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Are White People Indigenous?

10/7/2016

17 Comments

 

PEGI EYERS

The colonial history of the places we call home, and current political realities shape how we use the language of “nativization” and “re-indigenization" to describe our process of re-bonding with the land.  This blog addresses the current (and unresolved) controversy on the use of these terms, and describes the boundaries that are in place to ensure that as Settler-Allies we continue to support the First Nations of Turtle Island in their ongoing cultural and spiritual recoveries.
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To talk about the ambiguities we encounter in our re-indigenization process as white folks, let’s start off by asking - who is Indigenous?  And how do we define indigeneity?   

It has been said that we are all indigenous to place, but to guide us in these deliberations there is an established  definition accepted today by First Nations, academics, social justice activists and many others.  According to the United Nations Permanent  Forum  on  Indigenous  Issues  the term “indigenous” has been developed by extensive criteria including the following:
 
1. Self-identification as Indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member.
2. Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies.
3. Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources.
4. Distinct social, economic or political systems.
5. Distinct language, culture and beliefs.
6. Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities.

The UNPFOII criteria make it clear that indigeneity is based on more than just simple land occupancy, but is also defined as a specific community or culture that is informed by the land over a long period of time.
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So as members of the colonizer society, do we actually fulfill any of these criteria? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Looking at the six points there is not a lot that applies to us. Unlike Indigenous people, we belong to a culture that thrives on constant change, rejects the value of ancestor veneration, and does not view the land itself as a key component in our spiritual/cultural practice.  And instead of carrying our traditions from generation to generation in an unbroken line the way Indigenous people do, our Settler Society heedlessly ignores and discards the past, and what has gone before.  

However, let's go on to consider what Encarta has to say on the term “indigenous.” The actual dictionary definition is “originating in and naturally living in a region or country, belonging to place.”  Unfortunately in our rush to colonize the Americas, those of us in the European diaspora gave up our bonds to our places of origin, and our indigeneity as connected to those lands. However this does not change the fact that all land is sacred land, and the potential is always there to re-connect to the Earth, bypass the dominance of modernity, and go directly to the source of our eco-being. Despite the raging debate on extending the definition of the term “indigenous” to those of European descent, re-landing ourselves is of incredible importance in our mutual care for the Earth, and nativization in a bioregional context must be part of our essential uncolonization process.  I would even go so far as to say that as members of Earth Community, it is the birthright of the entire human family to be indigenous to the Earth, and to appreciate and love the natural world. We must all face directly our innate need to be at one with wild nature, and to enjoy the blessings of Mother Earth and all her creatures as we go forward in this time of massive change.  
 
A quotation from the Buddhist philosopher Derek Rasmussen addresses our dilemma.  “What makes a people indigenous? Indigenous people believe they belong to the land, and non-indigenous people believe the land belongs to them. Can we commit to the land and each other? Let's hope so, because our current civilization is a one-time-only experiment. Once it has failed, we are going to have to re-braid ourselves back into the web of ‘all our relations’ - plant, animal and human. If there are future civilizations, they will be indigenous.” [1]


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In my book Ancient Spirit Rising, I explore a set of place-based criteria that align with our embeddedness in nature.  However separated by the human-built world, we are gifted at birth with the elements of air, water, earth and fire that are specific to the landscape around us. Inseparable from the archetypal patterns and intricacies of nature, we are imprinted with ions of air, fire in the form of energy from the sun, and especially the life-giving waters of a particular ecosystem. The molecules of the watersheds of our region are virtually found within our bodies, as these life-giving waters  make up  60%  of  our  physical being. 

As children we are drawn to the natural world, and often our earliest memories are of time spent in green spaces with flowers, plants and trees. The same building blocks of organic matter such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen that form the Earth and all Her creatures, also sculpt the human form. Unique to each individual, human beings also have an innate sensitivity to electrical and electromagnetic fields, and we are equipped with a multitude of sensory processes by which to interact with the other-than-human world. The biome is part of us, our bodies resonate with the energies of the earth, and it can be said that we are indigenous to place from the moment we are born.
 
