I know the 5 of you who follow my blog already know what my passion is...First Nations social work. But let me expand on how God continues to nurture this passion...
Today I was riding the bus to the gym downtown, and ran into a family friend. He is an Ojibiway man from the Bear clan who has been through alot in his life, risen above it all through the power of christ, married a wonderful woman and has like...5 or 6 kids with her! Awesome right? He's not an elder or anything, but he's my elder...
Well, when I saw him on the bus, he'd lost about 50-75 lbs, was on crack or pot or something and had his arm slung around another woman. you wouldn't recognize him from a homeless aboriginal man. He said he's leaving his wife, and him and this other woman are getting married and already are working on a baby...
He has a big "colonialism" stamp on his forehead...with neon lights and everything. It hurt me so much to see him this way. Anyone who had met him would know his heart for God and his family. The way he would talk about his wife with such sincerity "I love her so much! She is the most beautiful woman in the world!" (after the 3'rd kid)... After a knee injury and A.D.H.D out of control and mis-diagnosed, he has turned back to his old ways. The problem is not Mark (that's a code name) and the problem is not Hildy (his wife's code name). The problem is history... He tried for years to get a job. But people take one look at a full blooded native man with a knee injury and say "take a hike"...then you add in the A.D.H.D and you come up with an impossible situation. The world rejects him, gives him no identity. The world doesn't see the strength this man had to rise from drug addiction, and drug addict parents. He rose from prison life, homelessness, gang involvement... he rose above it. he was working with his reserve to create a better place... He was on his way to becoming an elder for sure! He got married to a beautiful woman and had 5 or 6 kids (it's funny to see these little Metis children running around speaking Low German). He had a beautiful life built on his strength and the strength of God.
And the world just see's a native man with A.D.H.D and a knee injury.. and now a drug addition and an affair... People don't see a man when they look at him, they see a race. they see a steriotype... How can we expect these people to rise above their issues when Colonialism is so stinking alive?!?
I know if i was running an agency and a tall large aboriginal male with scars and long hair, and who smelled a bit came to my door and said "eh. Can i ged'a job?" my initial reaction would be "no" for sure! How is that not racist? how is that any different than colonialism? We treat any other race with dignity, worth and individuality, but somehow society just can't fathom that the intoxicated aboriginal person has a true worth and identity...that they have something to offer society...
I know this all sounds racist...but If I sometimes think like this and i've been trained and educated in the matter, I KNOW we've all thought it and think it periodically.
The fact is, colonialism isn't over. It is still alive and functioning at a high level in our society.... We see one aboriginal lawyer or doctor or politician and think "well no one else has any excuse then!!" well no, that one person has exceptional strength!! And we owe it to the dude you just walked past on the street corner, that we are even alive and living in Canada.
My youth who was suicidal last week went AWOL (Absent with out L___???) haha don't know all what it stands for... But I look at that... I see her mom, text-harassing her, telling her that she's betraying the family by not living with them (when CFS took her away)... I see just as much colonialism there. Sure, there was good reason to apprehend, but no one told her what was going on. No one told the mom what was happening... She knows the crap her mom does, but no one told her why she was taken away... Isn't that wrong? she's old enough to get it! a kid older than 11 has a brain developed enough to reason like an adult when needed. (that's a stat from a youth retreat sometime in my past)...
So many mixed emotions, especially around Mark and Hildy... It only makes my passion stronger to see this population rise above the crap they are in...the more crap i see the stronger First Nations people seem to me. They have endured so much, and are still so unified, still retaining language and culture, still peacefully living with us, learning from us, teaching us... wow... What a blessing I don't deserve, to be able to learn from these people...
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