Thread by @MaxFineDay

Sitting in #ThunderBay #yqt airport reflecting on time I've spent here. People have shared heartening & devastating truths with me…

I saw the bounty of this land, offered prayer, & reflected on the beauty around me, how it's able to housing such hurt...

I just got out of a cab. The driver asked what I do, I tried to deflect (I'm not shy, but weeks on the road have left me tired)…

He kept prodding. "I work with #Indigenous and non-Indig. youth to advance #reconciliation across the country," I said…

The way that he turned to me I could tell that he was gearing up. “Indigenous" he said, “Is that the arbitrary name we're using now?…"

“Look, Natives & non-Native, we need to forget what happened & just move on. Was some of the history bad, sure, but cryin' won't fix it"...

I almost turned his metre off b/c I didn't want to give him a free lesson (the least he could do is give me a free ride while I teach him😛)…

I told him that my people are not waterlilies, that we aren't meant to be left in the river. I told him that hurt isn't past, but present…

I told him stories people have shared w me. Being assaulted & thrown into the river. Being followed in stores or on streets…

I told him that deep racism exists here (he scoffed), but the work I do is to try and stop it from bleeding into the next generation...

He tried to get in some "but's" "well's" & "um's" to rebut but I didn't stop. I know this city is small, we'll be at the airport soon…

After I made my points he said the real crime is how #Indigenous people are sold alchohol when drunk. That's how "they" get into the river…

I refused to let him believe we had found a common enemy. The off sale selling alcohol to my people is a symptom, not the disease itself…

Thunder Bay is having a moment of exposure, rightly so. Bodies of Native youth mark the riverbanks as symbols of tragedy and of injustice…

Let these inquests, media stories, & first hand accounts be the light that exposes what has been left in dark for too long...

This isn't just TBay. Remember Winnipeg being named Canada's most racist city? Remember Saskatoon going through the Stonechild inquiry?…

#Indigenous peoples are, & have been for decades, naming the ways in which we’re not allowed to thrive, to grow, to reach our potential...

Wherever you are, as you shake your head in moral superiority as you read about what's happening in TBay remember, it's your city too...

I ask you, what are you doing to stop #Indigenous youth from being treated as expendable trouble makers, under achievers in your city?…

I asked my cab driver that question as he was grabbing my bag. I tipped 18% & left as he tried to conjure words of comfort to heal himself…

Earlier he edged in "Im all for #reconciliation but,"

"No but" I said.

& I say the same to you: We can't have reconciliation w/o truth.