My “Godfather moment”....
Yesterday was one hell of a day.
Let me preface by saying I didn’t go online to pick a fight, but I ended up starting one. Why?
Cultural appropriation is real. As a Darug woman, I see it daily and I hate it. Truthfully Dr Chelsea Bond’s hashtag #AnotherDayInTheColony is so true.
When people try to take on something that belongs to First Nations, but they aren’t First Nations themselves, it opens up a MASSIVE s**t fight, not to mention a total disregard for cultural protocols and respect.
First Nations issues are not there to be “saved”. It’s like the missionaries have come back again if only without the Bible and the stick. Education of First Nations people belongs with us, for us and by us. We are already “behind” because all testing is from a culturally inappropriate space and for some First Nations, English is their third or fourth language. Clearly if we have children that are multilingual, one can assume Social Darwinism is DEAD.
So how to we move past this?
We are given the stage, the funding and the time to do it our way.
‘If we don’t see us, we can’t be us’
Anissa Jones, 2020
My Google Innovator Project - #IndigeniseEDU - provides non First Nations with the tools to support First Nations children in the mainstream classroom. This comes from personal experience, being First Nations, working as a teacher for nearly 20 years, working with corrections and delivering the Diploma of Aboriginal Studies.
It’s has been created with consultation with community, liaising with various First Nations people (Elders, academics, social commentators, teachers and students).
And when I write my book this summer holidays, it will come from the heart.
Aboriginal First Nations people aren’t the new “fad” in education. We are the oldest living culture on the planet and we have survived here for over 60, 000 years. Respect should be shown.
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