Indigeneity has also been described as “belonging to ancestral land,” which means that many generations  have come  and  gone,  to  mark  their  collective  psychic and  physical presence on the land.  So  by virtue of our buried ancestors and the spirits of our Beloved Dead that inhabit our psychogeography, how many generations does it take to establish deep connections? Two generations?  Five generations? Ten? According to renowned author Leslie Marmon Silko, indigeneity is quantified by having at least a thousand-year presence in a specific place. However long we have been here on Turtle Island, our bonds to the landscape into which we have been born and/or are currently living, will always be preceded by the much deeper attachments of the original First Nations.

Based on our collective lack of care for the natural world, it is a Settler Sidestep to suggest a debate on the occupancy issue with Turtle Island First Nations. For example, my motherline in Ontario goes back to 1832, which is seven generations of interlopers being born on Turtle Island.  If we define “indigeneity” by an extensive number of generations being born and reclaimed by the land, seven generations barely qualifies.  Perhaps the "indigeneity debate" would be better served after Settlers have successfully healed our disconnect from nature and have become caring Earthkeepers and stewards of the land.  Or at the very least, (as it is for all human groups worldwide) dedicating the bones of our Ancestors to the soil of our homeland(s) would make us responsible to that land.


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The tomb of my ancestors in Orillia ~ 7 generations of interlopers on Turtle Island

This passage from Sirona Knight comments on on how our cultural and spiritual heritage becomes imbedded in the land. “Within the Celtic Spiritual traditions, the physical spirit and body of one’s Ancestors are given back to the land at the time of their death. In this way, the Ancestral energy, the sacred spirit of each person literally lives within the land, waiting to be called upon in ritual and ceremony.”  [2]
 
We cannot deny that in a few generations, the spirits of our ancestors now inhabit Turtle Island.  Yet the official meaning of “indigenous” (and rightly so) will continue with the baseline of the UNPFOII definition. Faced with paradoxes such as Indigenous peoples in privileged societies who have not been colonized, yet still have a long-standing ecological knowledge of their landbase, UNPFOII highlights the importance of self-identification, and that it is Indigenous peoples themselves who ultimately define their own identity as “Indigenous.”  Right now, using the UNPFOII definition is integral to the legal cases on human rights and land claims being challenged in the courts by First Nations, which is the key reason why other groups (like white folks) should NOT be using it.   


So we see that using the term “indigenous” to self-identify for us as Settlers is erroneous, and even more so when we consider the  trend for non-native spiritual seekers to call themselves “indigenous” while continuing to incorporate the theft of Turtle Island Indigenous Knowledge and tools into their New Age, rewilding, transformational, Neo-Pagan or "shamanic" practices.  Even more alarming are the white supremacists, both in Europe and the Americas, who are co-opting the terms “indigenous” or "nativism" to connect them to a place of origin, in order to perpetuate their metapolitical practices of racism, superiority, and white dominance over people of colour. 

In my book Ancient Spirit Rising I respond to the genocidal effect of cultural appropriation by advocating for Settlers to recover their own ancestral-sourced knowledge, to reclaim an authentic ethnicity, and to use identity markers other than “indigenous.”  Overall I use the terms “indigenous” and “re-indigenization” very sparingly, and uneasily I might add, in favor of the terms "pre-colonial,"  “ancestral knowledge” “heritage,” "ancestral arts" and “ancestral roots." 


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The continuing antithetical use of the term “indigenous” by white people in identity theft and cultural genocide has forced organizations such as CAORANN Council (Celts Against Oppression, Racism and Neo-Nazism) to label any white person who  uses the word  “indigenous” as  an  identity  marker to be racist.   An excerpt from the hard-hitting CAORANN Statement "On Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Identity"
is reproduced here, as it carries much relevance to the controversy.
 
