How do the presentation of native perspectives ironically allow for their erasure from conversation? Examination of colonialism without considering our own subject position inevitably short circuits anti-colonialist efforts. Contemporary white anti-racist discourse includes a reluctance to claim any agency in the process of improving conditions for indigenous bodies. This white stigma functions similarly to the case of the German population who feel that their collective identity has been marred by the Holocaust — the historically negative associations with whiteness act as a barrier to the wider goal of constructing a state of postcolonial justice.
In the case of most activism, a desire to speak on behalf of native communities is largely self-serving; this shallow commitment often is a point of validation for the individual involved and not the community. For the anti-racist who dreams of a world where indigenous people are no longer oppressed, the question of how to go about constructing such a universe remains unresolved. Is it possible for us to detach ourselves from the historically colonialist institutions that have been founded on the backs of native genocide and exploitation?
In the case of most activism, a desire to speak on behalf of native communities is largely self-serving; this shallow commitment often is a point of validation for the individual involved and not the community. For the anti-racist who dreams of a world where indigenous people are no longer oppressed, the question of how to go about constructing such a universe remains unresolved. Is it possible for us to detach ourselves from the historically colonialist institutions that have been founded on the backs of native genocide and exploitation?