I started a new thread because quelyn asked.
The reason why I brought it up in a 9/11 thread?
People were comparing 9/11 to other disasters around the world, saying that no one cared about that. You followin? Anyways, people wrote off those comparisons because they weren't 'terrorism' so therefore cannot be the same.
So don't discount my intersecting the two, with 9/11 and with the past and ongoing genocide of Native Americans.
Things far worse then 9/11 happened to Native Americans. Take the number that died in 9/11 and multiply it by thousands, and you get the point. The problem being is that the terrorists were your own government, at the hands of your own people. I'm not asking you to feel guilty, cause whatever. But at least recognize how the two intersect.
You get so angry that 9/11 didn't really phase me as much, because it happens all over, because I feel the same amount of grief for all disasters. Yet I am not allowed to get angry that not only does general America not care about OUR "9/11" but they CELEBRATE it every year with Thanksgiving and Columbus Day?
No one is trying to dishonor the dead of 9/11, nor make it any less of a tragedy. It's merely pointing out that maybe people should start caring about when it happens to other people too.
It's not an unfair generalization to say that majority America does not care about the genocide of Native americans, considering that majority America celebrates it every year around Turkey while their children run around in headbands with cardboard feathers that they made in school, without ever questioning how fucked up it is. It's not unfair to say most of the people here don't care, because from what I've seen, there's only one or two people on this board that I'd consider allies, let alone anti racist, because there are only one or two of you that I've ever seen do or say anything about it, until time comes up that you're called out and all of a sudden you're a great ally and doing so much, when you've never lifted a finger or spoken out on it. When you still sit around every year after my "Don't celebrate the genocide of my people" thread and say that it's okay for you to celebrate Thanksgiving cause you're different.
What about if I made a day, on 9/11 to celebrate the fact that people died?
I'm called insensitive for the fact that the world didn't stop turning for me even though I still feel badly for what happened and still mourned and properly honored the dead of that day, how much of a ruckus would it cause if I did that? But you guys do it every year.
If you don't see how it intersects, then you're opting to close your eyes to it. If you don't see how it can upset people that they are expected to be outraged and patriotic and have their world revolve around this one incident, when their own experiences and anniversaries with either terrorism or disaster are completely written off, then you're blind.
Be happy that this is the only major experience you've had with it, because many of us have had our families living in fear and destroyed by terrorists on their own land for hundreds of years now.
I am not posting to debate, I don't like confrontation, I just wanted to say thanks.
i agree.
thank you for pointing this out.
i have been wanting to post something about 911. but i havent had the time to sit down and get my thoughts out.
I agree with most of your points. I know that there were far worse terrorist atacks than 9-11 that were put on by people of the US, the government of the US or backed by the US. And I don't think it is unfair to say the majority of people in the US don't care, because I know they don't care.
Like I said before, I don't think you are insensitive at all, I don't think the "world stopped turning" as the song goes. I mean it was very sad, yes a lot of people died, but that is something that happens daily to people all over the world, and few people in America would consider the world to have stopped turning then.
Maybe individually, the world did stop turning for people who were deeply affected by it. but definitely not globally, and you are right it is eurocentric to think like that, a disaster that happened to the US happened to the whole world. I also hate that so much money has been made by the attacks, movies, special coins, bumper stickers you name it. Kinda fucked up.
just an fyi-
my initial posts were in response to glasses, which i thought was clear, but maybe it wasn't. (she and i went back and forth a bit in the other thread.) so i don't know if you are aiming things at me, or speaking to girlmom collectively- either is fine- but i just wanted to clarify.
naivete,
Thank you. I am so fucking sick of people ignoring what has been done to Native peoples.
Why is it ok to pretend that a genocide did not occur when it comes to Natives?
I don't know what else to say, but this has been something that has weighed heavily on my mind lately.
Shit, I posted that reply before reading the other read all the way through.
I have to say that thread made me furious!
If someone said they thought it was ok to celebrate the start of slavery with a nice ham & all the fixings you would all be fucking outrages, would you not?
Or maybe celebrating the halocaust with a nice turkey dinner would bring about the warm fuzzies, eh?
What do people NOT get about Native genocide and how this country finds it perfectly ok to not only gloss over it's murderous history, but CELEBRATE it?
Yet, I am supposed to sit and watch weeks of 9/11 tributes and get all teary-eyed just thinking about the people who lost their lives?
I say- Fuck That!
Yes, it is a tragedy when any innocent person loses their lkife but what about 9/'11 makes it so special?
Is it because those people were mostly young, affluent white people as opposed to poor people of color?
I will mourn & dwell over the loss of those people just as soon as this country admits, recognizes and outs down in their overwhelmingly eurocentric history books the almost total genocide of mine & my husband's ancestors.
Cuz guess what? Nobody is reading off my husband's grandparent's names on CNN with teary eyes. And you know why? because they don't exist in this white world. If you didn't assimilate- they would annihilate you.
It's really too bad Natives don't have lighter skin, eh?
If that was harsh- it was meant to be.
I, and actually a lot of the native community (the political ones anyway) share the frustration. I did however still smudge for the people involved yesterday, I still did do the moment of silence, I merely wanted to know, when our people will get our moment of silence for the calculated terrorist attacks on our people that happened in the same country.
I feel badly for everyone who was gripped with fear over the incident, but looking at what happened to my mother, my aunts, my uncles, and not knowing if it can still happen to my son or I, that's a fear we've lived with our entire lives. I've gripped my son close to me every day since he was born, not knowing if our rights would be taken away, not knowing if we'd be the target once again. I've cried for him since he was born, because 9/11 didn't bring around those feelings, rather those are feelings we've had the entire time.
I don't want to take away from the incident, I rather wanted to point out that now that general America knows how much it can hurt, how the fear can grip you, how much mourning it causes, perhaps its time to recognize what was done on our soil, and how perhaps it's time to give the honor and respect to the people who have been affected who are giving hte proper honor and respect to your situation.
Naivete, I couldnât agree with you more. I mean itâs messed up what happened to those people during 9/11 at the hands of terrorist. But damn, what about what this country has done and is still doing to the people who live here. I look at whatâs happened to my people at the hands of this country, where they were born. This country doesnât give a damn about you if youâre not white and wealthy. There are so many things this country would love to write out of the history books, and theyâre working on it. Slavery, Black genocide, Native American genocide, theyâre going act like that shit never happened. And yet they expect me to mourn over everything they say is a tragedy. My people (and many other non-white people) continue to be disenfranchised and exploited by this country.
Thanks Naivete.
It never ceases to amaze me how we, as a society, pick and choose what we become outraged about. Based on what the government tells us. Or what the media tells us.
Not to take anything away from 9/11, it's victims, or famillies...
But these are the sort of things that happen when we some people have "everything" and others have "nothing."
Nobody talks about Sabra, or Shatila.
We've divided out world in "we and them."
Forgetting that we are more alike then different, and what we do to others, will inevitably happen to us.
Naivete, this was SO powerful for me. I have had similiar feelings but no idea how to get them out. Does anybody on this thread mind if I read what they said to my relatives to explain why I just cannot fucking do Thanksgiving? I am so sick of people not understanding why I won't celebrate this awful tradition and I just cannot articulate myself well about it.
I don't mind, if you want actually I have older specific threads on Thanksgiving, it's history and why it's a national day of mourning for many of my people, that you can hand off as well. I'll PM you with the links :) (PS - thank you, so much, for taking it seriously and not writing it off as many people do. It hurts when people I know can still find excuses to celebrate the death of my family in any context)