I don’t often watch a lot of TV directed toward youth, so I miss out on much of the advertising that is directed at young people. However, in recent months I caught an advertisement released by the Canadian Centre for Diversity.

I feel a bit conflicted about bringing this up because clearly this is an organization that offers valuable resources, education and programs promoting equality, unity and confidence among diverse peoples, with special focus on empowering the youth of our country.

However, I find the ad they have released a bit problematic. In it, a number of young adults claim each other’s identity in the name of promoting diversity.

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Big Foot Memorial Ride arriving in Porcupine, South Dakota 2007

Amidst all the holiday hub-bub nonsense what with all the rampant shopping, grotesque overspending, power eating, and under-the-weather feelings many of us encounter, I cast my eyes to my brothers and sisters who use the holiday season to do something remarkably different.

Two rides take place in the United States every December to commemorate some of the largest massacres in Native American history, where communities, families, Elders, and youth alike gather from all across Turtle Island to ride in the footsteps of our ancestors who put their lives down so our peoples could carry on the very culture that sustains us today.

On December 10th, the Dakota 38 Ride started on the Lower Brule reservation in South Dakota, and will end up in Mankato, Minnesota on December 26th. It commemorates the result of a federal policy and a newly formed state to remove the Dakota people from their lands and led to the largest mass hanging in US history on December 26, 1862.

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It’s finally Friday, and that means another edition of my bi-weekly video review!

Comment and rate it, even if you hate it!

“Racism (and Misogyny) in the Elevator” video:

A not-to-be-missed opportunity from Catherine Hernandez at Native Earth, about A Very Polite Genocide or The Girl Who Fell to Earth, currently playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in the TDOT.

I’ll be writing about it over at Racialicious, and will be sure to post it here too!

Act now! Act fast!

Native Earth wants YOU to blog about our show, A Very Polite Genocide or The Girl Who Fell to Earth. Uncovering the emotional truths behind the Residential School System, this is obviously a show that sparks discussion. And we think YOU, the bloggers, are the ones to get it started.

Here’s your chance to see the show for FREE and get VIP Blogger seats for this Saturday’s performance at 8pm.

Just e-mail me a link to your blog (doesn’t matter how small, or what your blog covers) and your full name and we can reserve 2 tickets for you to attend the Dec 13th, 8pm show of A Very Polite Genocide or The Girl Who Fell to Earth at Buddies in Bad Times.

The one caveat: We wanna hear your honest-to-blog truth about how the show made you feel and any other insights you may have about the production.

E-mail me before 4:30pm Dec 12 to be part of Blogger’s Night.

Blog on!
Catherine Hernandez
Catherine@nativeearth.ca

Watch the preview of the show that’s guaranteed to make you think after the jump:

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By saying this and other cleverness and truths about the abhorrent Genocide Awareness Project, reposted at RH Reality Check:

The sexism in their viewpoints is mind-boggling. To them, Black women are the poor dupes of the abortion rights movement, lacking agency and decision-making of our own. In fact, this is a reassertion of Black male supremacy over the self-determination of women. It doesn’t matter whether it is from the lips of a man or a woman. It is about re-enslaving Black women by making us breeders for someone else’s cause.

I am reminded of the comments of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who dismissed the genocide argument when asked to discuss her views on abortion and birth control:

“To label family planning and legal abortion programs “genocide” is male rhetoric, for male ears. It falls flat to female listeners and to thoughtful male ones. Women know, and so do many men, that two or three children who are wanted, prepared for, reared amid love and stability, and educated to the limit of their ability will mean more for the future of the Black and brown races from which they come than any number of neglected, hungry, ill-housed and ill-clothed youngsters.”

For the record, SisterSong rocks my socks.

During memorial periods for the Montreal Massacre, the concept of feminism seems to receive a little bit more mainstream media airtime than usual. Well, maybe not if you count happenings such as the whole Sarah Palin debacle, but generally speaking, feminism takes a back seat if it’s not being dragged under the car itself.

This weekend, two particular yet absolutely polarized columns questioning the future of feminism caught my attention. One was authored by anti-feminist apologist Barbara Kay of the National Post and the second by Sarah Ghabrial, a co-founder of The Miss G__ Project for Equity in Education.

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I’m super pumped to check out Agitate! Community dinner tonight in Ottawa.

More information about this amazing grassroots collective after the jump.
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At the Sisters in Spirit rally on Parliament Hill, we hold the names of our fallen sisters, mothers, aunties, daughters, cousins, partners, and loved ones. We have to continue to hold this rally every year.

“If there were 18,000 white women missing and murdered, it would be headlines,” she said. “There would be something done immediately.”

I couldn’t think of a better title to adequately demonstrate my disdain at having to write about this.

Not that I didn’t know this was happening or am at all surprised that the news is finally surfacing. Mostly I’m just still angry and using my sarcasm here to move through these feelings.

As reported in the Globe and Mail:

“Over the past 18 months, CSIS [Canadian Security & Intelligence Service] agents have approached several people with ties to the Kahnawá:ke Mohawk reserve south of Montreal and invited them to clandestine meetings.

According to the Mohawks who spoke to CSIS, the spies wanted information on native groups leading blockades in Ontario and were trying to assess the strength of political and religious factions within Mohawk communities. The spies said they did similar work in native communities across the country, raising the possibility that dozens of aboriginal groups are being assessed as potential threats to Canada’s national security.”

My favourite part? Two things. Apparently the former CSIS director Reid Morden said he was “surprised to hear the spy agency is targeting natives”.

Yeah.
Right.

Oh, and they were “dissapointed” to find out that Thomas Deer, a graphic design artist from Kahnawá:ke, didn’t know Shawn Brant from Tyendinaga, since he apparently contributes stuff to Indigenous sovereignty-seeking websites.

For real? Like we all send smoke signals the other way to find out what’s going on with each other? There’s over a million of us in Canada alone!

Oh, ignorant racism. When will you ever go away?