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1. Some settlers ask ‘what is something I can do to be in solidarity with Indigenous folks but that doesn’t take away from Indigenous struggle’. I think I finally have a concrete answer to this after a few decades of activism, research, organizing, etc..
2. My answer is: deal with any unresolved trauma, dysfunction, or pain in your own family that you may be projecting onto others. Like really deal with it. If you can afford therapy: go to therapy. If you have issues that fester in other parts of your life: deal with them.
3. I‘m thinking about this in following terms: over last few decades I’ve witnessed white settler ‘allies’ who use Indigenous communities as outlets/crutches/foils for their own emotional/mental stuff. It’s exploitative and dangerous as it puts communities in unfair position.
4. I think about it a lot with navigating some unsafe white women scholars who study BIPOC issues, especially. In these cases, I know for a fact we have access to same benefits so there’s no excuse for not going to therapy to work on things that they take out on interlocutors
5. Be wary of white scholars who ‘love bomb’ some Indigenous folks but attack others. These are insidious ways that internal settler emotional landscapes get projected onto exploited communities. It’s not our burden to carry on top of our OWN stuff relating to surviving genocide.
6. I can’t hold your hand if you come to me in tears about your white settler guilt. I can’t continue to protect students from unsafe white scholars without also expending the mental energy I need for my own survival and that of my family, friends.
7. So, if you’re a white settler and you want to be ‘in solidarity’ with Indigenous folks, please address your own stuff head on. Acknowledge it. Heal it. Build more resources for all of us to use! And please don’t take it out in potentially malignant ways on people you ’study’.
8. And a really great place to start is this piece that Chelsey Carter and Anar Parikh wrote for @FootnotesAnthro blog: https://footnotesblog.com/2020/09/07/bipoc-survival-a-conversation-about-the-malignant-intersection-of-narcissism-and-racism-in-anthropology-and-academia/.
It really gets at heart of the issues. Also: white folks — deal with malignant narcissistic behaviour around you. Don’t normalize it.
It really gets at heart of the issues. Also: white folks — deal with malignant narcissistic behaviour around you. Don’t normalize it.
9. Nothing I’ve tweeted here is new — I’m certain you can find other resources to help guide you. My thoughts here are also informed by private convos over the years with folks who are doing this labour — thank you for doing this work. It really matters.
10. Oh, also, almost every healing narrative can be co-opted by malignant narcissism, so also: learn to familiarize yourself with tactics used by settlers who exploit Indigenous folks for egocentric reasons. It’s really hard but as more folks heal, it will be easier.
11. One last thought: I can almost hear white folks saying ‘but I don’t have issues!’. Trust me: you live in a world where white supremacy has shaped your worldview and also divested you of need for introspection (as systems are built for you). You’ve got issues. Address them.
