But We Dont Really Know How To Connect To It - Tumblr Posts
The tags on my whiteness post said to me that white people (at least those that are racially aware) and colonized natives perhaps have more in common than most people think. Or at least more than they talk about it in public.
Not that they're the same. Misogyny and transphobia are not the same, but they are both veins of oppression in a patriarchy. Similar.
In the same way, that empty hollowness white ppl feel where your culture should be is not unlike what I feel as a native, from what I've read of your accounts. Learning your ancestors chose whiteness and safety and comfort over culture and identity. That now you have nothing because of the colonization and assimilation your grandparents experienced when they got to the USA. Because of whiteness. Because of the power it has even just as a concept in the US.
We experience these for much different reasons and at least your loss bought you privilege.
... but they aren't total opposites either. A hollowness where you know rich history used to be? Having culture but feeling a disconnect where you know More used to be? Feeling like you only have scraps of the culture your family used to have? Clinging to what you can get your hands on? Feeling like it's so detached that it's not really yours?
I get that and I bet I'm not the only one.
The USA's habit for white supremacy, racism, and colonization hurt all of us.
And it will benefit all of us to discard the systems those things built. They're still there and still hurting every one of us.
We can build a future that benefits us all instead as soon as we all start working on that together.
But we can't do that if some of us refuse to admit the system is what's hurting us. If we refuse to acknowledge that even with perfect politicians our Systems would still prevent progress because they are built on outdated and white supremacist ideals we'll just continue to suffer together under those systems instead.
We can't keep attacking each other just because some of us refuse to look at the ideologies fueling our current reality.
