I was called an oreo when I was growing up. In the African American community this was not a term of endearment. It didn't refer to how sweet I was. Rather it was social nomenclature that described my perceived character. In layman's terms this word described me as one who, though I was black on the outside, was really white on the inside.
What we are attempting to do it this; we want every single person talking about and learning the true meaning of Lateral violence.
And by ‘true meaning’ I would like to share the words of Jim Morrison and I am in complete alignment to his description of the following when I talk about the effects embedded in our collective psyche as a colonised nation; ‘Irrespective of whether they are Aboriginal people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the United States, colonized people suffer a similar sequence of intergenerational trauma that separates their needs from others’.
These effects of multiple Transgenerational traumas are suffered by parents and other family members, passed on, transferred to the next generations.
Aboriginal people in Australia have been exposed not to three, but seven generations of compounding bad laws, a racially prejudiced Federal constitution and institutional and social racism. This has reinforced a lack of faith in working with the Government and non-government services or any hope for the future.
The profound damage to Aboriginality cannot and will not be fixed in anything less than the time it took to inflict it’ Morrison is the Aboriginal co-chair of the National Stolen Generations Alliance and the Aboriginal co-convener of the Bringing Them Home Committee WA. hhtp://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/theburningissue/post/1889/
The only way for us to do this is for us as Aboriginal and Islander people to begin the healing from the inside out. The intergenerational trauma that Jim has pointed out above, this is the very foundation of Lateral violence. It is the essence, the powerful negative force that has been embedded into our collective Aboriginal & Islander psyches right from the invasion, right from that colonialist the impact in 1788. The common thread binding together the seven traumatic generations experienced by Aboriginal and Islander peoples is survival, and survival brings with it a raft of callous, harsh, ridged resiliencies that were necessary for us to survive.
What we need to understand now in 2012 is this, our young people are still caught in this cycle of survival and it is choking them. This mode is no longer going to sustain them. We as a collective culture need to unite and acknowledge these intergenerational traumas and realise the way we have perpetrate Lateral violence onto our own.
It is a simple case of the colonised now colonising our own, the oppressed doing the oppressing. ‘Lateral violence is the product of colonisation,…it amounts to the colonised colonising one another, a situation of the oppressed oppressing each other. When you are at the bottom of the social heap and cannot strike out ‘vertically’ (ie at those above you) frustration erupts and is instead directed at your peers by your side’ Calvin Helin
Lateral violence, or should I say the manifestations of Lateral violence are the things most of us can identify with easily, but the reality of how we have come to perpetuate these behaviours still eludes many.
So that is the crux of phase 1 of this Lateral Violence Campaign that started on 23 January 2012 from my lounge room when I asked the facebook community a couple of questions, a) if anyone knew what Lateral violence was? And b) if anyone knew the opposite of Lateral violence?
Now, in the few weeks since the inception of this campaign, I have had hundreds of accounts of social racism, organisational racism, racial hatred, physical, emotional, mental and financial abuse flooding my inbox and facebook walls. As we are all becoming well too aware, the manifestations of Lateral violence resonated with almost every single human being we come into contact with. The stories continue to flood in, and it is very important for them to be heard.
Now the next phase that needs to happen, phase 2, is this; we all need to start conversations with as many people as we can about Lateral violence, sharing with them the ‘true meaning’ for us as Aboriginal and Islander people of this country, our country. Then share with them your own personal experiences with Lateral violence, talk about the difficulties we have faced and the types of things that we now understand in a more holistic way.
The best way to start conversations about Lateral violence is to create ‘Yarning Circles’. We all need to participate and play an active role to teach our young people a new way to move forward.
We need to make encouragement, nurturing and sharing the only way and enforce this behavior in every interaction we have especially with our young people. We must reinforce the opposite of Lateral violence from within our own ranks so that our young ones can grow with strength, knowledge and dignity steeped in culture and nurturing love and respect for each other.
The primary aim for this Lateral Violence Campaign is to get people talking about Lateral violence to enable contemplation about what the opposite is and how we can instill this into the lives of our children so that they will be able to identify racism and Lateral violence when they are confronted with it, and have in place strategies to cope and repel these incidents from a position of knowledge and cultural strength.
