http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=71349
Changing stereotypes comes slowly
Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald
Published Saturday, March 22, 2008
Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald.
We know that race will have an effect on the presidential campaign perhaps a profound effect. Presidential candidate Barack Obama found that out, too. And we know the media is having a field day with the racist sermon clips of Obamas pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Does Obama hold deep-seated hatred of white people? Does he harbor secret thoughts similar to those of Wright?
Here are my thoughts about the issues surrounding race, Wright and the presidential campaign.
We have our own history of race relations in North Dakota, but we havent had to deal with the racial complexities that bigger cities have faced. In our state, the major races were and are whites and American Indians. Thats changing, of course, as more people move into our communities from other countries and bigger cities. This is especially true of college and university towns such as Fargo and Grand Forks.
One difference in experience with other races was brought home to me recently when I had the chance to interview Kuot Yolo, a Sudanese refugee and UND aerospace student. Yolo moved to the Red River Valley some 10 years ago. Before that, he had spent his boyhood in the middle of a devastating civil war in Sudan, a war that forced him to move from place to place sometimes starving and always just ahead of his enemies.
His story plumbed new depths of mans inhumanity and made the prejudices in my own community seem insignificant.
This interview reminded me that those television clips about wars in Africa and the Middle East are real and awful. It also recalled one of my first realizations about race, which came about when my sisters and brothers and I recognized that our mothers opinion of black people was outdated and wrong.
My mother was stuck in a different generation, perhaps not unlike Obama indicated Wright seems to be. My mother lived a fairly sheltered life in North Dakota and on the reservation. She was a good Catholic, and many of her beliefs were based on the churchs teachings.
My epiphany about her racial beliefs came one day when a black man was hired to fix a fence next door. My mother called us into the house and told us to stay away from him; he might have a knife, she said.
We went outside and continued to play, but my younger brother, Cookie, was curious. He went over to where the man was working, stood a little distance away and watched him work for awhile.
It didnt take long before we saw Cookie handing the man nails and boards, and pretty soon, they were talking like old friends. In the next few weeks, they became real friends.
My mother noticed the relationship and didnt say anything. She had learned that the man was not like what she had been told about black people. And we learned that our mother could be wrong, too.
As I mentioned, Wright also seems stuck in an earlier generation. But I cant seem to square his sermons with his Christian beliefs. He is, according to many reports, an intelligent man who has college and graduate-school degrees and eight honorary doctorates. So, some religious people thought he had something good and intelligent to say, given that they bestowed those honors upon him.
So, why havent we heard something in his sermons about Christian beliefs such as forgiveness, loving your neighbor, seeing God in every person and so on? Were other parts of his sermons left out on purpose?
We all put each other in categories and use our experiences to judge people. As an American Indian woman, Im stereotyped: Shes an Indian, educated, elder and a journalist, some who know me may think. Those are good things. But when people see me who dont know me, some may think, She must be an alcoholic because Indians are alcoholics. Not true. Or they may think I live on welfare because Indians always have their hands out. Again, not true; my parents and grandparents were hard workers.
But we live with these assumptions until they are scraped away to reveal the truth and even then, sometimes were more comfortable believing in the stereotypes. That helps us feel better about ourselves . . . for a while.
For Sen. Obama to become President Obama is going to be difficult, I believe. But if and when that happens, his color will disappear in a way, and hell be measured by the standards of the presidency. He will have broken through that line around the powerful and elite.
And maybe hell change some of the stereotypes we hold about people of color, gender and all those other tags we attach to each other.
reposted as "Spam con Huevos" Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107.http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
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Partido Nacional La Raza Unida
info at: partido_nacional@yahoo.com
Peace and Dignity Journeys 2008
http://www.peaceanddignityjourneys.com/index.php
"It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion." - AristotleLucha Sigue! The Struggle Continues! Vote and Register La Raza Unida Party! Que Viva La Raza!"In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of their oppression, not as a closed world from which there is not exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform. This perception is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for liberation; it must become the motivating force for liberating action." ~Don Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Opressed.http://www.networkaztlan.com/ http://www.powwows.com/radio/ U.S. Military Killed in Action In Iraq:3/21/08:1 Current Total: 4074 +482 in Afghanistan Wounded 50,268http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm,
Changing stereotypes comes slowly
Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald
Published Saturday, March 22, 2008
Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald.
