Terese Marie Mailhot. Photo from Facebook
Writer Terese Marie Mailhot (Seabird Island Band) offers a post-election message to White allies on the internet:
In this election, racist white women hurt us the most at the polls. You need to talk to your cousins and your aunts and your grandmother. You need to be the one to convince them progress is inevitable. The onus isn’t on me or any person of color. We’ve been crucial to every civil rights, human rights, women’s rights issue in America, but we’re tired of pleading with your families. You do it this time. Making fun of you is the first step into an initiation. It’s a Native rite of passage to be made fun of in order to get your pass on the rez. Can you do us a solid one more time? Have those conversations you’re having online, outside of your liberal online friendships. At the Thanksgiving table, talk about Dakota Access Pipeline, and how ironic your feast is when you look at American history. Talk to your bosses and co-workers when they discriminate. Help refugees, because there is no such thing as natural born citizens. Even Native people feel displaced in their own country. The disenfranchisement of our most vulnerable community members cannot continue. Put your money into this, and your time, and every ounce of your compassion. Be braver.Read More:
Terese Marie Mailhot: To Brave White People: Be Braver (Indian Country Today 11/18)
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