On the 23rd February, exactly one month in from the inception Campaign, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Dr Chintamani Yogi from Nepal. Dr. Chintamani Yogi is the founding principal of Hindu Vidyapeeth Schools, which is working to promote value-based education. Together we visited many Aboriginal organisations here in Adelaide and I watched him as he interacted with the children, instilling little principles of his culture along the way. He was teaching the children songs that they could use like counting games with their fingers which translated to the following: I Love Mother and Father for each of their fingers and every single child in those classrooms was abuzz with this simple yet very effective respect learning tool. Dr Yogi also shared with them another hand association memory tool used in Nepal to instil the following: Loving, Respectful, Thoughtful, Appreciative and Caring. Children in Nepal are taught these very important messages right throughout their lives and it shows in the behaviour and respect the community has for each other at all levels of society. His Message for the Children of the World (In his own words):
The children of the world are the only hope of this modern world. The politicians do talk about revolution but I do believe in reformation and it can happen only through children and the youth. And their future depends on the society. No one should run away from the social responsibility as we are always deeply inter-connected with our own society. Our failures and successes also depend on our own society, so it is our duty to think of it, and make a good change, just by blaming upon others nothing can be achieved. So the children of this modern age should be able to know the world but to know about their own roots as well. They should learn the computer technology but should be able to enjoy in the nature also. They should make many friends on a global level but should be able to be close with their own family members also. They should follow their own religion but should serve God in every human form they should take pride in their own culture but should respect all other faiths and cultures as well. I have met thousands of children and youths in my life; they are from various backgrounds, from different nationalities, different religious backgrounds. Every time I meet the children either in Nepal or elsewhere I have found that they all need a Right vision at Right time. They all need good Sanskaras (good human values practiced from the childhood) from their schools and from their family.
So my dear children of the world. WAKE UP!
• Make your foundation now, as it’s the only RIGHT TIME
• Think globally and act locally
• Try to be better but not the best
• Learn the cooperation, not only competition
• Follow your Heart, not only the Brain
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL – Dr Chintamani Yogi http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Chintamani_LC_HVP_07_ul
You know, it is not rocket science but sometimes we cannot see the forest for the trees, all it takes is for someone to come along and shed a little light and things become clearer and new ideas and initiatives emerge. A complex matrix has evolved over all these years and has kept us in a constant cycle of perpetual Lateral violence which we have become very good at inflicting upon each other, we can change once we see the forced motivation behind our unsavory ways.
The good thing is that it is never too late to change and in the words of Mahatma Gandhi ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. The cheapest way to participate in turning Lateral violence around is by empowering all Aboriginal & Islander people, whom you personally come into contact with, that includes our own children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, extended family members, students, collegues, friends and acquaintances. Listen to them with an open mind and heart and be genuine in your interactions. Encourage them and boost their self-esteem to enable them to reach their full potential and live fulfilling meaningful lives.
I ask myself every day if these beautiful children that felt the only option they had left at their critical moments in time where buy they took their own lives, if they had encouragement from nurturing fellow Aboriginal & Islander people around them, boosting them up and understanding their despair, supporting them through their times of need from a position of true understanding about the mechanisms behind all the terrible racism and maltreatment we see today, in the education system, the work places, our families and our communities, could things have taken a different course, would they still be with us now?
How can we expect our children to aspire to lead fulfilling, meaningful lives if most of the Aboriginal & Islander population cannot move past this vicious cycle of Lateral violence and forge a new beginning to save our children and strengthen them in unified culture and solidarity?
Can you go another day not trying to make this happen for your family and loved ones?
February 14, 2012
“Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I will be at: ‘Traditional Knowledge is Eternal’ on the 10-11 December 2012 in Sydney.
Here is more info on the forum http://www.arkgroupaustralia.com.au/Events-E040IKM.htm and you may also want to join the Indigenous Knowledge Management LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Indigenous-Knowledge-Management-2035350?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
If you can’t make it, you can follow the tweets @indigenousKM during the masterclass.”
Yours in Unity through Lateral Love & Spirit of Care,
Brian Butler
0419 801 085
lateralloveaustralia@bigpond.com
“When we unite behind a common purpose, we can make real change happen.” ~ David Suzuki
“There is an incredible amount of isolation in the white community…because people haven’t learnt to belong. Nobody should be homeless in this land, and yet there is an incredible amount of homeless people. You cannot build a nation until there is a national spirit.” ~ Kevin Gilbert
“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story.” ~Linda Hogan
“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
This quote was sent to us by Mr Nathan Kropinyeri here in SA, thanks for the great find and inspiration shared in unity through Lateral Love & Spirit of Care for all Humankind Nathan!
