Musings of Indigeneity

Indigenous Consent is back. Sharing all things #indigenous. This blog is for indigenous people and indigenous people only. Colonizing peoples should not interact. Especially white folks.

[thought-cafe]

🐢 Remembering the slow yet captivating crawl of evolution.  ~ @thecrashcourse Big History series.

[amoisthobo]

This is fucking irredeemable. You can’t reform this

[wattstheproblem]

Is there a GoFundMe?

[afro-elf]

yes 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/brutal-attack-by-police?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0sXFObWCq8EoUHTdhhTWeaiM4C8dDNCPQQRZksEfI14AFk6_lwdL-tAq4

[indigenous-consent]

*Reblogs a post about Indigenous peoples, asserting boundaries to White people that they shouldn't get involved on discussions of Indigeneity*

*White people without an iota of research into Indigeneity or any personal understanding of what it means to be Indigenous in a racialized world*: "But but but....we're Indigenous too! We came from somewhere!"

**On Saami people and other Indigenous peoples on the "European" "continent": Racializing an ETHNIC group as White when they suffer from colonialism as Indigenous peoples is wrong FULL Stop. Not ALL Saami are White/White-passing and showing random stock photos of the Whitest looking Saami families in traditional clothing doesn't prove a point whatsoever. Visibly Non-White/Brown and Black Saami are just as much Saami peoples and that kind of colorism and ignorance isn't welcome in discussions on Indigeneity.

Indigeneity is dependent on colonial relationships. The whole ontological nature of existing as an Indigenous person is in antithesis to the invading and dominating colonial power. It isn't based on who was "on this land first" as that assumes a lot about the migration of human beings across the planet which is just inconsistent with reality.

Indigeneity is about a loss of autonomy, a loss of agency. It is the stripping of culture from both people and the lands they have lived on. It is dispossession of people's ability to grow and participate in their own ways of life on their own terms. For 500 years the main antagonists of this planet's human and environmental story has consistently been White people and their empires.

The evidence is incontrovertible and consistently documented. The only people that have the hardest time grasping this is White people.

The only ones who want to debate this reality is White people.

The moderators of this blog will ignore you and will not debate you. You have been warned. Violate these boundaries, you will be blocked ASAP.

[ordenna-deactivated20181024]

this book is worth more than a dozen restaurants that grow their own microgreens on the roof

[watchoutfordinosaurs]

ACCESSIBLE GARDENING FOR PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

[recreationalwitchcraft]

So important!

[mam-te-moc]

Everybody should see this little gem

[indigenous-consent]

Hey! This isn't or at least shouldn't be for White people to reblog with their two sense on what "Indigeneity" is. The Saami are Indigenous but racializing them as White/racializing them at all is NOT okay.

[indigenous-consent]

Be warned: The Crackers are salty in these notes.

[antelopian]

that's because you're literally trying to appropriate culture you dumb fuck, the Sami are from Scandinavia.

[indigenous-consent]

Example 1802567 on why White people just shouldn't use words like "appropriation". Y'all just look dumb, save some face hun.

[mam-te-moc]

Everybody should see this little gem

[indigenous-consent]

Hey! This isn't or at least shouldn't be for White people to reblog with their two sense on what "Indigeneity" is. The Saami are Indigenous but racializing them as White/racializing them at all is NOT okay.

[indigenous-consent]

Be warned: The Crackers are salty in these notes.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Vancouver Island First Nation blocks highway access to logging trucks in Gold River

Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation restricting access for Western Forest Products pending road deal

A Vancouver Island First Nation is poised to blockade the highway between the town of Gold River and its port to logging traffic until it gets compensation for the use of its land.

Mowachaht/ Muchalaht First Nation (MMFN) has announced its intention to restrict access to the portion of Highway 28 that passes through Ahaminaquus Indian Reserve Number 12 (IR 12) to the logging company Western Forest Products (WFP) effective immediately.

“This act is in response to WFP’s continued and repeated trespass on MMFN IR 12, and the province’s failure to fairly compensate MMFN for the ongoing trespass,” said the Nation in the statement. “Since MMFN never approved or consented to WFP’s use of the road that crosses MMFN’s IR#12, WFP’s continued use of the road constitutes an act of trespass.”

MMFN said it has the “right to control use and access to its reserve lands.” According to its statement, ever since Highway 28 was built 50 years ago, it has been in trespass. It maintains the land has never been legally transferred to the province and it has not been paid a cent for the use of the road by the logging company.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[verilybitchie]

Whether you believe bisexuality was inclusive of nonbinary people in the 1960s, or whatever the latest debate is, the fact is that the bi community has spent the majority of the last decade trying to make it clear that bisexual means or should mean much more than just “attraction to men and women”, and there has been very, very little push back from within the bi community. The general consensus is that the word “bisexual” should be infinitely broad and inclusive, no matter what the etymological root is. Bisexuals do not want “bisexual” to be limited.