“Recently there is a movement on the part of some non-Natives - Americans, Canadians and Europeans - to identify as 'Indigenous European.' The first people to use this phrase were white supremacist groups, who are appropriating the term 'Indigenous' to make it seem like white people are somehow an oppressed minority.  Others are appropriating it because they have racist stereotypes of Native people as all "mystical" and therefore white folks who call themselves 'Indigenous' are somehow more mystical too. We have seen non-Natives using this cloak of 'Indigenous European' in an attempt to colonize councils of actual Indigenous people, and to even lead and pretend to speak for real Indigenous People.  We feel this is an act of racism and attempted cultural genocide. We are shocked and appalled at these attempts by non-Natives to displace and disappear Native Peoples, and we strongly advise non-Native people to shun the use of 'Indigenous' or 'Indigenous European' for ourselves or our spiritual traditions. We already have terminology, in our own languages, for our ancestral, earth-honoring ways; we don't need to steal terms and identities from brown people. From this point forward, if you are a colonist or a descendant of colonists who insists on calling yourself 'Indigenous' or 'Indigenous European' (or the ridiculous oxymoron, 'Neo-Indigenous') we will assume you are an appropriator and a racist.”  

There is no mistaking the position of CAORANN, yet their claims on "Indigenous European" need to be challenged. Any description of  "Indigenous Europeans" as members of the colonizer class in the Americas has to be separated out from those in  Europe. There are genuine groups in many European countries who still live in the same homelands their ancestors have occupied for centuries, and are most definitely Indigenous to place (and fit the UNPFOII definition). Offshoots of functioning European cultures in the Americas such as the  Gaeltacht Bhaile na hÉireann (the North American Gaeltacht),  a designated Irish-speaking area in Tamworth, Ontario, have their own terms for self-identification, and would probably have no need to engage with the "indigeneity debate."


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To make the polarization of the "indigeneity debate" even more difficult, there are many well-respected First Nations thought leaders and visionaries engaged in decolonization work right now that apply the terms “indigenous” and “re-indigenization” to all  people currently living on Turtle Island.  Statements from Melissa Nelson, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, John Trudell and Diane Longboat among others are widely available, and have been compiled here. Yet these declarations are in no way representative of all First Nations.  First Nations are NOT homogenous or a monolith – there is a huge diversity of opinion and methodology within Indian Country. Yet language is constantly shifting and changing, and the fluidity of certain words defy ownership. There may always be multiple meanings attached to highly-charged words such as “indigenous.” 

In any case, considering the outrage that is caused by the white use of the term “indigenous” it comes down to a question of personal ethics, and having a well-defined moral compass.  Do we really want to add an extra layer of harm to First Nations by co-opting language that is not our own?  There is no easy answer to this controversy, yet we can conclude that using “indigenous” as a term for self-identity is not the way to go.  Instead of questionable practices, our re-landing should be synonymous with social justice, allyship, solidarity, and developing intercultural competency skills with First Nations, the original inhabitants of Turtle Island.  Meanwhile, the genocide, oppression, human rights abuses and assimilation of First Nations continue to happen every single day in the Americas. It certainly makes our public debate on the term “indigenous” seem rather absurd, doesn’t it?

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Posted by ᒥᔪᐋᐧᐯᐃᐧᐤ ᐅᐦᑯᒥᓯᒫᐤ on social media October 26, 2022

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Defining "Indigenous" - Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta

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This blog originally appeared as a talk for The Canadian Ecopsychology Network (CEN), June 16, 2016.  "Pegi Eyers - Fine Points of Re-landing (Reindigenization)"    >video<


NOTES
[1] Derek Rasmussen, “Non-Indigenous Culture: Implications of a Historical Anomaly,” YES! Magazine, July 11, 2013.   (www.yesmagazine.org)
[2]  Sirona Knight, Empowering Your Life with Wicca, Alpha Books, 2003

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Read more on social justice, ethnocultural recovery, Settler re-landing, rewilding, ancestral connection, sacred land and animism in Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community by Pegi Eyers.
PURCHASE LINKS
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17 Comments
Javier manriquez
4/26/2017 03:08:11 am

It all about racism for example all people said I am from decent Europa's people but they don't admits the Spain and Portugal they are not European it all about racism

Reply
Michael Novick link
12/12/2017 03:22:15 pm

Thanks for this discussion. I think decolonization and active solidarity with Native sovereignty are necessary prerequisites for any kind of "re-indigenization." I describe myself as of European descent. My father came here from Poland; my grand-daughter has returned to Europe, become a Swede, and my great-grandson is Swedish, born there and with no other nationality at this point. I am going on 71 years and despite 50+ of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial work, I doubt that I can "re-indigenize" to any particular piece of land in my lifetime. I have never owned land or a house and probably never will. The best I can hope for is to have as little negative impact on the earth, and as much positive impact on society as I can in my lifetime. I have a little garden box, I gave away my car to a good cause and get around on foot, a bike and public transport, and when I die I will be cremated and my ashes scattered.

