Frederica,
You're entitled to your opinion. But don't try to diminish my view with this colonial crap about a "race card" - this kind of tired comment is very commonly used to silence people who want to connect our everyday actions to Settler ideology and the practice of racism.
I'm not playing a card game. I'm a Canadian Settler of Punjabi heritage living in Native territories, married to a Lakota man, with a son who is both Punjabi and Lakota growing up in a White-dominated society. My life has been spent surviving and resisting all kinds of racism at the same time that I have been journeying through my own process of decolonization and unlearning the racism that I have internalized. Race is not a "card" for me. It reflects labels and practices that have been used to diminish and destroy many people that I know and love.
Maybe from where you are sitting, racism is a game. I don't know you and you don't know me. For me, racism is a deadly and daily part of my reality. I've survived violence, sexual violence, and the death of family, all caused by racism. I've spent most of my life learning about all kinds of subtle and overt forms of racism. The fact that I'm qualified to teach about racialization in a university is also relevant to my view of the world, but not nearly as important as my lived experiences of racism. I start with the assumption that Canada, USA and other White Settler societies were formed and justified on the basis of racism, and this racism weaves its way throughout our culture, habits, practices, and thought.
Since December, I have been speaking back to the vile racism that's been spewing forth through the comments on Kate Clinton's YouTube video. This has brought me in touch with many wonderful Native activists and artists who have also been trying to raise some consciousness about the racism and colonial world view that underlies Clinton's proposed activity. These activists are familiar with the kind of racism that underlies and informs Kate Clinton's actions and the racism of her fans who defend her right to do this.
Quite frankly, I'm a bit surprised to find you engaging in this king of colonial psychic distancing. I thought this was a rather kick-ass site where shame-ons are exposed for their racist and fraudulent practices.
So thanks for your opinion. For me, "mis-using sage" means adding a bit too much to the turkey dressing. On the other hand, I interpret Kate Clinton's intentions to "sage the White House" by "invoking the optimistic spirit" of Native ceremony designed to get rid of "bad spirits" as a blatant example of White colonial thought and racism.
You may choose to soft-peddle on this issue. So be it. On the other hand, I am going to name the force behind Kate Clinton's actions for what it is: RACISM.
ska
