Sandi L Boucher reflects on representation and the gap between what people say and do on social media. She argues that every action or inaction sets an example, and that real reconciliation requires knowing when to speak up, question, or stay silent.
Chapters
I guess this is the week of doing a different kind of video. Today's video is another one of those different kind of videos. Let me show you what I mean. Hello, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And today I'm talking about the July 13 blog post, which was simply called Represent. And my mom used to have a saying, and she used to say, with every action or inaction, you are an example. You get to choose of what. And I can honestly say there are times in my life that I was an example of a strong indigenous woman. There are other times that I was an example of an absolute idiot. And I'm owning that. But what this blog post, today's blog post was about was the people that follow me on social media and comment. And I've mentioned a few times in my blogs that I watch the comments and I think about the people making them. And it teaches me about who these people are or in this case, what they represent. And it got me thinking is how they represent themselves in the group the same as they represent themselves in other venues. What I wanted to do, once again, if you could forgive me doing this, I am an author first. No, make no apologies for that. Again, I just wanted to read the blog post to you because I think I summed it up the way it needs to be summed up in the blog post. So I'm not going to try to do it differently in this video. Again, the blog post is called Represent. My mom's words dance in my head with every action or inaction. You are an example. You get to choose of what. And I watch. I watch those who silently, respectfully consume my words, praying that they are not so silent when trouble brews. In other locations. I watch those who want to debate rather than hear and wonder if they challenge racists as much as they do indigenous. I watch those who do not share wondering who their friends are because true allies are not friends with racists. I watch, and so often I see discrepancy. Action does not match words. Words do not match commitment. Silence does not match wanting to be part of the change. There are times for silent contemplation. There are times for vocal condemnation. There are times for sharing truth. There are times for comments. There are times to question. And the wise, those who have taken the time to learn, know which time is when the journey continues. So there you have it, my friend, a little checks and balances. You can do for yourself? Do you know when it's time to speak up or not? When it's time to question or not? Or do you always just question, never realizing that you may be disrespecting a space or a person by doing that? And silence can do the exact same thing. You have to learn when to do which and with who. That's the learning curve. That's the journey on the path to reconciliation. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