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Jans Schipper
10/15/2019 05:52:55 pm

I am a settler brought to turtle island as a child by my European refugee parents. I have always seen myself in that light, living as a ‘stranger and an alien’ in the land, as referenced in the Christian bible. I had the opportunity to purchase a tract of land and did so, but don’t feel that it’s ‘mine’. It is an act of redemption to return it to the care of the indigenous people from whom it was taken. I feel privileged to have this opportunity. They will honor it more than I know how to.

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Rascal
5/22/2020 04:16:00 pm

No such thing as Indigenous whites to ever walk this planet. Matter of fact the original word for White was Hvit and it meant pale skinned Creoles that were Peasant Slaves that came to Europe as Refugees.
That's right, peasants weren't even classified as European Citizens and were shipped to various countries like Brazil, Caribbean, North America and Australia as White Slaves.
No such thing as a Native White to any land.
The only indigenous people are people who are listed as Minorities which litterally another word for Indiginous or Bruinmense (Brown People).
Current day whites are new humans only about 250 years old.

Just as this lawsuit states.
https://redice.tv/news/french-court-rules-that-native-white-french-do-not-exist

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Gaston Gatreaux
7/4/2020 08:26:19 pm

It's a shame ethnicity is politicized + can't be discussed logically. First off we only have theories. Forever it was believed Neanderthals died out + all humans defended from black Homo sapiens out of Africa. That is likely somewhat correct, but DNA is fact not theory, now it confirms .ost peoples of European descent have a significant make up of them. As far as darker peoples becoming so white because of climate, look at this logical. Though they haven't been there near as long, whites in South Africa, Australia, + other places previously populated by darker people, for well over a hundred years still burn their pale skin + through generations are just as white..You have Innuits + similar peoples in northern Siberia for thousands of years + never evolved as white. The Sami are at same Latitudes for as long + look nothing alike.. Based on evidence + reasonable theories as how Neanderthals looked, though Europeans have much DNA, it's the indigenous peoples of Australia who have much more similar features. Really ironic + hypocritical how political correctness wants to claim the supposed darker people's as the only indigenous peoples..thats absurd..as other than the single minut land area where first modern humans originated..NO peoples are indigenous! More likely, since Neanderthals were mostly in Europe + western Asia ..+ Europeans have their DNA, it's fact they needed with Homo Sapiens..thaSO that MEANS Europeans ate more indiginous than most of the rest of world! Period. Funny forensic Anthropologists use the undisputed difference in skull shapes of Europeans, Africans + Asians in investigations to determine RACE..yes that evil word..why we can't have a factual conversation in that, AS ITS A BIOLOGICAL TRUISM that there are physical differences in humans..no difference than animals that are same species but have profound different physical make up + ability..

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Indigenous Whiteman
12/4/2021 09:41:35 pm

My people are indigenous to Scotland and Ireland. I have a deep connection with the earth I came from and you nor anyone else can define me as non indigenous. The oldest known white people are from over 5000 years ago. They came about by natural selection because dark skin couldn’t cut it in northern latitudes due to the inability to absorb UV rays and produce enough vitamin D. Get your facts straight my man...

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M
5/15/2023 09:07:37 pm

Hmmm... if there are no indigenous white people then t hff e only thing I can figure is that we came from another planet.

