD or echo chambers exist on fb… it’s an overly weird space. Throw in russian bots. Social media I feel like has been a failed experiment? Am I wrong on this? How do people feel about it?

Anyway – I remember making a statement around Indigenous People and Canada Day and how it took time to break up that racism. It took a while for Ukrainians to get through it. But I didn’t know the entire history. I had so much more to learn about how the authorities treated our Indigenous People…. the nutritional studies on them… I mean you can equate this to what Hitler did to Jewish People when they were in concentration camps. They ran insane medical experiments on them. Throw in that no one notified people of Grassy Narrows for 8 years about the mercury in their water and fish and followed a “let’s see” approach. Complete USSR move. How many towns in the USSR had been unknowingly been exposed to nuclear waste flowing into their water… Chelyabinsk? What about the girls dance camp during the nuclear warhead tests in New Mexico, USA?

The more you learn about these atrocities, you learn how governments have failed us. How they have failed our Indigenous People. How they how resentment. And rightfully so. When you’re taken away from your parents and forced to learn a new language, forget your culture and language…. this is no different to what is happening to Ukraine now. The reasons I’m including paralleled examples is to show that we are all impacted in this and need to work together to make these wrongs corrected… and that history repeats itself in various formats. We also need to somehow educate those in power of their privileges and how they are hurting us…. if they even care….

I understand the anger can come off rough around the edges and hard to hear. Sometimes…. militant or abrasive? I might be categorized as someone who is drinking the “pinko” koolaid or whatever. The terminology is what is used in institutions to analyze these injustices. “privileges”, “constructivism”, “deconstructionism”, “heteronormative”, “people in power”, etc. It’s that “basket weaving” course Doug Ford talks about…. I hate using that term.

These are the realities though.

Who has been in power? Typically White, Straight, WASP, men.

Who are on the fringes? Forced to fight more for themselves? BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+…. I’m not sure if I’m missing any other category? Migrants and immigrants? I feel like there might be others. Those with disabilities. And if they can’t fight for themselves. What happens? What happens when they’re just exhausted? They’ve looked at all avenues to fix things but they’re just constantly put in a box? What kind of behaviour do you get? Do they lash out? Do they speak in harsher terms? Do they feel betrayed by people? Does it become a more difficult conversation to have? Do people spin their wheels while they’re put in jobs they know they could do more in? How do people feel when they’re not given a liveable wage or housing or healthcare or safety or or or…..

It was not ok of me to put Indigenous People into that box of…. we need more time to remove that racism. When is enough, enough? After seeing the perpetuated racism… even in Thunder Bay…. reading more and educating myself on how historically Indigenous People are treated in various environments… even at home. I think it’s fair for them to say land back…. we’ve fucked it up… haven’t we? Maybe not us directly with our ancestors but we’ve consistently voted for governments that have done nothing to make any reparations and ensuring people are not further injured by corporations that are not held accountable. Because they don’t care…. the corps don’t care. the governments don’t care. They follow with the American standard of taking shortcuts.

How many reserves are without clean drinking water? 38. Can you imagine not being able to drink water out of the tap? Ever try to drink boiled water? I hate it. I don’t think a lot of people like it whatsoever. But then the bottled water is $50 a case. You’re really mistreated these people. Are you ok with that? We can have Indigenous People talk about it. They deserve to be that voice. Though, I know they’re tired of trying to advocate for themselves. I understand that.

I also find it funny that I had managers assume I was just a Liberal voter. That I loved voting for Kathleen Wynne. I was actually annoyed with her spending billions of dollars on a gas plant and didn’t speak with anyone and when we spoke up about it.. it didn’t come to fruition… but they waste billions of dollars… and no accountability. They fail to understand that I also tried to do a protest Facebook group lol. And perhaps the fact that it was cancelled shows our privilege while the ring of fire seems speaks differently. There’s something different about this government though…. the forced vanity projects…. and so many of them. Too many of them. The system feels broken. Those that are to serve us, don’t truly serve us. They just say we’re doing this and proceed with it. It’s like political rape? I don’t know how else to word it. We can also just talk about the lack of competency on topics that they have no business managing. No one asks what people want. No one asks what the Indigenous People want. Things are just packaged in a weird way… like getting a perogie with toilet paper inside of it (as my Polish paternal grandma would like to troll the family in Poland on Christmas Eve… never met her, but it’s quite the story).

I reflect on the pride march in Toronto during BLM. I know the LGBTQ+ community was a mixed bags on either approval or disapproval of the sit down. I found myself agreeing with my friend on the topic of disapproval on the sit down. I stand corrected on it. I haven’t thought about it in quite some time, but I know how the Black community felt about the reactions were hurt by it and I have a feeling it still stings? I may be wrong. We remember those injustices that hurt.

I am sorry to those that were hurt who were mistreated. I think many have to look at your experiences from a different lens. They need to understand your struggles better.

We all might not align on everything – but that’s like that anywhere in the world. But I think majority of us want that security in life – clean water, food, housing, safety from climate change…. reversing climate change however we can… and it’s not someone a select number in power with money that should make that decision for us. We outnumber them and they are to serve us, not their own interests.

There’s a lot of pain and injustice in this world… but we need to find ways to reconcile with them. The people we are neighbours with, work with…. are good people.

I still think back to Shevchenko’s words:

"Learn, my brothers,
Think and read,
Learn from others,
But do not shun your own."

«Учітесь, брати мої,
Думайте, читайте,
І чужому научайтесь,
Й свого не цурайтесь».

You have so much to learn from others and the world around you. And be kind to others.

I think it’s also important to own up to one’s mistakes and learn how they’ve impacted others. I hope I have… I hope I’ve made comfortable safe spaces for those that I’ve wronged.

Though, I personally still have a hard time with politicians and execs… a lot of damage has been done. I know there are people who care… but the facts, numbers remain the same. Real actions need to be made.