The only people desperately trying to reinforce the idea that “bisexual means 2 genders” are people who do not identify as bisexual. 

[earthstory]

Mosi-oa-Tunya 🍃

sampa_the_great

[whitepeopletwitter]

[nicolaporter-blog-deactivated20]

[indigenous-consent]

These pictures maybe misleading.

The top one looks like it was taken at Lake Hillier, a lake on an island off the Coast of Wudjari country in the so called "State of Western Australia".

The bottom one looks like it was taken at Lake Retba, a lake on the Northern end of the Cape Vert peninsula in Senegal, close to the capital of Dakar.

My reasoning is that Lake Hillier is located in a nature preserve and use is significantly restricted by the government of Western Australia. Mostly used for science purposes and not salt production.

The later, Lake Retba, is consistently used for salt production and occasionally fishing for the unique fish adapted to the high salt content in the waters. The men in the boats on the bottom picture seem to be collecting salt.

Both are famous pink lakes, used for different purposes. One in so called "Australia" (Wudjari country, "State of West Aus.") And one in Africa (country of Senegal).

[closet-keys]

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

The risk of contagion is highest in indoor spaces but can be reduced by applying all available measures to combat infection via aerosols. Here is an overview of the likelihood of infection in three everyday scenarios, based on the safety measures used and the length of exposure

A very pertinent case with regard to understanding the dynamics of indoor transmission was a choir rehearsal in Washington State, in the United States, in March. Only 61 of the 120 members of the choir attended the rehearsal, and efforts were made to maintain a safe distance and hygiene measures. But unknown to them, they were in a maximum risk scenario: no masks, no ventilation, singing and sharing space over a prolonged period. Just one infected person passed the virus on to 53 people in the space of two-and-a-half hours. Some of those infected were 14 meters away, so only aerosols would explain the transmission. Two of those who caught the virus died.

After studying this outbreak carefully, scientists were able to calculate the extent to which the risk could have been mitigated if they had taken measures against airborne transmission. For example, if masks had been worn, the risk would have been halved and only around 44% of those present would have been affected as opposed to 87%. If the rehearsal had been held over a shorter period of time in a space with more ventilation, only two singers would have become infected.

____

In summary:

Indoors with social distancing/limited capacity: HIGHLY contagious

Indoors with social distancing/limited capacity with everyone wearing masks correctly: still almost half present would be infected

Indoors with social distancing/limited capacity, with everyone wearing masks correctly, for only one hour, with ventilation: a few people will be infected

Outdoors, with masks and social distance: ideal scenario to prevent spread

Published October 28, 2020

[cridhe]

okay djab wurrung info for those who care:

directions tree is gone. they cut it down. its dead

birthing tree is STILL THERE. the birthing tree is a gum tree with a large cavity at the bottom in which generations of djab wurrung have been born.

as of today (wed 28 oct) the victorian supreme court has banned further works on the site until after a court hearing. this injunction is valid until after the hearing at 2pm aedt thursday 29 october.

it is not over. we do not know what the hearing will determine but the fact that there will be a hearing at all is testament to the power of the people. now is the time to fight for country harder than ever before. solidarity with djab wurrung first nation. sovereignty was never ceded.

email via: https://www.melbournefoe.org.au/stop_work_now

call (if in aus): [phone] state name and postcode, tell them you oppose the works on djab wurrung sacred land

STOP WORK ON DJAB WURRUNG COUNTRY

The Djab Wurrung Embassy is under threat. Email Now

[whitepeopletwitter]

[agayjewishwerewolf]

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

I love it when people try to claim representation in fiction is being taken “too far” to the point where it’s no believable. They’re like: 

“What’s next, a mixed-race immigrant on the autism spectrum?” Hi, my name is Rachel, also known as Rachna, and I’m a mixed-race immigrant on the autism spectrum. 

“What’s next, a transgender Latino man with chronic pain?” What, you mean my former colleague, Marco? 

“What’s next, a Black Jewish lesbian?” Bitch, I know I three Black Jewish lesbians, WHAT’S YOUR FUCKING POINT?

[silverscreenx]

But can you make them interesting and conpelling?

[siryouarebeingmocked]

“I know a much, much higher amount of very rare minorities than the general population, therefore it’s impossible to have a jarring presentation of diversity in a work, regardless of setting and context.”

