{"id":11099,"date":"2021-08-23T12:24:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T12:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/?p=11099"},"modified":"2024-01-03T11:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T11:39:08","slug":"personal-stories-of-racism-and-other-injustice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/resources\/personal-stories-of-racism-and-other-injustice","title":{"rendered":"Personal Stories of Racism and Other Injustice"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

In the contributions published in this Druids for Justice section, we hear the voices of OBOD members. The pieces reflect the reality lived by members directly affected by racism or other injustices, and how Druids have taken action to express their love of justice, in ways great or small. They tell their stories. They reflect the diversity of the Order. You can send your own submissions by email to justice@druidry.org.\u00a0May all our conversations together be held in a spirit of peace and love.<\/h3>\r\n
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\",<\/p>\r\n

by Laura<\/em><\/p>\r\n

These are my experiences. I can\u2019t say what anyone\u2019s motivation was. Maybe it was racism, classism, sexism, ageism, or just plain Othering.<\/p>\r\n

~ In grade school I had to leave school immediately after the bell rang or I\u2019d risk being jumped by other girls. That was 1st to 12th grade.
~ Little kids used to taunt my siblings and me with rhymes and call us \u201cChinese.\u201d They\u2019d also do the Indian war whoop as we walked by or sing \u201cGypsies, Tramps, and Thieves.\u201d
~ When visiting my darker skinned cousins who lived out of town and I didn\u2019t see a lot, they paraded my siblings and me around to their friends talking about how pretty we were and how nice our hair was. It was really uncomfortable. I felt like a doll.
~ In the summer of 6th grade, my friend and I happened upon a group of girls as we were walking to her house. Two held down my friend while the others beat me up.
~ In 8th grade, girls spat on me and put gum in my hair in school in view of the teacher who did nothing.
~ In the summer of 9th grade, I happened upon a group of girls while walking to my boyfriend\u2019s house. He was popular and good looking and the girls hated it that he was with me. They stood outside his
house daring me to leave so that they could beat me up. His older sisters tried shaming them into leaving and eventually had to call the police to get them to disperse.
~ In high school I couldn\u2019t go to lunch where kids mingled freely with others because it gave \u201chaters\u201d too easy access to taunt me.
~ My first day of a new school in 10th grade, I knew one girl whom I met once a couple weeks earlier at the pool. I could feel the hostility of the other girls growing. By lunch a group tried to jump me in the hallway. The girl from the pool saw it took them all on and was suspended.
~ I was turned down for an internship in college because the supervisor thought I was too cute.
\",~ I was fired from a job after I told the general manager that I did not want to come over to his house
when his wife was out of town.
~ I went for a panel interview for a manager\u2019s position. The expectation was that you\u2019d go once, learn the ropes, get feedback, and then pass the second or third time. It was objective and goals based. You either met criteria or you didn\u2019t. I was not advanced the first time despite meeting all the objectives. No feedback was given. Could have been ageism as I was a decade younger than most candidates. I\u2019ve also gotten the feedback that I was too assertive\/confident and should have toned it down because I am a woman. Confident women are intimidating.
~ In grad school we did a lot of group projects where I\u2019d do more than my share of the work because my partners were slackers. We were all supposed to get the same grade, but darker skinned people got higher marks than I did. (It was a historically black college, HBC).
~ In the same grad school, a fellow (darker skinned) student asked me to help her write her fall final paper in the spring semester. I refused. She was offered a fellowship in the PhD program. I wasn\u2019t invited to apply.
~ I was a professional dancer who was performing at an Asian party. Some of the guests were talking negatively about me to my face as if I couldn\u2019t hear or understand what they were saying.
~ I\u2019ve dated Asian and Middle Eastern men until I realized that I couldn\u2019t be considered as a marriage candidate because I wasn\u2019t 100% of their nationality.
~ I lost a decades long friendship because all this time she never noticed I was not Christian. Not sure how she missed that.
~ I had a fiance break up with me when he realized I was not a Christian. Again, not sure how he missed that. (I don\u2019t tend to advertise my beliefs so often people think I believe what they believe).
~ I\u2019ve experienced many instances of people distorting what I say. When I don\u2019t agree with them 100% about something, I become the enemy. I think I\u2019m speaking about a topic. They think I am talking about them personally. If a person who is lighter skinned speaks in support of me, that\u2019s when they can hear my point. This feels like the fair skinned person is the Hero and I am put in the position of needing a savior. It\u2019s incredibly invalidating to not be heard or not be treated as an equal.
~ I have had someone offer to review my comments before speaking to see if I am being \u201cnice\u201d enough. This was offered as \u201chelp.\u201d
\",Despite all these incidences (and more that I haven\u2019t mentioned), I don\u2019t see myself as a victim. There were many more instances of love, connection, and empowerment in my life that are far more meaningful than any of this.<\/p>\r\n