“True leadership is about service and sacrifice not about power and control.” ~ Brian Butler
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” ~ Thomas Paine
Quote and image courtesy of www.professionsforpeace.com
Sunday 25 November 2012 – Lateral Love Australia Song of the Week
I Believe I Can Fly … by R. Kelly
I Believe I Can Fly
I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meanin’ of true love
I’m leanin’ on the everlasting arms
If I can see it then I can do it
If I just believe it, there’s nothing to it
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly, I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
See I was on the verge of breakin’ down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me oh
If I can see it then I can be it
If I just believe it, there’s nothing to it
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me runnin’ through that open door
I believe I can fly, I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
Hey ‘cuz I believe in me
If I can see it then I can do it
If I just believe it, there’s nothing to it
I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me runnin’ through that open door
I believe I can fly, I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
Hey if I just spread my wings
I can fly
I can fly
I can fly, hey
If I just spread my wings
I can fly
Fly eye, eye
“You are a living magnet. What you attract into your life is in in harmony with your dominant thoughts.” ~ Brian Tracy
A Reception for the 4th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Aboriginal and Islander Stolen Generations was commemorated in Canberra with a breakfast at Parliament House, co-hosted by the National Stolen Generations Alliance (NSGA) and National Reconciliation Council of Australia on Monday 13th February 2012, through which I had the good fortune to speak personally with Parliamentarians Rudd, Macklin and Garrett, whereby they agreed to meet at a later date to progress discussions about the issue of Lateral Violence and our strategy to have a National Lateral Violence Program implemented across the country.
We will be attempting to meet with the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Minister Evans, in the coming week to discuss the campaign as well.
National Media have also indicated that they want to be kept up to date with the progress of our Lateral Violence Campaign.
The question on all of our lips at the moment is this…
”What is ‘Lateral violence?” and,
“Why does it have to be so long and complex?”
We just want to know what it is about in the least amount of time and space, and in the simplest possible way!
Unfortunately, this type of violence is just that, complex. If we truly want to get to the root of the problem and make sure any attempt we make results in positive change for our families and communities, we are going to have to do the hard yards with this one. And if you think that is bad news, don’t forget the pain and anguish we are all going to confront along the way, but answer me this – Do our children not deserve us to try?
Understanding ‘Lateral violence’ requires us to have the ability to unpack multiple layers of trauma and discover the meaning that lies beneath, and then we need to have the strength and perseverance to continue to do so again and again, just so we can remain true within ourselves as to what must be achieved. This is the only way we will be able to attempt to understand the different levels and the different impacts and effects of the manifestations of ‘Lateral violence’ for each individual within our homes and our Communities.
But it does not stop there, once we have mastered that difficult task, it will again require mammoth amounts of strength and courage to analyse our own behaviors, in an honest and open way, being truthful to one self about the parts in which we may or may not have played in perpetuating or enabling this type of violence. The fact is that we have all been subjected to this type of violence throughout our lifetime. This exposure can leave us behaving in the same way and treating those around us with the same contempt, without us even realising it. The manifestations of ‘Lateral violence’ happen, every single day, all around us, and unfortunately even by us.
What does ‘Lateral violence’ look like in our everyday lives in the here and now of 2012? And how can we go about putting such a difficult subject into practical ways with less well…words? I have not worked that out yet. I will however continue on to give some everyday examples, examples that have been flooding my inbox, telephone and mailbox from people all around this country, sharing their resonation, anguish and despair since the inception of this campaign on the evening of January 23, 2012, in the hope of providing some clarity into the varying depths and levels of manifestations of ‘Lateral violence’.
WORKPLACE BULLYING (Is a manifestation of Lateral violence)
This is occurring in almost every workplace, right across the country no matter what colour you are, or what level you are employed at. Increasing at an alarming rate though, is the amount of Aboriginal and Islander managers and colleagues who are bullying and intimidating their Aboriginal and Islander staff at all levels. The problem here is that we have many senior people in positions of power, and to get there these people have had to fight and claw their way to the top, particularly within Government institutions and their fight was not an easy one. Whilst they may be educated in the ways of Government and be ‘experts’ in their field, or be able to talk the talk to be in these roles, they lack some very basic fundamental management skills. Through years of being conditioned by their peers through poor treatment, they are now unable to see the torment and pain they are inflicting upon others, some causing insurmountable pain and suffering that has unfortunately been leading many of our young ones to attempt suicide and some to have succeeded.
These young people often look up to the Aboriginal and Islander leaders who have made it to the top and try to seek guidance and assistance along the way, only to be treated like half rate citizens and bullied back into some kind of pecking order. These senior Aboriginal and Islander people continue to perpetuate their own victimised behaviour. This ultimately alienates good people who are willing to fight the cause with them and also undermines any attempts and intentions they may hold and are striving towards.
