Ally...

Principals of Ally work

-           - Change involves personal and institutional/systemic

-           - Aim to dismantle the systems we benefit from and the ones we don’t

-           - Understand where we are placed in relation to systems of privilege and oppressions and unlearn habits and practices that protect those systems

-           - Know we need to accept and acknowledge power imbalances and not avoid them

-           - Systems of oppression are connected

-           - Anger and truth telling are part of the process

-           - Social justice is collaborative work

Becoming an Ally – 3 Areas

-           1) EMOTIONAL/PERSONAL – becoming aware, accepting where we are oppressive and benefit

-           2) KNOWLEDGE – learning about peoples histories, following

-           3) ACTION – only after the first two

Why?

-           - All oppressions are interlocking

-           - Use positions of Privilege à Responsibility

What?

-           - Supporting another group EVEN if you don’t identify

-           - On the same side

-           - Dismantling the Matrix of Domination

-           - Fighting oppression and educating

BECOMING AN ALLY INVOLVES ACTION!

Resources:

http://www.becominganally.ca/index.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccoelnmJ7jo

Cultural Appropriations...

So today we watch a video clip called Yellow Apparel : When the Coolie becomes Cool , this was all about cultural appropriations – the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group – and how when many aspects of a culture have been appropriated into another the meaning is then lost, changed or misinterpreted. They gave many examples of various cultural appropriations into the white culture; such as henna, bamboo, cultural clothing and patterns, etc. Many cultural groups don’t agree with these appropriations because of the fact that the true meaning of their artefact is lost or changed and is being used by whites for fashion and/or decorative purposes. One African American lady mentioned that she felt disgust and anger towards all this because the whites are “taking the cultural aspects but not the oppression”. One man also mentioned that he feels that his culture is accepted by appropriation however that the people belonging to his culture are not. These appropriations exist in our day to day lives; take a look at the following photos for example:

Mickey Mouse with 'ghetto' braids & beeds?

Paris Hilton's Halloween costume

All of those pictures shown above, retrieved straight from Google, are clear examples of cultural appropriation. Its everywhere in our day-to-day lives, you just have to open your eyes!

Here's a few links to some interesting resources that i found concerning this topic...

*Article: Native Americans are NOT a trend:

http://marywm.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/native-americans-are-not-a-trend/

* Blog: Native Appropriations - http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/

* Blog entry about cultural appreciation vs. Appropriation concerning Indian clothing - http://www.the-nri.com/index.php/2010/05/whats-wrong-with-white-women-wearing-sari/

* Article: Appropriate Cultural Appropriation - http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10087

* Video: How Inappropriate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTr7QiZC03U

* Video : Я We Dead Yet? (Cultural Appropriation) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJeYCP8KMyw