Also, the usual sardonic examples come in at four or five minority groups. The best you’ve got for all of these is three.

[renardtrickster]

It’s only “jarring” because of your self-admitted lack of exposure to people like OP’s friends and associates. Their point was that so-called “very rare minorities” actually exist and aren’t purely fictional grabs for token points or whatever, so a piece of fiction with characters as described isn’t inherently unrealistic, unbelievable, or forced. Rebutting “I’ve known people like this throughout my life, it could work” with “well I haven’t, so it can’t” not only fails to address that point, but it’s basically a “no you” by way of saying that because the vaguely-defined “general population” hasn’t met people like OP describes, then it’s always going to be jarring or poorly handled or whatever point it is you’re trying to make by shoving words into people’s mouths.

And “but can you make them interesting and compelling” is such a uselessly cynical comment. This is related to the above, but are people so burnt by genuine examples of forced representation or blatant tokens that they legitimately think a character being a minority twice-over means it sucks away from their writing, or that such a character is actually impossible to write and develop? God, that sounds miserable.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

You’re talking to a black third-world immigrant to the  UK. I’m already in two minority categories. 

I wasn’t implying anything about my personal experience, which is itself already more diverse than your average British person. 

Also, “jarring” included “inappropriate for the setting and context”. Which is why I specifically mentioned “setting and context”. 

Rare minorities do exist, but expecting them to be common and regular is not sensible. And there’s nothing about being a rare minority character that makes them inherently immune to being tokens, which was OP’s implication. 

When I saw “Overlord”, I kept thinking “huh, seems weird to have a racially integrated Army unit”. The entire movie.

> And “but can you make them interesting and compelling” is such a uselessly cynical comment.

“Can you make the minority characters decent characters instead of tokens?” seems like a perfectly good implied point to me.

> This is related to the above, but are people so burnt by genuine examples of forced representation or blatant tokens that they legitimately think a character being a minority twice-over means it sucks away from their writing, or that such a character is actually impossible to write and develop? God, that sounds miserable.

No, it doesn’t. It means they think a lot of minority characters are written as categories first and actual characters second. OP seems to be implying that minority=good.

[ricwulf]

> I love it when people try to claim representation in fiction is being taken “too far” to the point where it’s no believable.

I love it when fuckwits automatically assume that pandering to their in-group biases is somehow a good thing, and not ultimately a method of reinforcing divisions between people.

What’s more, you demand people empathise with you, when you can’t even empathise with people like you that might disagree. The hypocrisy is never-ending.

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

Me, a mixed-race Jewish and South Asian immigrant on the autism spectrum: *Exists* Ricwulf: WHY ARE YOU PANDERING AND CAUSING DIVISIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

[goodboysandgirlswhoplaysmash]

Ricwulf: These are the problems with all this forced “representation” that does nothing but create shallow tokens that have no point to them other than being part of a checklist. You:  WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ALL THE MINORITIES IN THE UNIVERSE YOU LITERAL NAZI (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ Yep, strawmen are fun!

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Unless you’re already adverse to those social categories (I.e. if you’re actually racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) I don’t know that the issue people take with these characters are the social categories themselves, but the baggage that comes with them.

My issue with a black lesbian Jew isn’t that she’s a black lesbian Jew, it’s that with that we have to deal with racism AND sexism AND homophobia AND anti-semitism. This isn’t to say no one person can and does deal with all these things at once, but in the confines of a story which usually has a limited span of time, it’s not great to throw all of these on top of your character in one go. Pick one or two and stick with them.

Maybe her parents don’t care that she’s a lesbian and she has it pretty easy at school, or maybe she lives in a heavy Jewish or black neighbourhood so anti-semitism or racism are rare. Whatever it may be is fine, just make sure you aren’t overloading your character with excess burdens. You have to consider the scope of the story, be it a book, show, movie, game, whatever. Is your show only 8 episodes long? How are you going to squeeze in all of these issues AND presumably find a way to build them back up emotionally (and physically if these issues lead to violence) in a reasonable time frame? No one wants to see someone just be endlessly tormented every minute of their life for every aspect of their being.

Again, this might happen in real life, but real life is (usually) a LOT longer than a character’s life.

[phoukanamedpookie]

*stares in Black Jewish lesbian writing a debut novel with a Black Jewish lesbian main character*

Ummmmmmmmmm….

[indigenous-consent]

The White people in these notes man. Y'all really are dumb.

[rainofaugustsith]

Okay so that post about phylacteries.  I don’t know the OP, I don’t know their intentions, and if they’re pretending to be Jewish - please don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Full disclosure here for myself: have both Christian and Jewish heritage, was allowed to choose, went Reform, have gone back and forth on how I identify, have spent much of my adulthood immersed in Jewish organizations, but missed out on Hebrew school and a bat mitzvah (I’m on the fence about doing it as an adult). 

