I am thinking today about the role of community and trauma. I will begin first with some commentary about my own country's scandalous record with our First Nations people. It isn't just in the Latin American countries that indigenous people were subjected to almost every possible variety of genocide and outrage. Perhaps here in Canada our aboriginal people weren't as likely to be hunted down and shot, but there was still wholesale slaughter and some nations, notably the Beothuk of what is now Newfoundland were completely exterminated. We also have the shameful record of the Native Residential Schools were the key priority was to kill the Indian in the child. Thousands and thousands of aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families over more than a hundred years and put in boarding schools where they were systematically mistreated, abused and sometimes killed by the very teachers, nuns and priests who were charged with their care and education. This has probably been one of the single most traumatizing acts of cultural genocide ever inflicted on our First Nations people.
We have been going through a lengthy truth and reconciliation process, which seems to be a very constructive experience for all parties involved. Official apologies are being made by the government of Canada and it is being acknowledged that our native populations have really endured indignity upon indignity. In many cases they are trying to revive their culture and language. The social and economic inequality between aboriginals and non-aboriginals remains, and likely will continue for some time to be, one yawning void.
The rates of suicide, early death, infant mortality and general poverty are still much higher for our indigenous people than the national average. As indigenous people are becoming aware of and recovering their lost dignity many are becoming noticeably angry, hostile and resentful. This is completely understandable.
Last night I was listening to a weekly radio program on CBC Radio One called Unreserved, which is about Canadian aboriginal issues. I often have trouble with this program and usually turn off the radio within the first five minutes. Why? Because the host, her guests and the subject matter almost always seem to be just bristling with hostility, rage and bitterness. Last night they were talking about a card game called "I'm not a racist, but..." and when they didn't seem to want to let go of their favourite hobby horse, called "White Privilege", I felt a little bit annoyed and shut off the radio.
Why?
For the simple reason that I do not like feeling subjected to racist speech. Even if it's anti-white racism. I don't care if white people have historical, and largely mythical, privilege. I am a white person. And I have never benefited from privilege. I have always been poor, have had door after door of potential opportunity and advancement slammed in my face, live in social housing and I have never benefited socially or economically because of the colour of my skin.
Neither have I had anything to do with the historical mistreatment of aboriginal persons in my country. I was born here, okay? Every since I was a kid I have tried and striven to understand, learn about, and have grown to respect and admire our First Nations people. This, in spite of being assaulted and robbed by aboriginals. My crime? Being white!
To Rosanna Deerchild and her fellow white haters over on Unreserved on the CBC I have this to say:
Get over yourselves. Get over your resentment. Get over your hate.
Yes, you and your people have been mistreated and suffered outrageously. But for reconciliation to really take effect there has to be some sense of forgiveness in response to repentance. And, for that matter, don't expect that you're going to recover without getting past your anger, as righteous as it is and as justified as it is.
Like you, I am a trauma survivor and the product of an abusive family. I have grown up and gone through life marginalized and often mistreated. When I was unwell I used to lash out a lot. This did nothing to advance my cause nor my healing or recovery. I have had to learn that for me to heal and move forward, I have not only had to own and express my anger. I have had to take responsibility for it, manage my anger, forgive and move on. This never means forgiving the outrages committed against me, but forgiving the miserable and lost individuals and institutions that harmed me.
There is an element of accepting personal responsibility for one's recovery that is essential to moving past the trauma. I am hoping that more of our First Nations People come to experience and put this into action.
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