Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Author:Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ARP Books

buffalo on

round 1

right off the bat, let’s just admit we’re both from places that have been fucked up through no fault of our own in a thousand different ways for seven different generations and that takes a toll on how we treat each other. it just does.

we’re all hunting around for acceptance, intimacy, connection and love, but we don’t know what those particular med’cines even look like so we’re just hunting anyway with vague ideas from dreams and hope and intention, at the same time dragging around blockades full of reminders that being vulnerable has never ended well for any of us, not even one single time.

there are some things you can escape and there are some things you cannot.

still, i know us, and i know we’re going to fight like hell to escape, and sometimes we will and sometimes we won’t and at some point we won’t know what we’ve lost or what we’re trying to gain, but that’s why i’m here to remind you: it’s acceptance, intimacy, connection and love. that’s it. that’s all we’re looking for. and you can’t have a single one of those things even for a second if your dead. so that is item number one: make sure you’re alive. make sure you survive. make sure you are not dead.

second of all, the skill set you need to survive is not the same skill set you need to love and be loved. and while all those white mothers were holding their babies and stroking their heads and singing them songs, i’d like to say all our brown mamas were doing the same but they weren’t often afforded the luxury. yes. luxury. they were targeted and they knew we’d be targeted.

thirdly, they are going to berate you, attack you, shame you and worse. they are going to rape you and beat you and no one’s going to be there to save you. so you better know how to save yourself. you better know how to get the fuck up. you better know how to pick up pieces and move on. you better know how to quit feeling sorry for yourself and pull up your socks.

chin up.

buck up.

shut up.

you better not whine and cry and act like the world is going to end because it isn’t. you’re not the first person to go through this. it was way worse for the kids locked in the basement of that residential school with no food and no water for days on end. it was way worse for those kids when those priests invented their own makeshift electric chair. remember that. it was worse for those kids whose parents were kidnapped and locked away in iron lungs until it didn’t matter anymore. you don’t even know how lucky you are.

it’s the way it is. it is what it is. it’s bound to happen and when it does you are going to buffalo on.

when you come out, come out swinging.

that’s how kwe’s mom raised her. that’s how my mom raised me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.