There is an inherent ‘fear’ among this type of manager or leader, a fear that the young ones we are seeing today, who are articulate, educated and intelligent, possess such a talent that requires them to be kept in their place; put into some sort of holding box because they are a threat to the very position and level of power that the manager or leader may themselves hold within the rank of their organisation. The young men and women who have contacted me throughout this campaign are calling out for help. They are sharing their stories of torment, maltreatment, bullying, isolation, intimidation and are pretty much just being mowed down at every opportunity by their own Aboriginal and Islander ‘role models’.
I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, the way we are treating our own people is much more damaging to soul and spirit than what we expect to experience in mainstream. Peers who are too scared about their own stability need to learn to go beyond their limits and start to provide that caring, sharing and nurturing support of our old ways.
RELATIONSHIP MELTDOWNS (Manifestations of Lateral violence and Transgenerational Trauma)
In the home we are finding so many people at breaking point in their relationships, with their partners, their kids, their family and friends. Some of these men and women only know how to express anger. Violence and anger go hand in hand and when the only emotion you know how to express is anger, then violence is the only release we are going to see. All of the emotions one feels is expressed in the only way known so ever feelings of sadness are represented by anger. This is in some cases, a post traumatic response to experiences witnessed and learned from a lifetime of the manifestations of ‘Lateral violence’. As a young sacred child we see and learn from what is around us, we emulate our parents, family and friends striving to be just like them, which in turn sees us perpetuating these learned attitudes and values in our adult lives.
One of the main problems we must understand in these scenarios is this; we now have several generations that have stemmed from the ‘Stolen Generations’. Now if we think about this realistically, people were torn from their families and placed in institutions and homes across the country. Some people were lucky to find themselves in loving homes but these were few and far between. The reality for many was a myriad of ‘placements’ all without any real longevity or genuine nurturing, love and care. Some people were placed in up to 17 or more homes across the country before reaching an age where they could run away and fend for themselves. I won’t go into the unfathomable treatment that many people experienced during these terrible times but want you all to think about this – How can we expect adults who have had experiences like this, to automatically display nurturing behaviours of love and affection? To be able to instinctively know how to Mother or Father their offspring when the time comes for them to be a parent? Mothering and Fathering is a skill that now needs to be taught and learned by the next generations that are to come if we are to rebalance ourselves as a culture. Each person strives to provide a better life for their children than what they experienced for themselves. Kids need their parents to interact with them and teach them what it means to be alive and show them how to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
ISOLATION (A result of the survival mechanism we still need to save ourselves because we have not yet started to acknowledge, understand and address Lateral violence on the grand scale that is needed)
So many of you have shared stories of needing to isolate yourselves from family and loved ones because of infighting, drug and alcohol abuse, physical, mental and emotional violence in all its ugly forms and glory. This isolation is another form of ‘Lateral violence’, the manifestation of the survival mechanisms of old that we still need to employ to keep ourselves sane and somewhat distanced from immediate harm and turmoil. I can understand why many people like to think ‘Globally’ when dealing with these types of issues, because once you start addressing it at your local level (within your own families and even organisations) things can get very heated and messy in just a few misunderstood moments, so please be careful whilst talking to your loved ones and remember that it will take time for others to come around to understanding where we are coming from.
It saddens me that we still need to disconnect from the people that we love in order to survive. I am certain though, that taking these very difficult, important steps WILL improve our wellbeing for us and our children and the generations that will follow. IT IS TIME TO STOP THIS CYCLE OF COLONISATIONAL ABUSE ONCE AND FOR ALL!
TAINTED SERVICE DELIVERY (This is also Lateral violence)
I see many Aboriginal and Islander people working in Organisations and Government Institutions which claim to be providing a service to Grass Roots people and communities. We continue to see nepotism and the ‘who you know’ scenario played out on a daily basis within our own culture, where services to our communities are being undermined to the detriment and ill health of our people.
It is beyond me, how a person can apply for assistance from an Aboriginal service that can go unaddressed for three (3) years. Three (3) years before a first contact letter of receipt was received by the applicant. This application sat in somebodies ‘In Tray’ for three (3) years!!! All the while, other applications were being dealt with on a regular basis for unknown reasons to us, but which I am told were known to the establishment. Who gets to decide the level of service that each person needs or should get? This is pure Lateral violence.
IMPEDING PROOF OF ABORIGINALITY (Denying an Aboriginal or Islander person the necessary and appropriate documentation required to access services is Lateral violence)
I cannot count, how many times, I have heard comments about this one being ‘too white’ or a ‘coconut’, or that one not knowing anybody from their ‘real community’ or they have never been ‘home to country’, or that one’s parents didn’t identify so they shouldn’t be acknowledged or accepted either. This is pure Lateral violence. How can we have this mentality within our own ranks where a person who may be the product of the ‘Stolen Generations’ can be ridiculed and denied services from the community and labeled as ‘not black enough’.
