I am updating this post daily until I feel I can video tape it via Youtube. It is a work in progress. I have some set backs but I am hoping by this coming Sunday have my podcast up and running. Its briefly recapping what I've already posted with video rather then what seem like endless reading.
Before you start reading, please understand I am using
quotes to convey my indigenous female voice here. I’ve learned so much from
indigenous content holders here, as well as people with psychology backgrounds.
Also, keeping in mind that the indigenous women involved are living day to day
with some in survival mode trying to keep their families afloat. Some of the
most vulnerable girls came from single family homes. I could not even imagine
the daily lives of single householder who are their family’s only income. Remembering
that matriarchy is sharing each others stories and being there for each other.
“Start a benefit already for matriarchy, three steps that if
enough women do these three steps, we will have matriarchy within our lifetime.
Other content remember matriarchy is not the inverse of patriarchy. Matriarchy
is egalitarian. Matriarchy is leadership before the benefit of the collective,
not just for the benefit of the leaders. Everyone of you can participate in
bringing it about: (hope_peddler 8-31) (It didn’t occur
to me that I was practicing the matriarchy of my grandmothers by telling my story
all these years, nor did I understand the scope of my cultural practices
fitting into the choice I made to help the women and girls within my community,
despite the limited resource concerning women’s health and women’s sexual education
I worked with a man working with women’s wellness who said to me. ‘Doing
workshops, seminars and networking within communities, sometimes the
participants do not realize they have participated in a mental health exercise
until afterwards. Another person told me that if anyone wishes to know what is happening
within a give community ask the person who watches what people are doing or
practicing.)
Step one: You need to share your stories with other women,
and you need to consume the stories of other women. (This
was me starting up this blog decades ago trying to warn indigenous girls and
indigenous women about this so-called Plastic Medicine Man, hoping people would
consume these stories for their safety and the safety of others.) This
is where we take the experiences that we had individualized. We had made them
our fault. Because I not a good picker of partners, or I let men treat me badly
in the workplace; whatever, the stories that we take individual responsibility
for, instead, we swap them, because we see that they are systemic in nature. (in my own opinion, I believe Nathan Chasing Horse knew or
had meet many indigenous girls and indigenous women who already conditioned themselves
with self-defeating behavior. We repressed our own voices by not taking the responsibility
of engaging in meaningful conversations usually because there was or no safe environment
to hold such a space for our voices to be heard.)We swap out our self
blame for, our own oppression. We understand that this is a collective
experience that we as women are having. This
frees up our physical energy and our psychological energy because we are no
longer engaging with the story, that there is something wrong with us. We take
control of telling the story of who we are. (Decades
ago, when Nathan first came into my community we as indigenous women had a collective
experience while attending Nathan’s Ceremonies. Most were not free of their own
physical energy as most of this energy was taken up on worrying about their
teenage daughters. Everyone of us was engaging in this story hoping to support
each other with someone whom we thought we could trust. We did the total
opposite of telling our stories, especially when I needed their support to
confront Nathan. One of the women told me that she could forgive Nathan if he
were a pedophile cause that’s the right thing to do. Shortly afterwards, she
gave her daughter up to Nathan as his child wife. It was important for me to
update this blog with my narrative. I was asked questions. I tried to answer
them. I knew that my story was unique in the sense that most women experienced
oppression of some sort with our lifetime. My perspective is indigenous to the
land. As my experience is saying what it is like to live within a First Nations
Community with all its faults by not taking them on as my own. I had to stop
engaging with investigators who from my vulnerabilities easily could have
empowered them to be my savior, as a delusion of safety. As this is a historical
phenomenon that is systemic to indigenous women. Especially when our voices are
suppressed by others, not just men but women mostly. I say phenomenon as
growing up seeing those women who came before me work together healing
communities.)
Step two: said to you
heard me say it before, I'm going to have to say it again. We decentre men, if
you are orienting your existence around a man, particularly a man who's not
orienting his existence back around you. (Do not chase
a man. If a man is interested in, you he will let you know he’s interested.
Nathan, play the attentive lover to many women; however, each one of these
women who left him after having a child with him reported experiencing PTSD because
of their relationship with him. Once they stopped orienting themselves around
him, he left for younger victims that he openly started paraded around seventeen
years ago.) You are going to lose
your light. You are going to lose your authenticity. You are going to lose some
self trust along the way, and we need you in your power, and in your light, and
we need you to have enough time to contribute to this movement, and if your
entire life is around making somebody else’s life comfortable. You're not going
to have that energy and time to give to the cause. (It
was about 2007, when Nathan brought a woman with her child, whom I believe was
about eight or ten years old into our community. It was in the fall of that
year, and by this time, I had already spoke my last plea to Nathan to speak his
truth to the tribal police, if it was true. This child’s mother slept one night
in my home, and claimed months earlier that her child was gifted like Nathan.
She said her husband would be upset if he knew she was in Canada that summer. After
Nathan’s followers stopped talking to me, and after started manipulating other
community members to follow him, he appeared at our community school with his
followers and this woman and her child. I felt helpless to warn anyone as this
woman was convinced her daughter was destined for greatness. Little would I
have known the abuse this child would experience at the hands of this monster. I
can only imagine the reasoning behind grooming a child so young and wondered
why was it so terribly important for this woman to want such a false sense of
being indigenousness.) So much of patriarchal control takes place within
the form of the nuclear family. It keeps women tired. It keeps women sick. It
keeps women underperforming in their careers. The stats are there, married
women suffer in all those areas. (I chose not to get
into any relationships because of all the abuse I saw in indigenous women with
blackened eyes and bruised souls. Fifty years ago, I saw a group of single non-indigenous
women, all professional women, own their own home. This was so uncommon. Women
could not owe their own home, nor could they own a credit card under their own
name. From where I’ve come from and to wherever my life takes me, I am totally grateful
to all the invisible helping hands of other women who helped guide me, as I
repeat myself. ‘Know those who came before you!’) They suffer because they are centering their
partners. I am not saying you must divorce your guy, but I am saying it is time
to centre yourself or divorce him. It’s super on trend right now. (Or, for those women who have daughters, educate them in the
facts of life. As women, we have two choices; have children or don’t have
children. The science is out there, and I am living proof. Teaching daughters
about female sexual responses is so very important for our mental well-being. We
are not built like men. We have our own biology that is so unique. Sharing our
stories helps.)
