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2/24/2014 16 Comments

A Colonized Ally Meets a Decolonized Ally: This is What They Learn

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1. A colonized ally stands in the front.  A decolonized ally stands behind.

2. A colonized ally stands behind an oppressive patriarchy.  A decolonized ally stands behind women and children.

3. A colonized ally makes assumptions about the process.  A decolonized ally values there may be principles in the process they are not aware of.

4. A colonized ally wants knowledge now!  A decolonized ally values their own relationship to the knowledge.

5. A colonized ally finds an Indigenous token.  A decolonized ally is more objective in the process.

6. A colonized ally equates their money and hard work on the land as meaning land ownership.  A decolonized ally knows that land ownership is more about social hierarchy and privilege.

7. A colonized ally projects guilt.  A decolonized ally knows it is their work to do.

8. A colonized ally projects emotions.  A decolonized ally knows Indigenous people have too much to deal with already.

9. A colonized ally has no respect for Indigenous intellectuals.  A decolonized ally knows Indigenous people have their own intellectuals.

10. A colonized ally has no idea they need to decolonize.  A decolonized ally understands they have to continually decolonize.

11. A colonized ally has no idea of the concomitant realities of Indigenous oppression.  A decolonized ally understands the many, layered, and intersectional oppressions Indigenous people live under.

12. A colonized ally speaks for Indigenous people.  A decolonized ally listens.

13. A colonized ally takes on work an Indigenous person can do and is doing. A decolonized ally takes on other work that needs to be done.

14. A colonized ally makes things worse.  A decolonized ally understands.

15. A colonized ally says, “It is time to get over it.”  A decolonized ally realizes one’s relationship to the harm is subjective.

16. A colonized ally appropriates another nation’s Indigenous knowledge.  A decolonized ally does the hard work to uncover their own Indigenous knowledge.

17. A colonized ally will loath this truth offered.  A decolonized ally will recognize the hard work telling this truth is.

Additional ally resources are available here


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Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley.  She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process. She recently published a book entitled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts, and her second book, The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin of the Algonquin Land Claims Process, will be published in March 2014.  You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com.

Please like and share this blog.

16 Comments
Heather Majaury
2/24/2014 12:59:42 am

Great.

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Reyna Crow link
2/24/2014 07:06:18 am

Brilliant! This is very helpful and greatly appreciated!

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Gillette West
3/6/2014 07:29:17 am

Fancy meeting you here!

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Lynn link
6/9/2019 07:33:57 pm

Have we met?

Margaret Fawcett
2/27/2014 11:07:31 pm

So humbling. This information invites me to walk softly and slowly with bare feet and listen deeply...trying not to cry continually.

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Jennifer
3/3/2014 11:20:03 am

This article was really helpful for me; I can see how I've been a "colonized ally" in the past. I feel you've helped me gain some needed insight.

Thank you for sharing.

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Andrea Desjardins Daily
3/3/2014 12:12:57 pm

Thank you. This is very helpful.

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Gillette West
3/6/2014 07:28:29 am

Wonderful! Thank you!

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Cecilia Yu link
6/21/2014 05:29:02 am

I really like this. It is honest and an insiders look at certain issues that are infecting the art world with tokenism right now....regrettably.

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Joe Cowen
7/16/2014 04:21:41 am

Crazy... I found this article with my picture on it and the article is fantastic,
It is important to note however that I am also of First Nations decent. Although I was ripped from my roots from an early age and adopted into a blue collar hard working white colonial family. So as someone that has been ripped from his roots and raised as a white labor blue collared colonized family I feel I am more an ally to the oppressed because while one could make an argument that my very adoption and ripping me from my original people is the result of oppression I am only truly becoming aware of that now after taking part in such things as Idle Know More and being their to support First Nations Peoples. I spent as much time as i could at Chief Spence's camp just intaking and listening. It was a life changing experience and continues to be so. However I have spent far more of my life in white culture and a white identity with white privileges.
So I found it important to identify myself as an ally.

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Lynn Gehl
7/16/2014 05:14:56 am

Kwey Joe, This is excellent. I love how clear you are about navigating the contradictions you embody. Keep in mind that identity is fluid (we are verbs not nouns) and as such there may be a time when you claim who you are as an Indigenous person.

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Augustina link
3/3/2023 09:38:21 pm

Perhaps I can offer a middle path! I identify as both Ally & Indigenous. Ethnically my heritage is European & Afro-Latino. I carry distant Anishinaabe heritage through my Quebecois grandmother. I am neurodivergent ADHD - a highly absorbent super forager & intuitive kinesthetic multisensory relationship-centered learner. When I began learning Ojibwe & reconnecting with my Anishinaabe ancestry, I finally felt a sense of inner peace, a place where I don't have to constantly struggle to be in harmonious co-existance as I am wired naturally. So ethnicity-wise in the Colonial system I identify as White/Latino/Hispanic. Spiritually in my heart I self-identify as an Anishinaabe person because that is how I live & breathe. I understand the difference & so I tread respectfully. We can exist in many places at once.

Leon Cranebear
12/14/2014 02:41:46 am

Love the quote Lynn, "identity is fluid (we are verbs not nouns)." Is the quote available in a book, of ours? Thank you.

Reply
Lynn Gehl
12/14/2014 04:09:24 am

Kwey Leon,
Sorry about the run around. I did not realize you were talking about a comment I made to Joe. I have not placed this idea in a book, article, or blog. You can, though, cite this blog itself as it is in the comment area. You will need to consult your referencing style guide on how to do this. You can also cite it as personal communication. I am assuming you ask for the purpose of a paper. I hope this is helpful.

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Leon Cranebear link
12/14/2014 09:29:57 am

Thank you Lynn, and yes I was asking if the quote was available in any of your published material, as I think it is an excellent description of identity. Again, yes it is regarding a paper I'm doing.
Leon.

Reply
Lynn Gehl
12/14/2014 09:59:18 am

Ok thanks. Did you see my work on identity under "academic publications" on my website? Here they are:

Gehl, L., with Ross, H. (2013). Disenfranchised Spirit: A Theory and A Model. Pimitasiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, 11(1), 31-42.

Gehl, L. (2000). ‘The Queen and I’: Discrimination Against Women in the Indian Act Continues. Canadian Woman Studies, 20(2), 64-69.

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