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Sarah Marie Dillard
8/26/2020 12:55:00 am

This is so tactfully written and really helped me build a better understanding of the issue. Thank you to the author! From Illinois, USA

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Yana
5/21/2021 06:36:54 am

I agree with aytitude of Michael, look after th e planet and each other as the dirst step moving forward. Gaston it is very rare anyone wants to view like you. I do agree, 'white people' (a term not deemed racist or politically incorrect) had history and culture and indigenous roots too but they were someof the 1st to be misplaced, raped and pillaged physically and of culture and forced to adhere to new ways or flee their home land.

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Chris S
11/19/2021 08:14:02 am

Pegi, thank-you for this disciplined piece focusing on the term "indigenous." Appropriating the meaning shows the same violent self-centeredness as did stealing the land and killing the people, and should not be done! Gaston, you disprove your own beliefs in your writing. You are not clever but there are some white people who are! Same as in every other race. Species may look differently on the outside (ex: cats) but by definition are ~the same genetically, so they can breed to reproduce. So your idea about "profound different physical make up + ability" is FALSE. For a species, the differences are superficial or slight, like about shapes or colors: a cat that is big and furry vs a small sleek one. You may be thinking of lion vs cat, but they are DIFFERENT SPECIES. Humanity is all of one species based on their compatible genes, the blueprints.

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Jack Dermody
8/12/2022 09:49:04 am

Peoples have a land of origin. White people generally hail from Europe where they have lived and developed their cultures, etc. for millennia. They are indigenous to Europe, even if their children have wandered to other continents. Every single white person can say, "I am an indigenous European and deserve the same respect for my being and for my origins that any person on the planet deserves as an 'indigenous' person.

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Andy Beck
2/12/2023 02:04:25 am

A few thoughts.
This is primarily addressed to settler whites in what used to be called 'the colonies'. Which is fine as long as we don't conflate ALL whites with this label. Some of us are European born and bred. We don't live in the colonies and at least some of the issues raised don't directly apply to us, or include us.

We need to be clear about how we are using the word 'white', as it has two distinct usages. The article often seems to be conflating them. The more casual meaning simply references skin colour and/or origins (European) in its usage. The other meaning of white is the social/political construct of 'whiteness' as a sort of caste system. An important distinction, as not all white-skinned people were 'white' in this sense. Many 'whites' were ostracised and ghettoised across Europe and the colonies until quite recently. Some (the Saami and travelling peoples aka 'gypsies' for e.g) still are.

Some Europeans could claim indigeneity based on the UN definitions. The Saami are legit. indigenous people, and many other cultures in Europe can lay claim to at least 4 out of the 5 criteria for indigeneity listed here.
But reclaiming the label 'indigenous' brings up two issues.

You make an excellent case for the first and I agree - refusing it is acting in solidarity with those for whom the term is literally their only legal protection against further colonisation and encroachment. Either we wait for a more appropriate time to do so, or, as you suggest, we stick with our specific regional terms for self-identity.

The other aspect is the extent to which people are living in symbiotic and reciprocal relationships with the web of life. Because if anything truly distinguishes indigenes from the rest, it's this. To reclaim a label without reclaiming the reality behind it is just posturing. And posturing doesn't get us anywhere - in fact it further alienates us.

Great article and very important topic, thanks for writing it.

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Ryan Pleune link
10/15/2023 01:23:27 pm

Very grateful for the blog post and the comments all the way from 2017 to 2023... this is a relevant dialogue and I look forward to unccovering other threads like this that are more recently published... I think all the points are valid and I also like the critique here by Andy Beck ...One component I see missing is language and vocabulary of the symbiotic and reciprocal relationships... The English language is continuing to loose parts of those descriptors (Recently highlighted by Robert MacFarlane in Landmarks and other artists with Lost Words Blessings) while more "indigenous" languages like Irish, Welsh or Saami might help rekindle or remember them... So language revitalization is an important component and part of #5 of the UN description... Thank you for the blog post and for the ongoing comments for the last 6 years!!!!

Please share any resources that can help me continue learning around this topic to share with our families, students and guides at Nature School Cooperative. Many smiles, Ryan

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Andy Beck
12/4/2023 10:11:05 pm

Thanks Ryan.

A correction on my comment - I shouldn't have labelled Saami or Roma peoples as 'white' (although thanks to assimilation and inter-marriage, many may now be). OTOH there are travelling peoples who are not Roma and who could be considered white (at least in the casual sense of that word).