number three: We rip power from government. A government
largely run by men. By meeting each others needs, and not relying on government. (It’s that dependence. I continue to see. My entire life, I’ve
stayed away from relying on government. Seeing young indigenous people working
their entire lives within a government construct, never leaving our communities
to venture out, creating their own companies that is not reliant on government
subsidies, or government bail outs with an economic construct that is not
beneficial to individual well-being. A systemic system called Treaties, Indian
Act, put in place decades before I was born that engaged in an active form of genocide
towards indigenous women.) It's mutual aid! mutual aid, usually doesn't
have to be formally organized, but it can be. It's an opportunity to build
networks amongst your friends, amongst your neighbors, and help meet each other
's needs. Walk each others’ dogs, drive each other to the airport, watch each others’
kids, cook each other meals, when you have the extra bandwidth. Hold each other
up, and your times of need. Fundraise for medical debt, list of possibilities
as infinite as your creativity. (There were two things
happening back seventeen years ago; one was fund raising to support mothers and
daughters to attend a Sundance run by Nathan Chasing Horse in the summer in
Wolf Point, Montana, the other was, fund raising via the use of band funds or
tribal funds, to pay for Nathan’s ceremonies he was having hosted by various community
members. Designated for cultural ceremonies for healing providing it was used
for community events and, many homes were used for such ceremonies. As this was
seen as benefiting the community and not just individuals, with Nathan being
the only individual as benefitting, as the same time Nathan was using is
non-profit California organization as proof of his legitimacy. What started out
as women volunteering to help fund raise to dance at a Sundance turned into
fractions of individuals starting their own private ceremonies with band funds
or individuals’ giving’s up their funds to Nathan. Most of these individuals
became devote followers with some sending money to Nathan for decades. No doubt
only those closest to his self-proclaimed cult called the Circle, who in most cases
called Nathan, ‘Dad.’) When we
have taken back the story of who we are, and in doing so, dealt a devastating
blow to traditional media, which is largely run by men. When we start meeting
our own needs and need the government less and less. Which is not to say don't
vote, vote, but it is to say that we don't rely on them, and we rely on one
another. We do weaken their power. So, we don't have to barge in tomorrow, and
take over all of media, and take over all of government from men. No! we give
it to ourselves, by weakening the power of those institutions, and diffusing
the power among the masses, instead of the few men that hold it. So many of us
are already doing this, that it is just a matter of when, not if. (@hope_peddler
8-31) (There is a positive side to all the funding raising,
as those girls who were somehow protected from Nathan’s charms and manipulation
did become closer. These young women saw their friends go off with Nathan and
saw his destructive forces. I believe that if Nathan were actually practice the
way of the Seven Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation, he would have opted
out of receiving band funds. He would have encouraged fund raising from within
the circle of women. He would have encouraged them to rely on o each other, as
women, sharing their stories and helping each other out. Instead, he planted
seed of self-defeating behavior in all his female followers. You see, I was
raised by strong Dakota women from those who came before me, and I saw how my
grandfather depended on the women for his support in building his farm. The
farms of the Dakota people in Sioux Valley fed the community and created a
backbone that most within my own community may never witness. What is this ‘hope_peddler
is saying is true. I saw this type of Matriarchy as I was growing up. The seven
Sioux Tribes in Canada are exiled from the United States and were never under
the obligation of the Treaties. As my late mother described her first encounter
with the community I grew up in, was that we were ‘Fort Indians,’ she was this
new community she married into as ‘putting their hands out for money.’ When she
saw me playing with my money she would say, ‘I did not raise my children to like
this.’ This is why for me, its very important. Diffusing the power of patriarchy
is not just for Indigenous women rather for all women from all over this world.
I am eternally grateful for the teaching I saw in the ACTIONS of those indigenous
women who came before me. Those teaching of ‘White Buffalo Calf Woman” holds
its truth. All we as indigenous women need to do is looking at the SHAME! SHAME
of Nathan Chasing Horse’s false narrative of what it means to be a follower of
White Buffalo Calf Woman’s teaching. The prophecy does say that we will see a
great change, a warning, when we are slowly forgetting what it is to be a human
being and a good relative to all. It’s one of the reasons too why I wanted to use
this blog site to let you the reader know that once you put a thought out into
the Universe, Creator’s will is being done. It’s a great Mystery created for us
all.)
So, please if you find these helpful then I am doing my job
in educating you. This following quote is from (7thFire Messenger 9-6) within
my insights highlighted in red.
“So I’ve been on this app about three years now, you guys
know me pretty good if you've been following me for a while and those of you
who know me pretty good. You already understand that, but for those of you who
are new here, are those of you who follow me because I triggered you somehow. You
just want to follow me around to see what I'm going to say. I am just being a
human, the kind of human I am happens to be Native American. My own personal
story happens to intertwine with many stories of many people who live on turtle
island and intersect at interesting points that happened to be revolving around
the colonization of my land. (When I first started this
blog, some seventeen years ago, I didn’t realize by putting my content into
cyber space someone was listening. The fear of enable anyone, as this quote
talks about being a human being, I worried. I still worry that people will take
what I say in my own voice as meaningless. Yet, from my understanding, being a matriarch
means sharing and helping. This is what I started. I wanted to help those indigenous
girls and indigenous women find their voices. Yet, today, I still find the oppressors.
Some may think all our oppressor are non-indigenous, but most come from within
our own communities. It is why there is still feared to tell or stories. I don’t
think there is single answer to this problem of violence towards indigenous
women. I do believe everything in this world is guided by Creator’s Will.) So, in my own journey of reclaiming my
story in my sharing it with you, all. What I'm doing is treating you like a
human being. Think about that for a second, you see somebody like me hasn't
been allowed to be a human being on this land, very long. Some will argue that
we are still being dehumanized to this very day. (This
statement is so true. The amount of our indigenous people who go missing is documented
now.)
“(John
Trudell quotes) I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that
is rapidly losing its understanding of being human. “
“(John Trudell quotes) So, when
Columbus got off the boat and he said to the first people he sa.”w “Who are you?
The first people he saw said, “We’re human beings.”’
“(John Trudell quotes) All human
beings are descendants of tribal people wo were spiritually alive, intimately
in love with the natural world, children of Mother Earth.”
So, when I'm telling you my truth, my theories, my history,
I'm assuming that you're a human being now. and you are not your ancestors. When
I say colonizer, I'm talking about the specific mindset that led to the
activities, and cultural norms of things like slavery and genocide and land
theft and exerting your will over the life force of another. I'm assuming
you're not like that anymore. So, I'm trying to help you reclaim your humanity,
by demonstrating, and exemplifying what is to treat another like a human being.
(When I accepted to be interviewed by news investigator
over Nathan Chasing Horse, I assumed I am talking to other human beings. It’s
not an easy thing to do when most of my life was centered around finding
support, approval and validation. I am not perfect. I am still leaning and will
continue to learn until I leaving this existence.) When I trigger
certain individuals and they come back into my comments, and they get angry at
me, and start reinforcing this colonial narrative with the colonial propaganda
that led to the genocide of my people. What they're really telling me is that
they're not ready yet to be treated like a human. They still want me and need
me to treat them like the oppressor. Thinking like they have the power and the
ability hurt me. They don't like hearing what I have to say, because it doesn't
match up with the things that they learned, and the things they said. They're
not used to somebody who looks like me treating them like a human being. They're
used of being treated like the oppressor. (I’ve found
so many young indigenous youths having such perfect insight into how to hold
space for their stories. I am grateful to live so long s to witness this
advancement. As this young man stated, it is not common to see, hear and
understand an indigenous voice. A voice of a human being talking to another
human being. As I’ve much to learn about holding space for those my age who
have not experience this presence of self love and lover for others. Over these
decades, I’ve tried to hold space for any young women or older women who needed
someone to listen to or someone to support them. Most who did reach out to me
suffered a traumatic experience living along side this Nathan Chasing Horse.) So,
I just want you to know that's my only intention behind this, when I say all
these different things you know. When any BIPOC person talks about racism, or
modern issues in our society. We always get these people telling us, oh not all
of us are like that, oh not all are like that. Well, that leaves the labour
then onto us to find those ones then. It’s now like you wear signs on your head.