The premise of the post is that the term ‘phylactery’ that has a specific meaning in Dungeons & Dragons is a term appropriated from Judaism, referring to the small boxes of scripture that Jewish men wear on their arms and head while praying. The other premise was that this was deliberate anti-Semitism on the part of D&D to keep out Jewish players.  People were biting back saying that the OP was a fraud and that the term is Tefillin, and everybody knows that.  So, here’s the thing.  The item is referred to as Tefillin, and I have never heard anyone refer to it in any other way. You will mostly see Orthodox men wearing them to prayer, although that certainly isn’t exclusively an Orthodox action.  However, phylactery very much is another term for Tefillin that appears in respected Jewish reference material. Even if the word is now obsolete, that was not just pulled out of thin air.  http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12125-phylacteries https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-oral-law-talmud-and-mishna And, the phylacteries in D&D are described in ways that make it clear that this is not necessarily an unconscious appropriation. The Phylactery of Faithfulness, for instance, is specifically described as a small box containing religious scripture affixed to a leather cord and tied about the head.  Like Tefillin.  Phylactery of Faithfulness:  This item is a small box containing religious scripture affixed to a leather cord and tied around the forehead. There is no mundane way to determine what function this religious item performs until it is worn. https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Phylactery_of_Faithfulness Dungeons & Dragons also appropriates Golems. Golems have a very strong history in Judaism. And they appear in some Jewish literature in the middle ages specifically as protectors and helpers. Not necessarily benign ones, but still.   https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-golem https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/golem Do I think these words and concepts were taken as deliberate anti-Semitism? No, actually. Do I think they were appropriated and used negatively and that some subconscious or covert anti-Semitism may have gone into it? Absolutely because people carry those stereotypes without even considering them. Does it make me uncomfortable to see a book mentioning a Golem with that exact terminology, or to see something that resembles Tefillin described as blood magic, which was what Jews were accused of in the Middle Ages? Yes.  Fantasy and science fiction creators have a very long history of appropriating, distorting and abusing customs, religious practices and cultures from non-Western, non-Christian populations.  This doesn’t just happen to Jews. But it does happen and it often helps perpetuate negative stereotypes.  I love Star Wars. But they’ve lifted so much it’s not funny. In Star Wars, the Sith are seen as being terrabad, to the point where in The Rise of Skywalker it’s forbidden to write or speak Sith. And then if you look back into the lore you find that the Sith were subjected to millennia of repeated acts of genocide, attacks on their home worlds and deliberate attempts to completely erase their culture. Would you like to know where the Common Sith alphabet comes from? Let me help you out with that.  You can’t even pretend this wasn’t taken from Hebrew because they didn’t even bother to change some of the sounds. Look at Zayin, He, Bet, Shin, and Dalet for example vs. the Sith letters that have similar sounds. 

The bottom line is that words that refer to Jewish religious objects have been appropriated by D&D and many other works of literature and film, and it’s not wrong to point it out, describe how it’s being used and raise objections to it. And it’s not drama for someone with Jewish heritage to feel uncomfortable about it. 

[thedeathofabitchelor]

Hot take I was not expecting to see today: The Sith are coded as Jewish.

[rainofaugustsith]

I totally was NOT saying the Sith were necessarily coded as Jewish, although in the lore I do see the pre-Darth Bane Sith coded as a group that is subjected to repeated attempts at complete physical and cultural genocide by another group that feels completely justified in attempting such genocide, because that is what the source material and lore says. My point here was not that the Sith are Jewish or coded as Jewish. It was meant to be an example of how many white people feel no compunction about lifting aspects of other people’s religions and cultures, including the Hebrew alphabet, and using them however they please with no regard to the implications behind it, including using them as identifying characteristics of those they want the audience to believe are evil or exhibiting unconscious racism and perpetuating stereotypes.  Another example specifically from Star Wars, but not about Judaism, was brought up here recently by another poster: George Lucas appropriated heavily from the dress of the local population in Tunisia to create an adversarial group of people in his movies - the “Sand People” who were violent and aggressive. 

It was meant to support the point that when that OP of the other post was saying “hey, this particular thing in D&D was taken from a religious object in Judaismt” it wasn’t BS, and it is far from the only time it has happened.

[swagintherain]

This can save lives of many Black people who were wrongly convicted and arrested on drug possession charges. Please spread!

[crimeshetyped]

^^^^

[blkgrlpoet]

Booooost