Aboriginality comes from within and is about a spirituality that extends far beyond the colour of the skin. Being ‘not connected to your country’ is part of the deliberate intent of colonisation, surely not knowing your ‘homeland’ is punishment enough and requires no further alienation from us, doesn’t it? They were after all STOLEN. And the way in which some families from those times chose to survive was to attempt to assimilate. So many of our young people are experiencing this type of violence on a daily basis, how demoralizing it must be to have your identity constantly in question by mainstream and even more soul destroying when it comes from within our ‘own mobs’.
INABILITY TO SEE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY AND THEN HAVE THE GUTS TO TAKE IT (This is part of the cycle of the Victim mentality which is a result of Lateral violence)
There is an ongoing struggle to provide our young people culturally safe employment and opportunities. I see money being poured into employment initiatives that still fail to provide the support mechanisms necessary to back these young people up whilst they attempt to even out the playing field. Another swing on this that I am also witnessing is more and more young Aboriginal and Islander people passing up good, positive opportunities because they cannot see them right in front of their faces for looking. The loss of identity and lack of self-worth is denying our young ones the ability to connect and share with other Aboriginal and Islander people. The negativity and vicious cycles of abuse is causing isolation and denial of services.
The attitudes being displayed by some young people disturbs me greatly. These young men and women need our immediate support and attention. Their focus need to be shifted on from the old, well known attitudes and diverted from playing the ‘poor black fulla me’ card because this attitude is alienating them from other people in their lives who can provide support and guidance. Not just our kids, but all of us need to learn to seek and then FOLLOW THROUGH in accepting support and guidance. We need ongoing empowerment to make positive changes and to learn to trust in ourselves and each other again.
DESTRUCTION OF PHYSICAL HEALTH (A very real manifestation of Lateral violence)
There are many of our people experiencing extreme poor health across all age groups. We have young managers and leaders in the 40 – 50 age bracket having heart attacks and triple bypasses, there is as always an increase in Diabetes, mental health issues, depression for our people is through the roof, Transgenerational Trauma needs to be understood and catered for in mainstream health programs, and there is a new urgency for ‘Lateral violence’ knowledge to form the basis of any new programs around health care for Aboriginal and Islander people.
How can you truly treat a problem if you do not have a firm grasp of the root cause of the underlying issues which affect all Aboriginal and Islander people right back from 1788 due to colonisation?
It’s an extremely difficult task we are trying to accomplish here; a problem which stems from years and years of intended maltreatment that is not going to go away overnight. As I have mentioned before, we are not all going to agree, or be on the same page at the same time, and I don’t know why, but being nasty and negative is always a lot easier than being positive and encouraging. It is like trying to quit grog or smoking cigarettes, it is bloody HARD WORK. The good thing is that the change is far reaching and the positive impact will resonate in waves once we get started – it is contagious.
HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS CHANGE TOGETHER?
SHARE THE INFORMATION
Share this information with everyone you know, your family, your friends, your loved ones, your colleagues, even the ones you don’t know because this is a human condition, we are all able to relate to these issues regardless of race, colour or creed.
MAKE A COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF TO BECOME GENUINELY ADMIRABLE
If you are in a position that involves other Aboriginal and Islander staff, I beg you to make your primary goal about nurturing your fellow Aboriginal and Islander people. Make them your number one priority and gain their genuine respect through your actions, give them someone worthy to look up too. Put yourself back in their shoes once in a while, chances are your treatment of them may be a subconscious reflection of the way you were once treated. Maybe you are still experiencing ‘Lateral violence’ from your own peers or your mainstream colleagues. This is NOT ok and is NOT fair.
In this day and age the ‘Apprenticeship Mentality’ should be well and truly abolished. I am not saying that what happened to you is not equally as important, but in order for us to break the cycle, please place deal with it in its own right. These young people did not do this to you and should not be hauled through the same cycle of abuse just to make you feel better.
GO BACK TO OUR OLD WAYS OF SHARING AND CARING
Go back to our old ways of genuine sharing and caring. Share positive information and opportunities across all organisations and fields. We are currently in possession of the world’s most amazing technologies; use these to your advantage. Emailing, instant messaging and social media mean we are able to connect with each other and indeed many more people than ever before. Use these tools to empower one another not to abuse and ridicule or continue to perpetuate Lateral violence through Cyber Bullying and pack mentality upon our own people.