We can't tell the difference So, that's part of the method to my madness also,
I don't want those ones following me. They think they're better than me. If you
think you're better than somebody else, you can't learn from them. You can’t
love them. This is how I am learning how to practice my humanity, is about
talking about my story sharing who I am. Sharing my culture, sharing different
things, that I've found along my path. Because I love you! I love everybody! I
want this world to get better. I hope that clears something up. I refuse to
treat anybody like the oppressor. If you come into my channel, and you start
reinforcing the colonial narrative demanding that I treat you like my oppressor,
I'm going to block you! That is how goes. You have the freedom to say what you want;
I have the freedom to kick you off my virtual TikTok land. My little, tiny
corner, that doesn't even physically exist, in this realm of 150 million other
channels. If you need feel the need to be an oppressor, go somewhere else,
thank you! Now we can learn! (7thFire Messenger 9-6)” (Over these decades, I’ve had Nathan’s followers disclose
his instruction from him to hurt me. This Nathan only knew how to laugh at the
most vulnerable. He was an oppressor of indigenous children and indigenous
women. Listening to this young man, 7thFire Messenger, is who I had hoped
Nathan Chasing Horse was. I took the responsibility of confronting Nathan.
Encouraging him to go to the police and to talk to the many women and girls who
were in love with him. He needed to speak to them in a group. He needed to tell
them he had a girlfriend and he had children. I encouraged him to straighten
out any allegations my step-niece had claimed against him. I told him I
reported him to our tribal police. If he was innocent, he wound freely go and
speak directly to my step-niece; however, he didn’t, and the tribal police ignored
their own request to question him. I felt he needed to hear from me, as I
promoted him, encouraged the producer and director of ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded
Knee’ that they needed to use him more. They did. I encouraged women and girls
to attend his ceremonies because he spoke appeared to speak his language and
appeared to know his cultural practices. I took the responsibility of being at
my most vulnerable. I love him! As I love my readers, as I love my community
and as I love hearing people’s truths. Nathan’s disrespect and his making fun
of any of the women and girls who were in love with him was not the first time,
nor would it be the last time, I would see this monster’s truth. He knew how
oppress women and girls. I am grateful he is caught. I am grateful to tell my
story. Sharing my story with many people over these years I hope clears up some
things about who I am. And for those who still think they can oppress me or
other, like 7th Messenger, I will block you)
addiction
is when a person strongly identifying with seeking approval and validation
specifically from a partner. As Mayim Bialik said, “When we talk about love,
you know kind of love addiction, and I’m a person who strongly identifies with
sort of like being you know addicted to approval and validation specifically
from a partner, like it's like a thing, and you know. I think when some people
hear that they just be like, then just stop doing that, like just stop dating
those people, like just be yourself, like have more confidence, and you know. I
think and people also you know kind of turn their nose up when you talk about,
you know there's a whole 12 step program it's called sex, love, addicts
anonymous and most people think it's just people who want to fornicate all the
time. But it's much more complicated than that. You'll
basically find a different body you know, but kind of with the same soul, you
know like is often what we do, we just like, we kind of like, we think we're,
we think we're moving up and like oh! He's different or she's different, but
it's like, it's kind of when we're the one that has that sort of sickness. I
will I'll turn anyone into my hostage. @Mayim Bialik”
Sometimes, I feel like maybe
it's not all worth it. Over the past weekend, and I’d say since Nathan Chasing
Horse was arrested in January. I've had numerous times where I've
talked with other indigenous women. These are women who I trust and who in
times of need on either side, we debrief. Sometimes when people are too busy
working, or dealing with immediate family conflict, it is conflict in the
workplace or just conflict within families it's difficult to step back and
debrief. It's these times where we need to review our own mental health
checklist.
These two indigenous women over
these past seventeen years were here for me. They were here when I conflicted
with Nathan Chasing Horse. One, had a teenager daughter who attended Nathan’s
sweats and ceremonies, and the other is fluent in the Dakota language.
Successful in their own professions, each remembers so many years ago, the
conversations I had with them about Nathan Chasing Horse. As it was difficult
to speak truthfully with so many girls and women who were infatuated with
Nathan. Since January, I have had an opportunity to answer questions from
non-indigenous men about how I did, a single elderly indigenous women knew a
plastic medicine man, Nathan. I continually used this phrase ‘plastic medicine
man’ as Nathan was after money. He was also passing himself off as being a
healthy young Lakota man, not medicine man, rather a young horny, rambunctious,
arrogant disrespect ugly individual.
It took me all these months to
disclose what I am about to write about regarding my feeling I had towards
Nathan Chasing Horse. As these feelings were shared with the many girls and
women here, but all turned against me. As the first woman’s daughter had such
fawn feelings towards Nathan, and her mom shared her concern for her teenage
daughter who was a teen mom. The second woman’s mother like my late mother knew
how to read, write, and speak Dakota. Any concerns have had about
pronunciations or meaning behind a Dakota word was guided by her. She is my
most ardent critic as she’s questioned me as to why I not confronted Nathan
earlier. It is these two women over these past months who are and continue to
be my guides. The following is the psychological profile of myself in my
healing journey.
It is important to understand
the psychology behind intergenerational trauma. I did not fully understand the
impact of sexual violence or witnessing sexual violence had on my own sexual
idiosyncrasy. These things I am sharing I have shared with these two
individuals, so its nothing new to me or them; however, if you have ever been a
victim of sexual violence or have witnessed such violence, then I request you
stop reading. As much of this content may not seem relevant. As the stages of
healing, I am going to disclose did not happen over night, nor did it seem
relevant at the time. There were many events; however, I am going to focus on
the past four decades. So, I’ll divide these four stories into an introduction,
body, and conclusion. It is this conclusion that will give you the reader an
understanding of how I knew who Nathan Chasing Horse was and why it was so very
important to give space to his victims by letting them know. ‘There is no
statute of limitations’ once an individual makes a report to any police
service.
I found myself in a university
town, in the state of Utah. The culture there was so persuasive, that many
young women there were so persuaded to marry young. My roommates, bless their
hearts, were always inquiring into who I liked who I was going to date. My
ambition wasn't to get married. I was 15 years older than my roommates. When we
got when we would go out night clubbing, it seemed like there was always hope
of finding a future husband on the dance floor. This is where limerence or
infatuation played a key part into my storytelling. I could keep these
roommates, these curious seekers satisfied, by letting them know I was
infatuated with a young man. I was a poor starving university student working
full time and paying for my own education. I was too busy to date. I also
didn't trust these young men.
