Hello

[NeoPaleo]

In deep respect.

A dictionary is needed on this forum.

[Defend the Sacred]

 

In deep respect.

A dictionary is needed on this forum.

How someone speaks, and what they do and don't understand, tells us a lot about who someone really is.

As this is a working forum for stopping frauds and exploiters, I don't think it's in our best interests to help outsiders to particular communities learn in-group terminology.

[Defend the Sacred]

Those who spend time doing what we ask of new members - reading all the pinned threads to get up to speed - usually have no trouble understanding us. It just takes some patience and time.

[NeoPaleo]

Please explain white privelidge, I'm not seeing it.
How do you, because of white skin do you have it better?
Where is your personal contrast for the difference to be examined?

Because I have white privilege, it can be hard for me to see, cause I'm in it. I can take it for granted, I could decide to not examine it, I don't have to think about it. Which are more examples of white privilege. :)

Even if I was poor, visibly disabled, gay, and pagan, I still have the white thing going on for me. I'm not automatically guilty or bad because of this, and I don't necessarily want this, but it exists.   

Here are some examples:

I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

Examples above are all direct from here http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html , many more ideas there

Instead of "privilege" the word "advantage" could be used. I have an unearned advantage.

My response thus far is for ANY First Nation Person that has reservation privileges  to Imagine being without that privilege.
Imagine living on the Earth with nowhere safe to go, that's my life as a descendant  of tribal people.

No place to call home Ever. No place to come from no place to go back to.


And to touch on the dictionary subject for a moment,
I guess my question got inflated a bit.
It really comes down to a single word, that being "white"
From my understanding
If you are a full blooded tribal member and have white skin, you are not A Native Person because all indians are Brown?
Did I get that right?

[Epiphany]

From my understanding
If you are a full blooded tribal member and have white skin, you are not A Native Person because all indians are Brown?
Did I get that right?

No, you did not get that right.

[Defend the Sacred]

My response thus far is for ANY First Nation Person that has reservation privileges  to Imagine being without that privilege.
Imagine living on the Earth with nowhere safe to go, that's my life as a descendant  of tribal people.

No place to call home Ever. No place to come from no place to go back to.

And to touch on the dictionary subject for a moment,
I guess my question got inflated a bit.
It really comes down to a single word, that being "white"
From my understanding
If you are a full blooded tribal member and have white skin, you are not A Native Person because all indians are Brown?
Did I get that right?

This is ridiculous. People on the reservations are not oppressing you. 

Brown people are not oppressing you by having healthy skepticism of strangers.

They have the right to set boundaries and make you earn trust. If you haven't earned trust, that's not their fault.

I am born into white culture in USA, my life is bombarded by cliche'.
White culture calls me a hippie, white trash,

You say people call you "white trash" and that you only recently found out you have distant heritage. If you were raised non-native, as you have said you were, unless you find your relatives and they accept you as a member of the family and community, you're not Native.

This is not the place to complain about how oppressed you feel as a non-Native. If that's what you want from us, I suggest this is not the place to do that.

I also suggest your idea of what it means to be Native is based on idealized fantasy. Lots of people are lonely and looking for community. But you won't find that by claiming Native people are oppressing you just by their very existence. I'm sorry but that's crazy and one of the most entitled things I've seen posted here. 

I think you owe all the Native people on this forum an apology.

[NeoPaleo]

My response thus far is for ANY First Nation Person that has reservation privileges  to Imagine being without that privilege.
Imagine living on the Earth with nowhere safe to go, that's my life as a descendant  of tribal people.

No place to call home Ever. No place to come from no place to go back to.

And to touch on the dictionary subject for a moment,
I guess my question got inflated a bit.
It really comes down to a single word, that being "white"
From my understanding
If you are a full blooded tribal member and have white skin, you are not A Native Person because all indians are Brown?
Did I get that right?

This is ridiculous. People on the reservations are not oppressing you. 

Brown people are not oppressing you by having healthy skepticism of strangers.

They have the right to set boundaries and make you earn trust. If you haven't earned trust, that's not their fault.

