When I hear the term “undo racism”, I just shake my head. I appreciate the sincere intention, but undo-ing something that is so ingrained in human behavior is no small endeavor. There is serious denial to overcome and then knowing what to do. Collective, conscious effort is so necessary for improving the quality of a community.

Meanwhile, we experience it on a daily basis and deal with it the best we could. We’ve all heard those that will say there is no racism.  Don’t you wish you could paintball everyone who treats you crappy? 

I mentioned Carol Maicki’s opinion before that white folks must deal with their own attitudes. That may be a good point. I remember the police department making an attempt at cultural sensitivity training for their police officers and it quickly degenerated into a war zone with historical trauma and historical guilt grenades being lobbed back and forth. Now, the idea was not bad at all and not impossible at all, but we haven’t quite figured out how to accomplish the mission in an effective way yet. Maybe we should ask Bush.

To get back to Rezified’s comment, to vent can be healing and we need a safe place to do it. Certainly, experiencing racism is very real and when we don’t vent (talk about it), the emotions can get pretty snarly inside. Is a support group a possibility?

I know when I encounter racist behavior, especially by employees in a public place, I have to quickly gauge if the person is treating everyone badly or just me. Then I have to quickly decide if I have the time to request the manager and lodge a complaint. When I don’t have the time, I still have to bring attention to the behavior. BUT, I don’t want to engage in conflict or reinforce the person’s beliefs (that we’re BAD people). I’ve tried things like, “I’m sorry you’re having a bad day” or “Are you okay?”  

There is the possibility too that the person just doesn’t know how to communicate with OTHER people! I’ve tried openers like, “Pretty hot today, huh?” and get a friendly response from someone who otherwise looker pretty sour to me. My children call it killing them with kindness. Mom’s famous words. Believe me, it took a long time to get here. My father used to say, “Tanmahel taku oyaksu ki anisicin kte” (what you put inside will go bad on you). So, don’t let a stranger load you up with anger!

 

Again, Merman, I thank you for your comment. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you.

Unfortunately, being silenced happens almost daily in a Lakota person’s life and we endure that in silence. It’s so hard to assert ourselves when, by our cultural standards, it feels downright rude. As you mentioned, we often retreat into silence and that is not always good for our spirit either. It’s a challenge to maintain the spirit in a healthy way while negotiating between two cultures in conflict.

 

Thank you, Merman for your comment. Having parents from each culture can be a blessing. You get insights from two cultures and gain the skills to negotiate both. I further appreciate your observation that most folks are too lazy (or just don’t know HOW) to do the “woableze” that is required to be a decent human being.

What is sad is that the onus seems to be on us to bring about change. A dear friend, Carol Maicki, once said that only white people can bring about that change for themselves. 

Just where did that RIGHTEOUSNESS come from? And why?

Over the years, different people in my life have made comments that have served as a challenge to grow. One friend, Siobahn shared that most Americans’ perceptions of Native Americans comes from media and educational curriculum. She said that the first imprint might be the noble “Indians” standing on east coast, waiting to welcome the Mayflower. Then the next imprint might be the painted savages racing around a wagon train on horseback.

Whenever I encounter racist treatment here in South Dakota, I often wonder what imprinted that person’s thinking to behave this way. Of course, South Dakotans have much more contact with native people than other people. Like any human being of any culture and of any shade, there are those that are enjoyable to be around and there are those that are unpleasant. My question is: what were the interactive experiences of this person that caused the racism?

I remember my Grandpa’s curiosity when I first came to Rapid City. When I went home to visit, he would ask what it was like, how the people were. I told him that they stared a lot and interrupted conversations constantly. He said, “Cin tuwa hena ohinniyan wicakapi keya wicagnayanye s’ece”. Maybe somebody fooled them into thinking that they were RIGHT all the time.

So maybe the racism isn’t necessarily from bad experiences. Maybe it could be from the thinking that being of a certain race entitled one to the right of being right? As an individual human being, that has to be a hard position to maintain and defend.

“Woableze”, you may remember, is a way of processing what one perceives. It is not careless, knee-jerk reaction, but careful consideration of other points of view or other factors that can then be processed into opinion and/or action. It is a way of knowing. It was essential for our ancestors’ survival and unfortunately, that is what we are losing. When the word is forgotten, then that way of knowing will not be in our consciousness anymore.

So, instead of culturally ableza=ing each other, we fall into dastardly habits of just believing what we are told. When I was a child, I remember hearing adults talking about wasicu’s (wah-shee-chu) as being hairy, smelly, greedy, and controlling. Of course, I held that opinion until I met some Caucasians, mostly nuns in boarding school. They may have been controlling, but not greedy, smelly, nor hairy. Much later, I met good folks that weren’t necessarily controlling. So, my early perceptions were laid to rest, but it took years.

I asked a class of 7th and 8th grade students to list what they knew about Native Americans. Of course, lazy, dirty, drunk, and long-haired came up high on the lists. Then I had them name the source of these opinions. Most of these sources were the parents and then peers. Where did it begin and where does it end?

I figured that we would eventually get to the “r” word; racism. It’s going to come around again and again, either as a topic for discussion or as exactly what it is. Thank you, Matt for being so direct.

We can’t avoid it, either you are practicing it or it’s being practiced upon you. With the -ism, it’s a noun, but in reality, it is a transitive verb; an action that occurs from subject to object, usually people. It is hardly a benign condition. So we might as well get a stick and flip it over and examine the underbelly of racism.

Now, in Lakota, we would best translate racism as the transitive verb “ahniyan”.  The h is a uvular sound. Some folks call it a guttural sound, with voiceless friction in the back of the throat. It’s similar to how the r is pronounced in French, if there are any French speakers reading this. I just haven’t mastered the possibilities of this blogsite enough to add audio. In time I will and Lakota will come alive!

Getting back to transitive verbs, I used to think of and use “disappeared” as an intransitive verb until I went to Guatemala. I have never thought of “disappeared” as a transitive verb. Often I would hear something like, “My brother was disappeared by the army”. Not “He disappeared (on his own accord)”, but that somebody disappeared him. So my neatly protected reality was forever altered.

I would like to think of racism in those terms; somebody did something to somebody else. Oppressed might be a good alternative word for talking about racism so we don’t have to gasp and say, “Not me!”.  The word itself has that effect on people.

Since this is going to be a long discussion, I won’t try to begin and end my opinion about racism in one breath (or blog). I would like to make a couple of points before we pause: 1) Lakota is being allowed. We just need to mind our manners by not being derogatory to English-speakers, Lakota or not. Yes, there are folks writing in that use Lakota. It’s very polite, usually greetings or encouragement. Oftentimes, the person will continue on to say the same thing in English. If it’s deep-culture Lakota and unique, then by all means, we should translate for others’ benefit. 2) Racism is very complex and yet, it can be very simple. I like to think of this creature as behaving in a very similar way as alcoholism. The first defense is denial; an inability to recognize it. Have you ever met anyone that said, “Yep, I’m a tad racist. Got it from my Grampa. Family tradition, you know” or “I used to be racist at one time, but I got to know an Indian first-hand and I got over it” or “I’m a recovering racist”?

That’s it for now. We are going to use Lakota here or I would not be doing this and we are going to do it honorably. Give some thought to the deep denial of racism. We have it on the table now and I think we can have a thoughtful discussion without pulling out muskets and tomahawks.

Toska Chuck, tanyan woyawa ksto! Wopila heca!

Coming soon: sacred sites discussion!