The difficulty with identifying (and defeating) systemic racism, especially for those of us who are not its intended target, comes from the fact that its existence and implementation -- by design -- is insidious. Its invisibility ensures its longevity.
Talking about racism and addressing racial injustice can be a difficult topic to navigate, especially if you’re White and relatively new to learning about or fighting against how entrenched it is within American society. Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPoC) have been telling us about this for a very long time; that racism is individually and institutionally pervasive. And it kills.
Back in 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe faced a fight to try and stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) from being built directly under their primary water supply -- a construction route that would also cross their traditional and ancestral lands, destroying burial grounds and other culturally significant sites. They didn't want the crude… Continue reading Stand With Standing Rock: No DAPL Expansion
Whenever I've taken part in a discussion about equal rights or carried out some research related to the topic, I've encountered declarations from some people -- often determined to derail the discussion -- that there are no groups of people within our modern-day society here in the U.S. that have fewer rights than any other group of people.
Discussing this topic can be difficult because it triggers passionate emotional reactions; to combat the fact that thoughts centred around this can sometimes bubble over into intense and overly complicated debate; I've decided to write out my thoughts in a straightforward way — exploring why I'm 100% pro-choice.
The statistics for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirits (MMIWG2S) is staggering, and a grossly underreported issue across the U.S. and Canada. There is a day of awareness on May 5th to honour and remember the women and push for better systems to report, investigate and provide justice.
transatlantic | notes 