I grew up thinking I was Indigenous. Or more particularly, that I was part Indigenous. I was taught that I was Métis, and that meant part French and part Cree.
Category: Racism
A few months ago, I was discussing the concept of “a little bit racist” with a friend on Facebook. Before long, the conversation turned to Indigenous people, and his discussion points started to incorporate common myths white people believe about Indigenous people.
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released in June 2019. It’s over 1,000 pages long and comes in 2 volumes. Even though it has 231 calls for justice, people got hung up on the report’s use of the word genocide. Critics of the term argue that since Indigenous people in […]
You don’t need to be white to support white supremacy or white privilege. If you support the justice system, for example, which apprehends and incarcerates people of colour at higher rates than white people, hands them harsher sentences, and is more likely to reincarcerate them, then you support white supremacy. And you don’t need to […]
To her, indigeneity is criminal. Likewise, her readers also see indigeneity as criminal. Both the speaker and the receiver understand this concept so well that it can be used as code.
The justice system is broken; it’s racist. Here’s why. In 2017, the Office of the Correctional Investigator published a report (see my notes below) that included statistics on indigenous people in Canadian prisons. Here are some highlights: Indigenous people make up 26.4% of Canada’s prison population Indigenous people make up only 5% of the general […]
My second job in Lethbridge was cleaning carpets. My boss was racist. One time, we went to a nearby reserve, but the person who booked us wasn’t home. My boss then implemented a surcharge for every reserve job we had. Plus he required the client to meet us in Lethbridge and we’d follow them to […]
Have you ever seen white people complain when governments pay reparations to marginalized groups for the oppressive actions of previous governments, particularly regarding people of colour? Have you seen them say something like “They’ve already paid them enough. It’s in the past. Let’s move on.”? This position is racist. See, the problem is that white […]
“I’m not racist.” Have you heard people say this? Have you said it? What does this mean exactly? What does it mean to be not racist? Does being not racist mean you don’t call people names based on their skin colour? Does it mean that you treat everyone the same regardless of skin colour? Does […]
No, really. This might come as a shock to people who actually know me well, who have seen me criticizing racist power structures that favour white people. But let me explain.