My first full time job there was
working for the Utah State hospital. I worked on a dorm for teenage girls. I
was called a psychiatric aide. It was 24 hours shift work, monitoring and
observing teenage girls, reporting back to psychiatrists, therapists, and
social workers. I took psychology courses. My main interest was in the physical
sciences like physics and mathematics. I was curious about human development.
I'd been hired through a screening process. I was told that 500 applicants were
submitted and out of the 500 I shortlisted. In much the same way throughout my
life, any success didn't quite register. It really didn't occur to me until
this year. Yes, this year, in fact this past month, to feel success. I mean to
really feel it in my gut that I earned something. Even then I forgot to debrief
so I briefly relapsed and went to casino. I digress! I took in gender
psychology courses, eliminating self-defeating behavior course and attended a
ritual abuse conference. Yet, for some strange reason I didn't want to become a
therapist or a social worker, and prior to that even college math instructor. The
pressure to date, get engaged, and married, observed under a microscope at
church functions where rumors started flying that there was something strange
about me; therefore, I was gay, lesbian. The peer pressure to conform, submit,
confess lead, I believe me to flight, fright, freeze and fawn. I isolated from
my peers. Back in those days, women had no choice but to get married in the Church,
have babies, and enter into Heaven once our job is done on this earth. Very
little was known about the female sexual response, nor that a woman could chose
to not have children, and therefore, eliminate their sexual response to procreate.
Keeping in mind that sexual responses for all human beings doesn’t end until we
leave this life. Understanding too, that masturbation was not deemed a normal
sexual response for either gender.
It was this
story, my story, in a college town or in some city where I first started
howling at the moon. Its taken my lifetime to become a mature woman who perceives
to teach the language of love from that of an indigenous lens. The only desire
I had was to please people. This is where infatuation, limerence, fantasy, and
delusional behavior fed into how I perceived my own sexuality, my own
idiosyncrasy. Stop blaming other people for your problems. “Taking off
the doctor hat, what is the best piece of advice on your personal life, on your
relationships that you've ever gotten? So, this came from my wife, she went to
a seminar when she was young. She grew up with a lot of traumas, and she goes
to this seminar while she has cancer. The seminar leader, who happened to be
our uncle said, how much responsibility do you want for that? She was offended.
Because he's like, it's cancer, it's not my fault. He said, I didn't ask you
about blame. He said, responsibility is your ability to respond to this
situation. How much responsibility do you want? She said I want 100%
responsibility. And I love that so much, because the number one hallmark of self-defeating
behavior is blaming other people for the problems in your life. And when you
anchor yourself, in personal power. Because when you blame other people for how
your life is turning out, you’re a victim and you can't change. And personal
power is so important to me. (The Shift Podcast 8-17)” (Throughout
this post, I’ll be referring to different life events that taught me something
about my own idiosyncrasy that took courage to change my life. Change happens
throughout our lives; however, it is the responsibility of being a human being
and loving ourselves that we are meant to share.)
It was here that I learned about
self-defeating behavior.
“Honestly, I feel ashamed of all
the times someone mistreated me. and instead of getting away from them, I
danced around trying to make them like me. (Even
when the women who were feeling they were in love with Nathan mistreated me for
warning them about his behavior towards my step-niece, I tried to please them.)
It's embarrassing, and it also
makes no sense, it's called fawning. In fact, it's one of the four trauma
responses that include fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Fawning is when you make yourself small and
you act tough, or you try to influence the person you act so nice cause they
are mistreating you, and through your sheer goodness, or through being helpful.
You know, the selfless helper, you try to almost heal the person who's behaving
badly by just taking it from them not showing them that it hurts you. (I thought the only way I could relate to them is to also behave like
them and admit that I too was infatuated with Nathan. I thought
sharing my feelings with these women, who were mothers, they too could share
with their daughters. This obviously did not work out because I didn’t
understand how deep the love addiction went for the various mothers.) Have
you done that? It's a common pattern for a traumatized person, but the thing is,
it usually progresses to a strong mental vagueness. Where you can't tell it all
if it's you who's causing terrible interactions, so you know you that you maybe
had trauma in your childhood. (I really
did not understand Fawning. I was the eldest daughter and was taught to please
my parents by taking care of my younger siblings. I also, tried to please my
parents so my mother would not get beaten by my father when he drank.) You learn to fawn to make your parent happy. You grow up, and then
now you are vague you are like, I keep getting into these things where I feel
like I'm sort of getting abused. (At
nineteen, when I was sexually assaulted, I did not want to make a formal
compliant. Despite tribal police and my parents wanting me to act, I felt it
was my fault. I felt ashamed!) I can't
tell if it's my fault, or is it just me, and am I too picky? Am I the difficult
person? Am I a doormat? Either way you don't feel good about yourself, and for
that matter, the fawning energy doesn't make people like you, as you know it's
a people pleasing but they're not pleased. (Childhood Fairy 9-5)” (This fawning behavior is also a pattern of learned helplessness that
those closest to you like family and friends do not want you to change.)
Usually we talk about “crap fitting,” that's when you fit
yourself to unacceptable people in situations, and most commonly people with
CPTSD, do it in romance. There's some mentality there, that if everything just
feels terrible, and weird. It must be us, or we better take what we can get
because that is all there is going to be. There is this kind of strange almost
metaphysical aspect of what you're talking about. Fawning is actually a very
negative energy. It's a negative interaction! (When I
was eighteen I became promiscuous and lasted until I was twenty-seven years
old. It was at this age that I took fawning into the romance stage as it was a
very negative energy, I felt I was carrying. I met a deserter from the Vietnam
War. I know I fawned him, however, I walked away from him before he hated me.) it doesn't feel good to be fawned. People
don't end up liking you because your people pleasing them. You know you are
pleasing them, and so when somebody fawns, from time to time I fawn, and from time-to-time
people have fawned on me. (The irony of fawning I that
I hated being fawned too. Being promiscuous meant I met men who fawned, and I
thought I would sooner find a partner who loved me rather than fawning me. As a
result, I chose celibacy.) I
really have very little tolerance for fawning, it is so uncomfortable for me. Because
somebody is like dancing around, there trying to make me happy. They are
interrupting everything I say. They're literally not listening. They are just
so trying to anticipate what I need is going to be and what it and what I am going
to say. It's so uncomfortable for me. I end up frustrated and I end up shutting
down and pulling away. (For me, pulling away helped me
heal from the sexual assault I experienced. It took me decades to report to the
RCMP and twenty-seven years ago the last living rapist was found guilty. Sadly,
he lives within my community, and still tries to stalk me. I’ve since found my
voice, and he knows I will not tolerate his behavior.) For the fawnder,
if you're sensing irritated energy, that's all I'm going to give you, is that
is it partly you. There's one way that is possibly partly you, that we bring to
it, but most of all, it's that we are in a fake idea that if we can just dance
around and ignore, being a martyr. Be a really, really, successful martyr like
a star level martyr, where we could just take it. (Childhood Fairy 9-5) (You see, for years I thought I was this martyr because I
allowed these two serial rapists their freedom. After the RCMP reported to the
judge that I was their twelfth or thirteenth victim, and their youngest victim reported
during their investigation that took six years. I realized, only through
therapy and my own education in psychology that I could have turned into a
predator myself. This fawning, this irritating negative energy can convert a
victim into a perpetrator. It is why it is so very important to understand that
healing at any age or any level will make you the victim wonder why I did not
do this healing journey earlier.)