Re. ecological terminology, I can offer up these Gaelic words – dùthaich, dùthchas, and dualchas:
dùthaich - a way of relating to the world
dùthchas/dualchas - traditional ecological knowledge

'These are all connected: together they form a matrix in which land, language and people – an tir, an canan ’s na daoine – are inseparable'. (I forget where I lifted that quote from).

Websites like the Hidden Glen Folk School (also on fb) are great resources for North American Gaels to rediscover the ecology and land-based practices and traditions that are being reclaimed here in Scotland and Ireland. Those doing this work in 'the colonies' actually help those of us back home to gain traction and visibility, and to overcome the 'colonial cringe'. And just as importantly, to get Government funding for things like language classes and to reclaim our own history.
We are still very reticent about teaching our own decolonised history. The most popular films and books about us in recent years have come out of North America. 'Outlander' has never been shown on TV in Scotland despite its popularity worldwide (although you can get it from most streaming services).

It's still an uphill slog. For every person or group doing this work, there are at least 100 who are either appropriating other indigenous cultures or using their own to make money or as a form of cosplay. 'Celtic kitsch' is also a thing and was once deployed strategically by the dominant culture to replace the real thing as a subtle form of erasure, and many people still defer to the kitsch-y version both at home and abroad.

Not to mention the many clueless spiritual, cultural and 'healing' websites sprouting up everywhere online who trade in all things 'Celtic' but in a way that reinforces kitsch, 'fakelore' and the erasure of regional identities. And they don't take kindly to being corrected by locals who know their own history! It's still a hot mess trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Once again Pegi thankyou for raising awareness on this topic.
Regards,

Andy Beck.

Happy Mapping link
8/22/2023 10:18:01 pm

Appreciate this bblog post

Reply
Ghost
9/5/2023 03:36:22 am

Everything is Deception.
All is Phallic Cults.

Non Melanated Historically Ethnic
Northern European Folk
(From 2000 +years ago)
Are the exclusive inheritors
Of indigenous Status Of All Northern Lands in truth.

Only the Source Of All
And Daily Fervant Prayers
Has Any Chance To Prevent
The Annihilation Of The
Original Northern Folk


Enslaved By Their Own
Avarice (As All Tribes Tend To Be
But All Despise North Folk Men, So Any thing Less Than Divine Destitution Is A Perceived Aggression)
And Foreign Phallic
Cults Masquerading Behind
Illusions Of 'Love' And 'Law,'
For 2500 Years.
Now Calculated Eradication
From War, Disease, Poverty,
Fake Guilt (Slaves have no accountability,
All Non Melanated Ethnic Northern Folk Slaves For 2500 Years.)

All Is Lost.
No Identity, Only Pathetic Minions To
Fake Money And Self/Tribal Loathing


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Andrew
12/27/2024 12:01:00 pm

This is a bit silly. As a British person, who's mother knew nothing about her ancestry, after a DNA test, turns out we're 99% Celtics, Saxon and Norse, and have traced out ancestors back over 400 years to the islands. The UK is a heavily colonized nation, and this language is literally my native language. So I'd just like to correct you that thr word indigenous has nothing to do with oppression or being a minority and is solely a word that pertains to coming from a land and being attached to its culture. You may borrow my language but I'll look after the definitions, thanks 😂
A big problem with Americans is the idea that their culture is ubiquitous, but the world is a lot more complex than you guys seem to think. For one, you'd be hard pressed to find a culture with zero history of colonization. Using "indigenous" in the way you do is dangerous

Reply



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    Pegi Eyers

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    The Story Behind the Story

    Cultural Appropriation in Goddess Spirituality and Matriarchal Studies

    Climate Disaster & Massive Change 

    We Are the Ancestors of the Future

    Earth Mother Magic

    True Reconciliation Requires Restitution 

    Are White People Indigenous?

    Full Disclosure/My Positionality on New Age!

    Allyship and Solidarity with First Nations

    Pagan Values - "Know Thyself" 

    Welcome to Stone Circle Press!

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