When Can I Stop citing history, The Facts, the truth. And begin To Have a Conversation About race & class & religion & gender & ability Or who i sleep with.. When will the minds of today Live with the knowledge That What-EVER-we-do is a product Of our theft And murder And erasure Of Indigenous peoples That we're not the first Or only To love this land... That our benefit Is Not second cousin Twice removed Nor the parent of an aunt through marriage, But a stem cut from the root of humanity When.. When.. When ?
Tag Archives: First Nations
Had I the words to explain this, I would
I was working at the office and “Dance Me Outside” by Craig Cardiff came on CBC Radio 2 – Canadian Songwriters. Lately that’s the radio channel I’ve been listening to at work and I must say I’m impressed with the artists it plays. Anyway, Mr. Cardiff came on and intrigued me with his song. Take a look, listen and be moved:
Excerpted lyrics for “Dance Me Outside” by Craig Cardiff
this indian girl walks out into traffic
the traffic stops then she’s causing havok and then
roll up the windows dial the cellphone
get the cops to get out here
i just want to get home
she says do you remember
buffalo?
the dumb white people they all say do you mean niel young springfield?
she says no, and
cleveland isn’t the home of indians
not even eskimos it feels like you just don’t want to know
she says take me around
dance me outside
show me a place where we might hide
what i want then i’m afraid that you can’t afford to buy
—
Aboriginal people are so invisible to us. If you’ve watched the news you’ve probably noticed the trend of missing persons reports; if you’re like me you probably haven’t given that much thought. Until you notice that the missing people are White. And the cases of rape are mostly White women. But this happens in First Nations communities around us every day, and this happens in our community everyday, because First Nations people are a part of our community. People (women) go missing or are sexually assaulted, many of aboriginal descent. The news crew filming in another part of town.