When I first made my application for Indian Residential
School benefits, I was told my lawyer that I was a high functioning survivor. Throughout
my life I have had non-indigenous people fit into my life, not realizing I was
putting them into a racially bias type, that of ‘my white savior.’ It’s a very
fundamental way of creating a delusion of some sorts. Over this past year, I
have self-reflected. I have gone through some very stressful situations. However,
it is my life, here on Tsuutina that I have found healing and peaceful. My reality
is of having a white savior is that they provide and create for me a place
where I am their hero. This all seems all nice like a childhood fairy tale;
however, it is a childhood trauma response morphing from childhood into
adulthood and into old age. It is a result of childhood trauma or call it of
being raised in an environment where indigenous girls and indigenous women are
not considered equal. Some indigenous people seek this hero status by going
into politics and becoming a leader within our communities. Others like me,
will never be seen as a hero within our own communities because of systemic
colonial ideologies about how women should be treated. It is a reason why
living next to a city of a million people helps networking outside the norms of
First Nation existence. (For those socialized, most called these places RESERVATIONS
AND NOT RESERVES. It irritates the hell out of me when I hear my own people say
‘reservation’ when we live in a colonial construct called Reserves, not USAs’ Reservation.
Maybe, it cause I’ve lived in the USA.) Nevertheless, I volunteered throughout
my life, both on Reserve and off in the city. As I have said, most observe me
and feel its their duty to tell me that I am high functioning. Maybe this is
what an educated indigenous woman feels, appear, speaks or looks like. It
irritates me too. So, if I am constantly trying to not stick out, then it leads
me to think what else have I cut myself short of experiencing. For example,
this past year I experienced a very stressful period. It was all volunteer work
as a board member for a non-profit performance artists organization. My friends
helped me reorganize this organization that was at the verge of total collapse.
It was so terrible that I had my friend constantly say to me, “don’t have a
stroke or a heart attack over this organization, it’s small.” I can not totally
explain the stress of working with an unhealthy non-profit board, but it’s the reality
of most artist run boards. This stress was so great that a year later after disclosing
to the board about my blog. Letting them know the individual I wrote about all
these years was finally arrested, that I was receiving attention. A board
member asked me not to pursue updating this blog site as she said it would be too
stressful and that I needed to ask myself if it was worth it. She referred to
the stress I experience with our board and that these next few months would be
stressful. I listened. I cancelled something so I could regroup and digest what
this blog meant to me and especially those who would seek me out. I thought how
my life would change once people knew what I did these past decades. It was a
very real-life change thing I am doing making myself public. It is why within
this blog I am using video to convey my message or my story of what made me
continue to educate people about what it is like for me to live within a First
Nations community in CANADA, not USA. This blog also reveals a lot about my
healing journey using self-reflective stories. Recently the board praised me.
They called me their hero. In front of a group of strangers, I finally without ever
wanting such praise found accepting this praise. I earned it. I mean, I accepted
this praise. I truly felt like I belonged and earned this status of being this
groups’ hero. You may say what does this have to do with the white savior mentality.
Well, isn’t it a savior we believe will someday grant us access into heaven or someday
elevates us? Whether we want to admit it, we all look for approval and validation.
It’s this fine line between love addiction and love, this fine line between fantasy
and delusion or illusion, we seek. My life has not focused on Nathan Chasing Horse
everyday for these past seventeen years. My life is being a knowledge keeper,
an elder, an indigenous woman who encourages other women to develop their
voices. I hope and continue to hope that my story, my life, helps people understand
healing is not a quick one day, not one week, not one month, not one academic course,
not one degree, not one visit to a therapist, not having a white savior friend,
not enabling enemies.
MC.PHD says, “A trauma response is a sign of strength. It is
not a sign of weakness. It is not a sign that you are broken. So, this
narrative that were getting fed that we're broken is scientifically false. We
need to redefine trauma, so that's why I wrote this book.” “Unbroken” (It’s
reading a book with a group of people and this author, because its her approach
to healing. ‘Healing is better when we do ti together.’) She says, it is a “Mix
of client stories, neurobiology, psychology, and my own story. Hoping is that
you recognize yourself in it and your loved ones. You can strip away some of
the shame that has been spoon fed to you by society that wants to keep you sick
and heal. (@MC.PHD 8-25) (Much of what I have tried to
define with other indigenous women is that trauma response and sexual response
go hand in hand. It’s not a sign of weakness and we are not broken. As
throughout my years, because I remained single, childless, partnerless,
educated, lonely and alone does not mean I am broken. It is a difficult fight
to have this narrative replayed repeatedly by traumatized indigenous women. Throughout
my educational experience, attending classes with non-indigenous people, I’ve listened
also their definition of how they see trauma responses. My blog is a mix of
stories, and my story, hoping you recognize yourself in it and recognize those
you love in it. As I continue to say or write, it’s this shame I was spoon fed
by family, friends, by society that wanted to keep me sick and not wanting to
see me heal that lead me to start blogging. A friend some thirty years ago
said, the greatest revenge that I could have one those that hurt me was to live
my life. She meant to live a happy life, a successful life, and a worthwhile life.
As this would hurt those who tried to continue to hurt me because they would
not like to see me happy. Lateral violence is not just a one day happening. It’s
something. Thirty years ago, reporting a sexual assault that took place twenty-six
years earlier, meant fighting against my own shame, my own self-defeating behavior
I created. Thinking by suppressing gossip by not associating with certain
families, I could live my life. I was completely wrong. Eliminating a
self-defeating behavior is peeling an onions’ skin, as one is eliminated,
another is discovered and must be eliminated, until finally I reached me core. It
is possible. My friend, who died a decade ago, also said, once I started this journey,
I would wonder why I did not start this journey earlier. It is one of the many
reasons why I started this blog. I would constantly hear indigenous women says,
‘they need to learn the hard way!” I would say, “why?” There are ways in
learning from terrible experiences that are not self-defeating.
“Question: Was I ever in love? Was
it Limerence? Was it trauma bonding? ADHD!
