Having Debbie Lou speak in our class was really thought provoking. I liked how she challenged us to think about our reasoning behind why these topics of social justice are so important to us, LGBT and Indigenous Reconciliation.
In reflection I realized that my reasoning for being passionate about Indigenous issues was rooted in my lack of understanding. Indigenous issues are widely discussed in the news and on our campus but I realize how little I know about it. Even living here as a Canadian citizen raises the question; How do I as a Canadian citizen fit into this culture? What is reconciliation at its core and how do we go about understanding and learning more? I believe it comes down to overcoming our ignorance and partnering with others in relationship to recognize and validate the struggles. No matter who we are or if we have different beliefs and values the action of saying “I see you” to someone who is struggling makes all the difference.
The focus of ally-ship would relate to both areas our class has recognized as our passions, the LGBT and Indigenous communities. The question now being how do we go about using music to create ally-ship? As we know, music can help us create space for others while promoting our message. I think a good way to do this is have a participatory concert with our message. We could maybe have a discussion about what exactly we want that message to be. Whether it is helping people come out of ignorance and understand by simply recognizing the struggles we face or a message of uniting and accepting all people. We could pick songs which cause people to think about the message.
I also really liked Debbie Lou’s idea of standing along side a group on our campus in protest. We could provide our voices and music as a way to help them be heard. This would involve our partnering with those communities, whether that is through the Indigenous center or the Rainbow Center or both.
Lets start our discussion. What do you all think about this idea? What do we want our message to be? Who do we want to reach with our project? The campus, the city? Who can we partner with?
Melissa
I love idea of focusing on ally-ship, Melissa, that’s a great idea! What does it mean to be an ally? Here are some links I’ve found useful, maybe we can summarize them or find some music to share that highlights some of these actions.
http://www.daa.org.uk/uploads/pdf/How%20to%20be%20an%20Ally.pdf
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/86d28ccd43d4be0cfc11c71a1/files/102bf040-e221-4953-a9ef-9f0c5efc3458/Ally_email.pdf
The above resource, the Indigenous Ally Toolkit, discusses
–being an Ally (Being an ally is about disrupting oppressive spaces by educating others on the realities and histories of marginalized people.)
–being an Accomplice (An accomplice works within a
system and “directly challenges institutionalized/systemic racism,
colonization, and white supremacy by blocking or impeding racist people, policies, and structures”)
–being a Co-Resistor (Being a co-resistor is about standing together, as an ensemble, in resistance against oppressive forces and requires constant learning. It is combining theory and practice by establishing relationships and being deeply involved within a community that informs how one listens critically, understands an issue and influences the way they go about disrupting oppressive institutions and systemic systems.)
Looking at those, I think maybe we aim to be co-resistors. I like the idea of ‘standing with’ because I’m pretty passionate about the idea of ‘nothing about us, without us’. What do the others think?