I decided to engage in a "good faith" twitter discussion with a fellow settler who asked "when does reconciliation end? We’ve been handing out land, money and other benefits for decades [to Indigenous people]" to see if a less-adversarial approach would be effective.
After 20+ tweets explaining the history of colonialism, clarifying assumptions, challenging myths and stereotypes, deconstructing arguments, and suggesting readings, the person said they appreciated the "respectful conversation" & were going to consider these points further.
Whether I actually "changed his mind" or gave him pause to reconsider his position remains to be seen.
The downside? It took a lot of time and energy to respond to his points in a way that did not offend him. Also, it was a lot more work for me than him.
The downside? It took a lot of time and energy to respond to his points in a way that did not offend him. Also, it was a lot more work for me than him.
He just repeated stereotypes and tropes and I had to explain to him why these assumptions were problematic without triggering him by calling them out as racist.
I'm committed to doing this work because I know that Indigenous people are being asked to do this every day, and it's one of the small things I can do as a settler-ally to support them.
Memo to settlers: Assume that everything you think you know about Indigenous people is wrong and do some learning first before you use this "knowledge" in arguments or as the basis of the questions you want to ask.