BPD! CPTSD! Are you infatuated? It could be Limerence as explained by a psychologist
in the following: “Have you ever experienced an infatuation for someone that
you can't explain? Have you ever struggled to sleep? Have you ever dreamt about
someone or imagined a future with them that doesn't exist in reality? (I fell in love with my Vietnam War Deserter. I walked away
from him. I invite him into my heart. I realize I would have fawned him to the
point he would hate me, but I did not allow this to happen; however, I refuse
to see who he was.) Welcome to the world of limerence, seeing it a lot
in ADHD. Limerence is this cognitive state where you are obsessed with someone,
you think about them, you can't eat, you can't sleep, because they're at the
full front of your mind. (He was never someone who I was
obsessed about; however, I believe because of his PTSD suffered in Vietnam he was
in limerence of me and I was infatuated with him.) Here are the three
reasons you experience this intense infatuation; ADHD has lower levels of
norepinephrine and dopamine which is the sensation seeking part of your brain. Idealizing
someone in your head may meet this need for excitement and mystery. (It seemed like I was exhausted and was looking for some man
who was dangerous and exciting. Little did I ever imagine how dangerous he
truly was, and I wanted something different It was like two negative energies
coming together.) Desire for reciprocity, people who experienced
limerence want to be loved and adored in the same way. Usually this comes down
to an unmet need in childhood of not feeling good enough, not feeling loved. Other
psychological factors such as unmet needs of security safety, love and support
can contribute to seeking validation or filling emotional voids through
fantasizing about ideal situations that weren't ever met in real life.” (@Steph
Georgiou – Psychologist 9-7) (A famous psychologist
when he first started treating patients, worked on a hospital ward during the
end of WWII. During the three years of counselling soldiers injured both physically
and mentally, he developed PTSD by associating with them. It was after WWII
that he married and within the first five years of marriage he and his wife had
five children back-to-back. His need to feel safe, love and support fill an emotional
void. He eventually became famous from his research into PTSD. They say this
need to feel approval and validated is more addictive than being addicted to alcohol
and drug abuse.)
“Are you really chill and go with the flow in relationships?
Is your easy-going vibe a result of a childhood where your voice was constantly
silenced, so you learn to stop advocating for your own needs, because if was
annoying pointless and instead you focused on placating those around you. (I learned this from watching my older brother defend our
mother after our father beat her. My brother and mother would be beaten. I saw
what happened if I were to protest my father’s behavior. I used to wonder why
my late mother stayed with our father. I did not understand this love addiction
they carried for each other. My late mother said she was never taught anything
about sex education. She knew they were both abused in those Indian residential
schools. I know they did not mean to teach their children learned helplessness.)
Your home life trained you to bury your very legitimate needs, and only
rely on yourself and making sure your emotions were perfectly contained,
because leaning on others what's synonymous with disappointment, and being told
you are way too sensitive. (I could see why victims of
sexual assault feel their needs for justice will lead to disappointment. My
late mother placated her own needs for those of her children. She told me that
she did mean to placate me as she felt she could not stop herself. When
really you weren't! (babe), so now when a partner turns to you and says what do
you need, you freeze or pull away feeling deeply uneasy, awkward. (I believe this is where I sought out the white savior, like a
female therapist, a forensic psychologist who constantly asked me what I
needed. Yet, this role meant everything to him as long as I was seen as a not receiving
legitimate needs. He, being my white savior, did not realized he was containing
my emotions to fit into his own need to be praised or worth praise. I never pulled
away from him until these past three years our friendship was becoming
strained. He was seeking out more attention from me.) As a result, you
gravitate towards relationships where your needs are ignored, because at least
that's the DEVIL you know. (Therapy Jeff
9-11)” (I hired a housekeeper. My white savior showed
up not realizing I had company. I thought he would be nice to my housekeeper,
however, she felt he was rude to her. She felt that he wanted me total
attention, and yes, these past years I did give him my attention. The reality
was that once he saw me as being someone else’s hero he wanted to be their hero
too. His daughter even commented that I was a successful with this blog. Since
refusing to include him in my blog or any other podcasts or interviews related
to Nathan Chasing Horse, he has left me alone. It is my fault that I kept him
as my white savior, but he enables me to participate in his fantasy. Including
him in my blog would have pushed me into enabling him into some sort of
delusion he wanted or wished.)
Childhood Fairy says, “We must have the self-discipline to
go slowly. I did not want to keep having dramatic sad relationships that left
me high, and dry and lonely, and worse. I am very depressed. I wanted to have
something new. This was the foundation of what I had to change. I had to become
emotionally available by slowing down, by bit rushing in, by not hooking into a
fantasy idea of what a relationship was, or what somebody I was getting to know.
You know like we can really project on somebody we've just met. We can project
a whole future with them, but that you know in strictest sense that's
objectifying them. What we really ought to be doing early in dating is just
listening, just getting to know them, getting to know them. So sometimes, I
talk to people about a throne, imagine you have a throne, you sit on your
throne, somebody would like to date you. You say, ‘well you may approach’ in
your mind. You don't get really treat people like this, but you let them come
up, and tell you what it is their intentions are. You let them show you how
they feel, and you sort of hang back and observe. Now that's not something a
lot of people with attachment wounds do naturally, but you can teach yourself
to do it. Observe, let information come to you, let it come to you. Don't go
out chasing it! Don't try to get answers! Let information come to you, and it
will make you impatient. It will make you anxious, but that is a small price to
pay. Avoiding the total, you know, destruction of a potentially good
relationship, or the loss of years of your life by getting stuck in a bad one.”
(@Childhood Fairy 9-4)
Jaded Motivation says, “A lot of times, and this is one
time, I have to say, this happens a lot with men. A lot more than maybe women
realize. But again, it happens both ways. Where the desire to have this person
is so strong. We can argue that it's infatuation. Maybe its love mixed with
obsession, infatuation, of other issues. Whatever the case is, you try so hard
that you end up sacrificing who you are. You end up sacrificing your standards.
You end up not being yourself. You end up trying to accommodate them, and
ignoring the fact that they don't do the same for you. You pour so hard and so
much into them, but what the hell are they doing for you?” (Jaded Motivation
7-26) (Nathan Chasing Horse played the martyr. At first
glance, I felt he fathered many children like so many men within my community,
that I thought this was typical behavior; however, he played the martyr to
perfection. He was good at convincing people that he was being persecuted, misunderstood,
for practicing what non-indigenous people called ‘witchcraft.’ This desire to
be a medicine man was so strong. He appeared to be sacrificing the standards of
white supremacy he was raised in. These belief systems, systemic racism, he
understood was a big part of cultural genocide taught in those Indian Residential
Schools. He played the martyr by not being who they, non-indigenous people
wanted him to be, and that ended up not being who he truly was, a medicine man.
He knew how to preform or seek out attention. His desire to be accepted as a
medicine man was his obsession. The false narrative he played was that the love
he gave, he accommodates was not being returned. Its also his undying pursuit
of holding ceremonies through sacrifice. His sacrifice he gave by holding ceremonies,
ritual around Sundance. This was his sacrifice. Is so called obsession for his
peoples’ love. His travelling from place to place with his followers through the
generosity of others was his issue. It appeared that it was this love he had
for his people, his indigenous people, proclaimed to love through sacrifice. Its
these issues he accommodated was so great that he was perceived to not have
time to settle down to raise his own children. By the time I started work with
him, he had fathered ten children, none whom he raised. This deep love to accommodate
his people that had lost so much was a false narrative he created. A need, an
obsession, an infatuation with ceremonies that he felt he could teach, as well
as being meant to fulfil. But he needed help, donations because communities
were not doing the same for him as he gave them. He claimed that he poured so much
money, his time into these communities, voluntarily that who the hell was doing
anything for him. Why? Because those who did not love this way of life, this
spiritual way of life, a life of the teachings of ‘White Buffalo Calf Woman’s
ritual and ceremonies, were lost. This was not true. For those followers who
never had relatives who practiced these ways of life, of thinking, of
reclaiming or searching for what was lost, had their language and their First
Nations communities. Nathan was not their martyr. And, for those relatives who
practiced before Nathan was born, knew what they sacrificed. Healing journeys for
those medicine people, those spiritual people, was great and honorable that what
Nathan did and continues to believe is exactly what was predicted. ‘There would
come a time when we will forget what it is to be a human being.’ Nathan Chasing
Horse is a monster who played on the heart strings of those who continue to be
lost.)
