A Tribe Called Orange
Sep. 30th, 2020 12:51 pmToday is Orange Shirt Day, also known as Truth and Reconciliation Day:
https://www.orangeshirtday.org/about-us.html
There are some poignant stories on the site regarding residential schools and some of the horrific events that took place in those institutions. I found Phyllis's story particularly heart-rending.
Of course, many of us have read Gord Downie's story, published shortly before he died. And I've read a few of James Bartleman's books too, as well as attending some of his presentations. In addition to having attended a residential school himself and being a strong advocate for those grappling with some of the aftermath, he is also a wonderful supporter of libraries and mental health services.
Looking at the analogy between kids shipped off to residential schools and kids forced into home-schooling by public health restrictions arising from the pandemic, I can see a kind of bitter irony here. With residential schools, indigenous children were forcefully uprooted from their families, their communities, their reserves, their culture. During pandemic lockdown, children all over the world became more firmly rooted (down-rooted?) or entrenched within their particular nuclear family or household, cut off from friends, extended family, classmates, teachers and other members of their community. Both represent a kind of prison or confinement, regardless of the rationale for it. Both engender a degree of suffering, be it mild or extreme.
Both the pandemic and Truth and Reconciliation are big-ticket items on the Canadian government's agenda. So today, wear orange and reflect.
https://www.orangeshirtday.org/about-us.html
There are some poignant stories on the site regarding residential schools and some of the horrific events that took place in those institutions. I found Phyllis's story particularly heart-rending.
Of course, many of us have read Gord Downie's story, published shortly before he died. And I've read a few of James Bartleman's books too, as well as attending some of his presentations. In addition to having attended a residential school himself and being a strong advocate for those grappling with some of the aftermath, he is also a wonderful supporter of libraries and mental health services.
Looking at the analogy between kids shipped off to residential schools and kids forced into home-schooling by public health restrictions arising from the pandemic, I can see a kind of bitter irony here. With residential schools, indigenous children were forcefully uprooted from their families, their communities, their reserves, their culture. During pandemic lockdown, children all over the world became more firmly rooted (down-rooted?) or entrenched within their particular nuclear family or household, cut off from friends, extended family, classmates, teachers and other members of their community. Both represent a kind of prison or confinement, regardless of the rationale for it. Both engender a degree of suffering, be it mild or extreme.
Both the pandemic and Truth and Reconciliation are big-ticket items on the Canadian government's agenda. So today, wear orange and reflect.