We know that race will have an effect on the presidential campaign perhaps a profound effect. Presidential candidate Barack Obama found that out, too. And we know the media is having a field day with the racist sermon clips of Obamas pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Does Obama hold deep-seated hatred of white people? Does he harbor secret thoughts similar to those of Wright?
Here are my thoughts about the issues surrounding race, Wright and the presidential campaign.
We have our own history of race relations in North Dakota, but we havent had to deal with the racial complexities that bigger cities have faced. In our state, the major races were and are whites and American Indians. Thats changing, of course, as more people move into our communities from other countries and bigger cities. This is especially true of college and university towns such as Fargo and Grand Forks.
One difference in experience with other races was brought home to me recently when I had the chance to interview Kuot Yolo, a Sudanese refugee and UND aerospace student. Yolo moved to the Red River Valley some 10 years ago. Before that, he had spent his boyhood in the middle of a devastating civil war in Sudan, a war that forced him to move from place to place sometimes starving and always just ahead of his enemies.
His story plumbed new depths of mans inhumanity and made the prejudices in my own community seem insignificant.
This interview reminded me that those television clips about wars in Africa and the Middle East are real and awful. It also recalled one of my first realizations about race, which came about when my sisters and brothers and I recognized that our mothers opinion of black people was outdated and wrong.
My mother was stuck in a different generation, perhaps not unlike Obama indicated Wright seems to be. My mother lived a fairly sheltered life in North Dakota and on the reservation. She was a good Catholic, and many of her beliefs were based on the churchs teachings.
My epiphany about her racial beliefs came one day when a black man was hired to fix a fence next door. My mother called us into the house and told us to stay away from him; he might have a knife, she said.
We went outside and continued to play, but my younger brother, Cookie, was curious. He went over to where the man was working, stood a little distance away and watched him work for awhile.
It didnt take long before we saw Cookie handing the man nails and boards, and pretty soon, they were talking like old friends. In the next few weeks, they became real friends.
My mother noticed the relationship and didnt say anything. She had learned that the man was not like what she had been told about black people. And we learned that our mother could be wrong, too.
As I mentioned, Wright also seems stuck in an earlier generation. But I cant seem to square his sermons with his Christian beliefs. He is, according to many reports, an intelligent man who has college and graduate-school degrees and eight honorary doctorates. So, some religious people thought he had something good and intelligent to say, given that they bestowed those honors upon him.
So, why havent we heard something in his sermons about Christian beliefs such as forgiveness, loving your neighbor, seeing God in every person and so on? Were other parts of his sermons left out on purpose?
We all put each other in categories and use our experiences to judge people. As an American Indian woman, Im stereotyped: Shes an Indian, educated, elder and a journalist, some who know me may think. Those are good things. But when people see me who dont know me, some may think, She must be an alcoholic because Indians are alcoholics. Not true. Or they may think I live on welfare because Indians always have their hands out. Again, not true; my parents and grandparents were hard workers.
But we live with these assumptions until they are scraped away to reveal the truth and even then, sometimes were more comfortable believing in the stereotypes. That helps us feel better about ourselves . . . for a while.
For Sen. Obama to become President Obama is going to be difficult, I believe. But if and when that happens, his color will disappear in a way, and hell be measured by the standards of the presidency. He will have broken through that line around the powerful and elite.
And maybe hell change some of the stereotypes we hold about people of color, gender and all those other tags we attach to each other.
reposted as "Spam con Huevos" Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107.http://www4.
http://imtranslator
Visit: http://NetworkAztla
Peace and Dignity Project/Proyecto Paz y Dignidad,Support the Kumeyaay Children's Shelter of Tecate www.peaceanddignity
Partido Nacional La Raza Unida
info at: partido_nacional@
Peace and Dignity Journeys 2008
http://www.peaceand
"It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion." - AristotleLucha Sigue! The Struggle Continues! Vote and Register La Raza Unida Party! Que Viva La Raza!"In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of their oppression, not as a closed world from which there is not exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform. This perception is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for liberation; it must become the motivating force for liberating action." ~Don Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Opressed.http:
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