YARNING CIRCLES EVERYWHERE
Start ‘Yarning Circles’ across all levels of society; this means grass roots, communities, in the home, in the office, in existing networks and committees, in services, in departments and in agencies – GET LATERAL VIOLENCE ON THE MINDS OF ALL PEOPLE.
This initiative is taking off around the country and I am so proud to say that many of our intelligent young people are leading the way to start this universal healing. They truly are our future, we need to empower them and instill strength and courage so they will be able to withstand anything that comes their way once the elders of this land have joined the spirit world. There are existing Men’s and Women’s groups across the country that have contacted me and asked for guidance and support in their camps and meetings to share this information on ‘Lateral violence’. The response has been staggering, there does not seem to be one person out there that this topic has not struck a very personal chord with and so many of you are up for the challenge of addressing and eradicating ‘Lateral violence’ once and for all.
TRANSLATION
Many of you have approach me, asking for permission to translate the ‘Lateral violence’ information into Language. I commend you all for being brave and showing initiative in this area in coming up with strategies to tackle ‘Lateral violence’ head on. If you have the way and means of doing this type of translation in your own communities, please do so. The more we can share with our loved ones and enable open conversations about ‘Lateral violence’ the better our futures will be.
Translation is not just about Language, it is also about literacy barriers as well. If members of your family are unable to read this material, please take the time to read it to them. If there are people out there who have experiences they need to share, offer to write it down for them, sharing experiences is a positive first step in the healing process. Those of you who have stories to share please email them to the address at the bottom of this article and indicate your authority to have your stories included in our discussions either anonymously or in full. I believe the power of sharing helps others to identify the types of things we are talking about that occur on a daily basis as many of the issues we face, that can be attributed to many other factors, all stem from one true evil which is ‘Lateral violence’.
Lateral violence has been coined by many as the new ‘Racism’ and in some ways I agree, Racism is alive and well in the country that is for sure. The fact still remains that the ‘Lateral violence’ I am referring to here and in all of my discussions, goes far deeper than that, beyond the common understanding of racism, because it is primarily about an intended means of destruction of our race, and that means of destruction was instilled so deeply within the psyche of our people with intent for us to continually perpetuate this deliberate means of destruction onto one another, with the end result to enable us to unwittingly exterminate ourselves from the inside, so subtle that we would remain ever vigilant in destroying each other whilst continuing to be not so blissfully unaware.
February 14, 2012
Copy of a Letter to the Editor 21 November 2012 sent to Koori Mail; The Advertiser; The Australian
George Kenmore
PO Box 280
ALDGATE SA 5154
Phone: 0438 399 012
November 21 2012
Sir,
Let me take you on a journey… A large number of your relatives live in community on their own property and you pay them a visit. The following scenes play out before your very eyes. I wonder what you would do ….
> a young disabled cousin (who has a dedicated carer) has indicated that she needs assistance with being helped out of her wheelchair. You carefully lift her and assist her to become comfortable; at the same time you become aware of maggots on your arms from where you have lifted her and then notice maggots on the seat of her wheelchair.
> An elderly diabetic uncle is lying ill on the ground and as you approach him family members explain that the kitchen is locked (the manager is away for a week and has not made arrangements to leave a key) and the staff who prepare the daily meals for the disabled and elderly have gone intrastate on a work conference for a week. Other elderly family members too are hungry waiting for their meal. An uncle quickly takes the appropriate steps to find food to feed these vulnerable people. The next day this same uncle uses bolt cutters to enable him entry to the kitchen to feed his sick and needy relatives. He then replaces the lock with a new one. He submits a report to the Director detailing the situation that had played out. The blame for this disgraceful state of affairs is then laid at the feet of Centrelink paid workers rather than the manager who is paid a very large salary.
> Excited chatter is emanating from a group of female family members (they work for Centrelink payments) they have just been advised of the staff Christmas lunch (as had been discussed and decided at a senior staff meeting). As these low paid workers read on they discover they will have to travel approx 200km to the chosen venue (company vehicles will be made available for this). The email went on to say that “All staff will be responsible for paying for the meal, drinks and accommodation. I realise this may change some peoples intentions of attending. To help you make the decision I have outlined the cost of the meal 3 course buffet style, all you can eat $60 per head. $25 for children. Free for children under 3, or their normal menu which starts from about $15. Accommodation: cabins – basic $60 for two people. $50 for one person. Motel room: $155 for two people. Camping available: sleeping on the grass is an option if people don’t have tent/swags $7.50 per person.” This, I know is hard for you to believe however, you have a copy in writing from management of the email detailing the above and so you know it to be true.
