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1/7 Survivors focus on the good things because that’s how people remain resilient and cope with trauma. You can’t define yourself by powerlessness or abuse experienced or you’re only defined in relation to your oppressor and your oppression.
2/7 Fatty Legs isn’t a light story about residential school. It’s a lived story about how a traditional upbringing and a strong spirit helped a young Inuvialuk girl survive genocide, from that girl’s perspective, as remembered by an elder.
3/7 People should search as hard for what was good about a traditional upbringing and how children were heroes to themselves and each other everyday, as they do looking for what was good in the residential schools.
4/7 It is not OK to pervert coping strategies and Indigenous resilience to paint a kinder picture of genocide. Those stories don’t belong to outsiders. They aren’t told to make oppressors feel less guilty. They’re told to remind each other of strength.
5/7 Indigenous youth deserve to have heroes who came out of genocide, without conceding something to the oppressors.
6/7 As for referencing the Wagamese article, the context of his life as an intergenerational survivor needs to be brought to the table, or it’s just exploiting a man’s life and words. And to look at the big picture probably isn’t suitable for gr6.
7/7 I’d like to say I’m shocked, but this type of school assignment isn’t new to us. If you don’t understand the big deal, please reach out. And don’t use Fatty Legs to teach positives of IRS. Use it to teach about Indigenous strength.
Much respect to this matriarch Krista MacInnis for speaking out!