What Do I Do?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

~\u00a0I facilitate a moon circle to give women a safe space to learn how to be vulnerable, share their experiences, learn from each other, talk about tender subjects, and grow together. Here is where we learn to speak up, be seen, and take up space.
~ I facilitate talking circles to teach people how to witness, support, take responsibility for their own thoughts and feelings, hear each other, learn about themselves, grow, and work through issues. (In the talking circle that I learned that so many women have rape stories because they felt they had to be nice and take care of their rapist\u2019s feelings and couldn\u2019t say no. This is what led to the creation of the moon circle).
\",~ I facilitate salons (conversations about a chosen topic) to give people a way to connect with others over ideas, expand their awareness, and be seen.
~ I am a certified mediator. I help people be heard and resolve differences in a win\/win way so that both parties feel like they got a fair outcome.
~ I am a trauma therapist. I teach people skills so that they can feel their feelings, hear others without being triggered, move through the world with healthy boundaries, own their own stuff, don\u2019t take on other people\u2019s stuff, speak their truth, show up, and relate in healthy ways.
~ I work with people of all shades, religions, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and sexual orientations. I don\u2019t shut down mean, mentally ill, quirky, racist, or otherwise different people. I let them be who they are and don\u2019t judge them. This creates a space where they can either question their differences or embrace them.
~ I hate bullies. If I see someone being bullied, I say or do something immediately. If I see someone who is weak and can\u2019t advocate for themselves, I will also help.
~ I facilitate rituals, bonfires, and other events to give people who might not otherwise cross paths a happy way to meet.
~ I don\u2019t take things personally \u2013 especially when the other person clearly doesn\u2019t see me.<\/p>\r\n

What Can Druids Do?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

~ Live our values. Don\u2019t let the outside world disrupt the inner peace.
~ Heal ourselves. If we are not whole, we can\u2019t show up in a healthy way.
~ Maintain healthy boundaries. Don\u2019t pick up what\u2019s not yours.
~ Maintain sovereignty. Everyone doesn\u2019t have to be the same. It\u2019s okay.
~ Connect in the ways that feel good.
~ Got out of our comfort zone. That\u2019s where the growth is.
~ Learn that conflict and darkness are part of life. It\u2019s not something to fear or avoid. If we have the skills, we can get through anything.
\",<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Druids for Justice Articles:<\/h3>\r\n

Life Beyond Genocide<\/a>
What Can Druids Do To Combat Racism?<\/a>
Druidry and Fracking<\/a>
Knowledge and Justice<\/a>
<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

Samhain Gifts from the Ancestors: Healing Intergenerational and Historic Trauma<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

Earthly Brown\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>
BLACK LIVES MATTER<\/a>
<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

Because the Land is Sacred ~ Reflections on Pagan Activism<\/a>
<\/strong>Peacemaker ~ The Task Of Addressing Injustice<\/strong><\/a>
An American Person of Color in a British Druidic Order<\/a>
<\/strong>Always Think Global, and Act Local!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the contributions published in this Druids for Justice section, we hear the voices of OBOD members. The pieces reflect the reality lived by members directly affected by racism or other injustices, and how Druids have taken action to express their love of justice, in ways great or small. They tell their stories. They reflect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-druids-for-justice"],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/druidry.org","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11099"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16164,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099\/revisions\/16164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/druidry.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}