> An uncle who is well respected and trusted is the only family member with a full time job in the entire community (he has a contract). He attempts on numerous occasions to bring to the attention of the appropriate authorities the many hideous situations that he encounters. The end result is that his contract is not renewed, despite him being a 2012 NAIDOC Community Award recipient. There are copious other untold stories of abuse that the uncle witnessed in this community (and they are still occurring).
The community I speak of is the Aboriginal community of Mimili (as well as surrounding areas) on the APY Lands in the far north of South Australia. I have implored the help of many people over time – including the Minister, Chief Executive, Director and others from various government and private organisations – all to no avail. I have no option other than to take this diabolical situation to my fellow Australians and I urge you please to raise your voices in unison at the injustices as described above.
The white supremacist mind-set overrides any chance of positive change for Anangu. Despite over 200 years of white intervention, enormous amounts of money plied into white man’s programs that haven’t worked – anangu are still being subjected to this same soul destroying regime and their children are paying the price. Anangu must no longer be used as a source for providing employment for the wider non-anangu community. I will no longer allow anangu to suffer in silence and I am unwavering in my resolve to ensure that the progression of ‘self determination’ and ‘closing the gap’ as espoused by governments becomes a reality not idle talk or hearsay. This can only happen when Aboriginal people are “allowed” to take charge of their own destiny. They can’t do it without jobs and my people are the only people unemployed on their own lands. This has to stop. There are aboriginal people from these areas who are willing and able to train and support their own people going forward. They need REAL jobs – not Centrelink money.
Keep in mind the ‘ripple effect’ – each appointment of an Anangu person into a full time position (equivalent to the same pay of the non-Anangu counter part) – and the direct effect from these appointments is a message of hope for the future for all Anangu. A new start to eliminate the welfare dependency mentality that has been forced upon my people; thereby increasing their sense of hopelessness and ultimate failure to live life in the world in which they now find themselves. People reading this article and who have a career know that your job provides you with the opportunity to make choices in your life. You are in a position to take control of your own destiny. Wow, how powerful is that??
I have grave concerns for the wellbeing of our youth going forward. Some of these kids, as evidenced in communities across the lands and on the streets of Alice Springs, are lost in their own country; as too are their families. They can’t help themselves let alone their children as they too are suffering the same fate of being oppressed and disrespected on their own land. Daily these kids are looked down upon and judged by non-Anangu. They know it. They react to it.
Please don’t judge them and give up hope on them; they too have a right to contribute to the community, but they have to be given a chance. If every person reading this takes a minute to count their blessings and to look beyond themselves and try to put themselves in these beautiful kids’ position – your attitude might alter and positive change would happen as a result. These kids would no longer feel inferior; every child deserves to be respected not judged.
Their future is in Australia’s hands. Please advocate for real jobs with real pay for Anangu so that they can flourish and prosper in the land that was theirs originally.
George Kenmore
2012 DCSI NAIDOC COMMUNITY AWARD RECIPIENT
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Due to the recent death of a 10 year old girl who was subjected to ongoing Lateral violence, I would like to remind you all of the purpose in tackling this difficult issue – we need to ‘acknowledge’, ‘understand’ and ‘address’
Lateral violence at every single level within our society if we hope to have any chance of halting youth suicide dead in its tracks in this country.
Please read with an open mind and an open heart and share with as many people as you can with the aim to starting up Yarning Circles within your own Communities.
Lateral violence is an extremely personal and confronting topic, every individual will have different feelings about it and there is no room for malice in this very important debate. We must all come together and share our information whilst trying not to react on a personal level. Very difficult I know considering I just mentioned the seriously personal nature involved in dealing with Lateral violence. The difficulty comes not only for each of us as individuals and attempting to manage our personal feelings and responses, but also with the family, friends and colleagues that we choose to share it with, and the difficult conversations that this topic will bring to the fore. It WILL require strength and courage for us to deal with these issues and conversations, but I have faith that each and every one of you will push yourselves beyond your everyday limits for the sake of our children and the generations yet to come.
Some of the feelings we can expect to be exposed include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Anger
- Disappointment
- Fear
- Grief
- Guilt
- Isolation
- Feeling Overwhelmed
- Relief
- Sadness
- Shame
- Threatened and Defensive
One thing I know for certain is that we will all have a different reaction, view and perspective which will need to be respected and nurtured along the way.
We will never all be ready to deal with the layer upon layer of trans-generational trauma, pain and suffering and most certainly not in the same space and time, BUT, the one thing we can do together is have the strength to leading by example with conviction, start the awkward conversations and force ourselves to share information regardless of ego or personal gain. Share with each other and bring back to life that lore that gave us our beautiful ways, our caring and sharing.
