My recent post about setting personalized reading goals for myself was simply a way to celebrate a love of reading/literacy and encourage lifelong learning. In my roles as teacher librarian, ESL teacher, teacher of students with special education needs, equity & social justice advocate, parent, ally and human being, I feel that these simple goals guide my practice and support my learning stance.
One of my goals was to balance out my reading of fiction with non-fiction.
To that end I selected Indigenous Nationhood: Empowering Grassroots Citizens by Pamela Palmater as my first non-fiction of the summer.
I keep reading and rereading various entries in the book which is a collection of blog posts gathered together. So much so that I have yet to complete it in the time I had assumed it would take. I am full of emotions that one might typically attribute to an epic, tragic work of fiction. I move from anger, to sadness, to shame, to confusion in a single post. I am talking out loud to the book. I am crying. I am sharing facts with my family (getting into some heated debates too).
But I will take full ownership of and responsibility for my ignorance.
As a child in elementary school in the 1980s in Ontario I can honestly say that no one told me that Indigenous Nations still existed. They were presented as history and portrayed as romantic fiction. I took history and law in high school but, nothing was addressed. I was an english/history major in university and I focussed much of my learning on Canadian Women’s Studies but, nothing was addressed.
I still take full ownership of and responsibility for my ignorance.
I always knew that Indigenous peoples were conquered and I always knew this was wrong. But I had no understanding of what the realities of living with the oppression of the Canadian government and the ignorance of our society as a whole were doing to the daily lives of the people today.
Obviously as an adult and educator I know that my juvenile perception was completely wrong. I know that Indigenous Nations exist and have met members of various communities. But I still did not get it. (I argue I still don’t get it – but I am moving forward.) I try as a teacher librarian to gather reflective and authentic texts that bring the Indigenous voices to our students. But I have never felt confident in my understanding of the history and current lived experiences of the Indigenous peoples.
Yet, I still take full ownership of and responsibility for my ignorance.
I am on a journey of enlightenment but, I am still afraid. I am afraid to say the wrong thing and hurt someone. I am afraid to do nothing. I am afraid to fully comprehend the genocide perpetrated by my own government. I am afraid to do nothing. I am afraid to misrepresent myself as a voice for others. I am afraid to do nothing.
But I have no idea what to do…
And yet I take full ownership of and responsibility for my ignorance.
As a privileged white Canadian woman I know everyday that I have easy access and unearned positive assumptions that work in my favour. What I need to do now is find out what I can actually do to change things.
I suggest that anyone wanting to know more gives the book a read. It’s not easy to process but so important.
Follow @Pam_Palmater on Twitter.
Go to her website and read her current blog posts http://www.indigenousnationhood.com
Watch the investigative journalism on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network http://aptn.ca
And if you are like me – own your ignorance. I humbly do.
El ԁetalle perfecto para prepararte para una boda ees una bata de novias.
Este artículo te ɡuiará en detalle sobre cómo elegir ⅼa bata batas de novia novias perfecta para tu gran día.