It’s A Celebration

Ryan-BelleroseWhen I was growing up, I experienced racism, prejudice and bigotry several times. As the child of a Metis man and a French-Norwegian woman, I was “lucky” because I had blonde hair and green eyes. Unless you looked very closely you would never know I was Metis. As I got older, my skin actually became much more pale, but my hair color darkened, and although my eyes remained green, I started to look more like my father with a heavy brow and flat cheeks with a nose and eyes that nobody would mistake for a white man.

I grew up in conditions that nobody would mistake for “privilege”, and when my mother left my father to move south and go to university, things got even more difficult. At Merv’s, we had no power and no running water, I lived in a plywood bunkhouse with my stepbrothers while Merv built our house by hand. When I was at my mother’s I lived in a tiny townhouse in what was actually the “hood”. There were times I was hungry, and times when I had to find ways to amuse myself because there was no money for me to play hockey or other sports. I had a good childhood filled with love and a family who never let me feel alone.

My parents both worked hard and Merv built a company while my mother got her education degree and became a kindergarten teacher. I was taught the value of things but more importantly I was taught the value of happiness and of the people in my life rather than possessions and material things. I also learned that while money might buy comfort, it was only a tool and not the goal. Money has never motivated me; as long as I have enough to be comfortable, I am pretty happy.

I guess that’s why when people complain about skin tone so often, I get annoyed. I myself often talk about white privilege in a macro concept sort of way, but I also know that when discussing cultural paradigms, the word white doesn’t mean “pale skinned” but is used to described cultural concepts such as wealth acquisition and imperialism, as well as the colonialist imperative. This has never been about “pale skins vs dark skins.” It has always been about the cultures that glorify acquisition against the cultures that do not. Indigenous peoples struggle with this issue worldwide, and not all of our oppressors have pale skin.

I believe that a central issue is that under-educated people hear me and others talking about “whiteness” and do not have the background or understanding of historical truth. That it’s not just someone being pale skinned that implies privilege; it’s their acceptance of cultural paradigms that lead them to believe that white is good, brown is bad, rich is good and poor is bad; that taking is more important than giving. Those cultures will not stop until they have it all.

Nobody with a brain would accuse a Metis man who has fought bigotry and privilege his entire life, of being “white” yet I see this constantly being applied to Jewish people, a people whose experience with prejudice and bigotry is akin to that of my people. A people whose indigenous status is beyond doubt and supported by thousands of years of history, archaeological evidence and genetic studies. A people who have earned a place through hard work and a dogged determination to integrate but not assimilate. How then can I stand by and watch as the same people who would deny me my rights, attack theirs with the same arguments used against me and my people? I believe it’s important that indigenous peoples stand together, and that people who believe in making the world a better place, in leaving things better for the next generation, stand together against those who would simply take everything and leave nothing for anyone else. Indigenous rights advocacy is a misleading term, because indigenous rights exist. It is not an argument, and they shouldn’t be advocated – they should be celebrated. Our existence is a miracle, our culture and traditions surviving, even more so, and the next generation should be taught this.

They need to be taught this

2 thoughts on “It’s A Celebration”

  1. Norman_In_New_York

    Ryan, how did you become such a stellar anthropologist? Your articles explain the human condition better than many a learned treatise.

    1. I just read, study people and pay attention, I was lucky enough to have grown up being taught the importance of observation and paying attention.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top