The Living Relations
says, “When you experience a strong attraction for someone, 90% of that has
nothing to do with who that person is. It's all about your thoughts, your hopes,
and your dreams being projected onto this person. What's making you so excited
is the idea that this person could be the person who makes all that come true. Now,
this is a very normal thing, nothing wrong with it, we all do it. The most
important thing is that when you feel that. You don't mistake it to mean that
this is the person for you. You recognize that it's your excitement. It's
exciting! it's the possibility of love. That it is something worth being
excited about. But you still have to take the time to find out who this person
is for yourself. So don't mistake your feelings. Meaning they're the one for
you. Have your feelings and find out who they are for real.” (@The living
Relationship 8-29)
Jay Shetty says, “If you're scared of being alone and single
and you're going into that relationship because of that fear. Research shows
three things happen. The first thing is you're guaranteed to settle for less
than you deserve. Guaranteed! (When I first moved back
home from the USA, I went out night clubbing. I found women were coming up to
me. We talked. Normally, I had an older friend, thirteen years older than me
who I normally felt safe to night club with, at least she had my back, and I
could rely on her to keep me safe from my session of ‘howling at the moon,’
with stranger. I had also by this stage in my life chosen a celibacy lifestyle,
so I had no fears. The problem is that the women who came up to talk to me didn’t
realize their husband later would come up to me to tell me to leave their wives
alone. I found this strange until I realized these women came from very violent
homes where their husband were very abusive. I believe they felt I was encouraging
their wives to leave them. So, yes, these women settled for less than they
deserved.)
The second thing is
you're more likely to be dependent on that person because you think they are
out of your league. So now you will become, do, mold, fold, become anything they
want you to be. (This status thing about being a trophy
wife or trophy husband seems to continue and will continue well after I am six
feet underground. I saw this in the many women my late mother’s age. I believe
it must come from the teaching of those priests, fathers, nun, and saintly women
who ran those Indian Residential School. Boy were taught that their future wife
was meant to be control and to obey their wishes. A woman’s place was to barefoot
and pregnant reaping the rewards of being fruitful and multiplying their new
religious believes. The Indian Act created this dogma.)
The third is you're going to be scared to leave them because
being with them in your mind is better than being alone. (From a Malcolm X speech “…He loved his master. I say he loved his master
better than the master loved himself. If the Master said we got a nice house,
he said. Yeah, boss, we got a nice house here. Masters’ house caught on fire.
The house slave would be the one who run to put the blaze out if the master got
sick, he said. ‘Master, we sick. You see, this is the thinking of the house slave.
Now another slave came up to him and said let's run away, let's separate, let's
get away from this cruel master. He said why was better than what we got here
right away. I'm not going anywhere.’(b9560gyn 9-15) For me, you must understand
a woman has two choices in this life; to have babies or to not have babies. Today,
young women will choice to be a single mother without a husband rather than
live with an abusive controlling man. To this day, a wife can dress pretty
good, she pretty good with the master left if she provides children for him.
The abuse is better than being alone. A cousin of mine’s daughter is in an
abusive relationship, as she goes to the rescue of her daughter the abusive husband
yells out, ‘do you want to be like your mother and not have a man?’ (@Jay Shetty 7-27)
Question: Do you think it will have to be patriarchy or matriarchy?
Is an egalitarian existence possible? Hope_peddler says, “Okay, I’m getting this comment
so many times that I thought I would just go ahead and make a video to it. A
matriarch is egalitarian. A matriarchy is not the inverse of patriarchy. Leadership
and patriarchy is synonymous with power hoarding. The people in the leadership
positions are hoarding power to use for their own benefit, and the benefit of
other people in their group to the exclusion of other groups. (Especially in First Nations’ communities where there is a shortage
of housing, and good infrastructure. A decade ago, within my community, as a
single woman there was a by-law created in the seventies that stated a single
women could not be granted a home until she reached the age of fifty-five. The home
I have is my late mother’s home. I lived away from my community for about two
decades, got myself educated too. Yet, if I had not reached the age I am now, I
would not be granted any place to live. A have two sisters who also lived away
with each paying mortgages and also getting an education. When women get into powerful
leadership role they give their children benefits, they hoard power over the rest
of their extended families.)This assumption that the person in power is
going to use that power to benefit themselves, that is not a default setting of
leadership though. We just think that it is because we are in a culture of white
supremacy, which has power according as one of its tenants, and because we were
in a patriarchy, but that is not a default setting of leadership. There is such
thing as leadership for the collective. Leadership by the collective,
leadership by consensus, and in this scenario, the leader is not voicing on their
views on other people. The leader is not controlling the behavior, or resources
that other people get. The leader is just facilitating the conversations that
help the group come to a consensus about what they want. (I grew up seeing my Dakota grandmothers come together and work together
for the benefit of their grandchildren. I this here too within my community,
somewhat but not as collectively as I did with the Dakota community. I believe it
was because the Dakota people were never Treaty People under the Indian Act,
and were considered exiles from the USA.) I mean think about it. If you
put women in charge, who are they going to prioritize? They're going to
prioritize the needs of the children, and the children come in all genders, and
they come in all ethnicities. Right now, the people who have been socialized as
men have been socialized to think about themselves, to see everything as sort
of a zero-sum game. In other words, if I give to you, that necessarily takes
from me. And if I want something, I have to take it from you Whereas the people
socialized as women right now, have been socialized to consider the needs of
the group. They've also been socialized to have higher emotional intelligence,
so they're less likely to lead in a reactive way, in a way that that
prioritizes their own ego. Generalizing here, but socialization is a powerful
thing. And I don't know that many women who don't think of the needs of the
entire group, of the entire family when they're making decisions. (These decision I saw were made by the grandmothers within
the Dakota community. We gathered berries, harvested corn, cooked for the
entire family. As my late grandmother, she woke up early each morning, frying
bread and frying eggs and bacon, brewing up coffee for the entire family of four
groups.) And I don't know many men that do think about the needs of the
entire group when they're making decisions, as opposed to prioritizing their
own needs. Matriarchal leadership is not the inverse of patriarchy. It is not a
bunch of women hoarding power to use for the benefit of women to the exclusion
of men. Is a collaborative leadership of consensus that just has women
facilitating that consensus. They are leading the discussions; they are setting
the priorities. They are making sure that everybody gets time to have to be
heard. They aren't using their leadership position to decide for everybody and
then enforce their decision on everybody. Now, it might be the case that if we
do switch to this egalitarian way of living led by women, that we would then
socialize our children differently. So, it might be the case that the first
couple generations of this egalitarian society has to be a matriarchy because
women are the best people. The people socialize these women are the best people
to step into the leadership of an egalitarian society.