I am born into white culture in USA, my life is bombarded by cliche'.
White culture calls me a hippie, white trash,

You say people call you "white trash" and that you only recently found out you have distant heritage. If you were raised non-native, as you have said you were, unless you find your relatives and they accept you as a member of the family and community, you're not Native.

This is not the place to complain about how oppressed you feel as a non-Native. If that's what you want from us, I suggest this is not the place to do that.

I also suggest your idea of what it means to be Native is based on idealized fantasy. Lots of people are lonely and looking for community. But you won't find that by claiming Native people are oppressing you just by their very existence. I'm sorry but that's crazy and one of the most entitled things I've seen posted here. 

I think you owe all the Native people on this forum an apology.

I feel it's impossible at this time to continue our conversation.
Consider this an apology to Any person who finds whatever I have ever written hurtful.
I'm sorry.
All I've tried to do is understand You the writers on this forum and ask questions, but ive been told to sit down and shut up and listen (read)
I've done that, I have much skepticism myself.
I will go back to my Dead Ones and forget this quasi world of the Internet.
Thanks for the lesson.
You are what you hate.
I don't hate, Do You? Dear Reader.

[Diana]

As usual this is not going to end well.  :o

[earthw7]

I really dont think he was looking for answers ???

[used2bnaf]

I really dont think he was looking for answers ???

People can't hear when their lips are moving.  Also, God-Creator-Allah-Whomever- created us with 2 ears and 1 mouth.  I would suggest that means we listen twice as much as we talk.


Roy

[Coastrangechild]

White Privilege is a thing of the past? With respect, as a white person, I strongly disagree.

Recently I spent nearly a month in Cambodia. The economic disparities between Cambodians and ex-pats is truly disgusting. Privilege perpetuates hundreds of miles of sweat shops. It perpetuates the sexual exploitation of young girls – which is very out in the open.

I understood this while in a hotel lobby and 3 white men were taking a young Cambodian prostitute up to their room joking, loudly, "Tonight you get three for the price of one! Lucky you!" If that doesn't epitomize white male privilege I don't know what does.

I am lucky that I live in a country where I can leave my husband if he beats me.

These things happen here too ... and the majority doesn't happen to white girls. Do bad things hapen to rich white people? Sure.

I have a friend who is Puerto Rican and raised on the Southside of Chicago. He was never taught to read and write beyond a 2nd or 3rd grade level. He works his ass off to feed his family and support his wife who speaks almost no English. He does not/did not have the same opportunities I do/did.  Even though I grew up very poor.

Simply being able to write, read, and speak English gives you a level of privilege.

My privilege afforded me the ability to travel and communicate.

I actually had Cambodians appologize TO ME if they did not understand me in english?! I WAS IN THEIR COUNTRY! This is white privilage. People come to this country and we say, "just learn English."

Should I feel guilty for something I have no control over? No.

Should I feel superior? No.

Should I feel slighted because somebody points out the obvious? No.

Should I approach people with an open awareness that we don't all come from the same place? I think so. I think the key is letting go of assumptions, I think in that you have a good point.

Does that mean "special treatment." No. But I do think it should mean an attempt to understand and bridge gaps between all people in society.

[Coastrangechild]

I read a little more -

"My response thus far is for ANY First Nation Person that has reservation privileges  to Imagine being without that privilege.
Imagine living on the Earth with nowhere safe to go, that's my life as a descendant  of tribal people.

No place to call home Ever. No place to come from no place to go back to."

This is a stunner.

So being forced off ones land, families split up, relocated, forced to live with other groups and maybe in a completely new environment, stripped of your language, religion, and children is a privilege?

Have you been to a reservation? They are not all some Mecca of opulence and equal opportunity.
I am very confused.

I am white and I have a very strong sense of "home." I find it in nature.  I think we can all find it in nature. We are all of this earth. I find it with my friends. I find it when I sit in my kayak going down a river. I find it on my horse running through the mountains. Do I own it? No. But I belong. I have a relationship with it.

I hope you find a place in yourself to call home. I really do.

But you won't find it blaming other people.