(If I did not think my voice would never be heard by other indigenous women, I
would not have started this blog. I knew that by writing about what I
experience with Nathan Chasing Horse, I could somehow prevent others from being
hurt by this monster. As the years went by I started making acquaintance with
many women who were trying to rebuild their lives after being shattered by this
man’s sexual assault. I could tell if someone was just curious about his blog
and I could tell if the individual was serious. It was in the way they told
their stories. Those who were serious were branching out helping others with their
stories as well. These women would talk about how they were creating support
groups for their healing journey. I knew they were serious and I kept in touch
with them.) But it might be the case that when we stop socializing kids
by gender, that in two, three, four generations, it doesn't even need to be a
matriarchy anymore. Because everybody is adequately socialized for leadership. Everybody
is taught emotional intelligence. Everybody is taught how to regulate their
nervous system. Everybody is taught to think of the needs of the groups, but
for right now, the people in the best position to do that are not only just
women, but they're probably black and indigenous women. Because even white
women have been socialized to dehumanize certain groups of people without even
realizing it. Probably needs to start out as a melanated matriarchy, and then
we will hopefully be lead into a future that socializes everybody outside the
confines white supremacy culture and patriarchy. (As
indigenous women, I believe we know we needed other women. Thirty-three years
ago I started a support group within my home. I encouraged other women to do
the same. I also volunteered for the Native Women’ Shelter in Calgary as a Board
member. My own personal struggles helped me to understand the scope of how
deeply entrenched inter-generational trauma persists generation after
generation.)(@hope_peddler 8-22)
MEAN GIRLS WHITE ADJACENCY YK says, “. OK, A bunch of people turn me on this
tweet to respond, it's it's so horrific and disgusting. So, this person Diana
is tweeting in response to news at San Francisco is planning on providing black
folks preparations. Her tweet is horrific. It says no black San Francisco. So
the rest of us reparations for all the crime, they're not all criminals. Well,
we're not all responsible for redlining their poor educational outcomes. Low
income, high incarceration, whatever else there demanding payment for. It's
disgusting. It's horrible. (I’ve heard this a decade
ago when the survivors of Indian Residential Schools were telling their stories.
Many people were saying these stories were not true and why reconcile their
abuse from these government run organizations. Is it any wonder why indigenous people
hesitant to speak to anyone connected to the government, including investigative
reporters.) Diane is also
apparently the founder and director of a foundation that works against
affirmative action. OK, I've said this in so many different ways, so many
different times. So let me try a different approach this time. There's a coming
of age trope in literature and movies and shows where the protagonist girl
wants. To be apart of the popular girls who also of course are Mean Girls. So
in order to try to become a part of them she starts mimicking them. An in the
process she portrays her actual best friends. In my view, original true friends
were the ones where the actual rock stars, their creative super smart support
you lift. You want you to be the best version of yourself that you can be.
Where is the popular Mean Girls are just a caricature of themselves. And of
course the popular Mean Girls don't ever actually accept her, they just pretend
to and continue to mock her behind her back. So, the joke was and always is on
that protagonist girl. She will never be apart of that group, ever. She
eventually realizes that those popular Mean Girls are a farce, their miserable,
and that they. (I truly felt this way, when I live in
the State of Utah, amongst Mormon girls and women. It was especially noticeable
amongst the indigenous church going congregation. They pretended that they were
concerned about my soul’s eternal happiness when really, they just did like me,
maybe because I reminded them of themselves, or their poor parents who had
given them up into the Mormon Foster Care system. This mentality was just he is
beginning of this need for ‘the dome,’ ‘white proximity’ or ‘white adjacency’ mentality
that the other is better than the original culture. You see, Nathan Chasing Horse
hid his desire for this ‘Indigenous man like him seeking white adjacency has being
anti blackness.’ Nathan knew is abuse of power and privilege worked when
tearing apart groups like white supremacy did. It was dangling a myth about
indigenous spirituality could be reached by his followers if they obeyed him. He
saw how our own indigenous people turned against each other and he used this
same tenet to drive a wedge between families. Torment everyone to be in
that position of power when it comes to the movies. The protagonist eventually
begins to understand herself how abuse of power and privilege work and realizes
finally that the friend she had before in fact were her true friends all along.
So let's think about real life now. Asians, particularly East Asians who try to
be adjacent with witness, will never be apart of the very group. With which
they are trying to align. It is an endless illusion where everyone else knows
the reality except for the Asians who are seeking white proximity. White
supremacy always uses them to make itself more powerful by dangling A myth for
them to reach foreign simultaneously, it will knock them eventually also
sacrificing them soon enough. We witnessed it during the 60s and 70s. When it
was manufactured and marketed to drive a wedge between Asians who are
supporting the black power movement. We witnessed it during the Sinophobia of
Covid escalating a political war. We witnessed this with conservative far right
whites who used Asians of the wed to takedown affirmative action. We've
witnessed it over and over and over again. And guess what? All it does is pop
up and feed white supremacy, unlike the movies were things usually sort out and
smooth out. Very present in real impact of Asians seeking white adjacency is
anti blackness which has real life and death impacts that reverberates through
healthcare, education, housing, the climate, everything and more. (I briefly touch on this in another post where I found myself
ghosting two professional people, one an acquaintance and the other my
therapist. I didn’t realize that I was like Nathan when he aligned himself with
wealth white privileged people to belong. I really believe Nathan believes he
is red power movement. They reality is he is no different than me. It took this
blog, the attention of many non-indigenous people to see me, to feed my love addiction
of approval and validation that I was worthily of love to step back. Step back
and reconnect with those I grew up with within my community, both in the city and
here, Tsuutina. You see love addiction is not wanting the physicality of
intercourse, rather its emotional. I’ve discussed this in other posts regarding
limerence and intergenerational trauma responses.)This lie the bait to
align with whiteness is very well funded and white supremacy uses it to sustain
itself. Here's the thing, aligning with whiteness means individualism that
directly causes the oppression of more people. Including your own? How about
instead of that we work to align with everyones liberation? Let's tap into our
cultures of interdependence that white supremacy has been trying so hard to
take away from us and deprogrammers from Let's reclaim back community. Let's
uplift everyones liberation. Liberation by definition has enough room for
everyone. And to get there, we do need reparations for black people. We need land
back under stewardship of indigenous folks. And it means understanding that we
cannot allow ourselves to be divided and used as a wedge. I believe in us. I
believe in us. Let's do the work you all. (@YK 9-24) (This
is what I am doing in writing this blog, is reclaiming my community. The young
women in their thirties who were all attending Nathan’s ceremonies and their
moms, and families are closer because of this reclaiming community. This is
what I hope comes out of my interviews with non-indigenous peoples. Whether we
as indigenous people fully understand how far we come in our own individual
healing journeys, we are much better people for not allow those who oppress us
into other spaces.
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