Lateral violence happens to all people, within all cultures across the world, but the type of Lateral violence I am talking about here relates specifically to Aboriginal and Islander people in this country. As a people we need a collective healing and we need it to come from within our own families and communities. In no way does this conversation take away the pain and suffering from any other culture or their experiences as this too is a form of Lateral violence.
I have chosen to utilise modern technology to share this information as widely as possible and in doing so have found it necessary to address some social networking issues as they link directly to Lateral violence.
Social networking is a wonderful tool that we can use to connect and indeed, reconnect with many people as distance is no longer a barrier. The lack of verbal and non-verbal cues that are lost in this form of communication does however run the risk of causing additional distress to users.
We all need to remember this when reading and posting on threads and other pages. What we share in cyberspace is there forever! How it translates to the receiver may not be how it sounded in the senders head. When we become threatening or abusive online, this is a form of Lateral violence and can very quickly escalate to cyber bullying.
The important thing to remember here is that when you read something disrespectful and negative about yourself, it leaves an imprint on your mind and reinforces itself into your subconscious much longer than that which is spoken verbally in the heat of debate. You can unfortunately read and re-read that negative perpetration again and again which can cause disastrous ramifications in my opinion, and as we have all seen in the media, can also lead youth to suicide.
The reason we need to understand the true meaning of Lateral violence is this; our children need to move beyond the survival mechanisms that we, the older generations, needed for us to survive. This survival instinct served us well and allowed you and I to be here, and yes we did survive. Our children need us to come together and give them a strong base of solidarity and culture to help them to grow and shape their way into the future; a solid base that is free from the binds of Lateral violence and oppression.
Again the wisdom of Cheri Yavu Kama Harathunian explains Lateral violence in a way that resonates with me and expresses the true meaning that I am speaking of throughout this series of papers, “This ‘yellow snake’, this lateral violence has been curled up in our peoples living moments for three centuries, because it sinuously crawled amongst our peoples for over the last 300 years. We were not only forced to suffer the invasion of 1788. We have been carrying that suffering with us all of this time and our ancestors learned very well and copied the violence that was perpetrated against them and used what they learned to ensure that with violence they would individually survive”…”Even in our survival techniques there was violence, because peoples had to go up against each other, go up against their loved ones, anyone that they saw who was a threat to their own survival. We learned to turn our faces away from each other, and began to wear ‘Big Shame’ in our waking and sleeping hours. We learned to be ‘takers’ not ‘givers’ and then the government blest us with welfare and for years we did not realise it but our minds were being conditioned to accept that this was our lot and we developed and then suffered from and some of us still suffer from a welfare mentality. We learned that it was okay to hit, stamp on, fight with, brutalise, torment each other just to get on, and become like the invaders because they were getting a better deal out of life”. “We were taught by religion that “White was right and black was evil”. and we learned to hate ourselves, our culture, our languages, and our own God given ways of being who we are; First Nations peoples with many nation names. Political violence forced our ancestors to become slaves, victims and perpetrators of the violence that seemed to work and help the invaders get on and become something. We turned into each other, and began to practice the violence that we saw and here we are today. But it is our young, our beautiful young ones who now openly manifest this insidious thing that takes them to that place where they feel so hopeless and helpless. They go to that bleak place where for them the only solution to their pain is to take control of their own choice to take their most precious gift – life – and they choose to go to sleep forever to ease their suffering and their pain and their disconnection from themselves, their family, their people, their culture, and their sacred lands. They haven’t even lived! That ‘yellow snake’ that Lateral violence has to be addressed”. Cheri Yavu Kama Harathunian 2012
We need to go beyond the surface of what we know, beyond the reactionary world we have come to live by that has done its darnedest to numb our spiritual souls for over 300 years. Knowing Lateral violence, and that it has underpinned our existence, is the first step to healing for each and every one of us. I commend you all for being open and taking the time to read about this important subject. No matter how painful it is, things can only improve through our understanding and support of one another.
SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW, LEAVE IT IN THE LUNCH ROOM AT WORK, THE RECEPTION ROOM AT THE DOCTORS, THE BUS SHELTER, FORWARD IT, COPY AND PASTE IT, PRINT IT OUT AND TAKE IT HOME TO ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS WHO DO NOT HAVE COMPUTERS, SHARE THE INFORMATION, RAISE AWARENESS AND HEAL OUR SPIRITS!
FOR OUR OWN HEALING AND FOR THE SAKE OF OUR CHILDREN!
January 31, 2012
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston
I believe from my own experience, that every suicide in this country, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, is the end result of Lateral violence.
On the 23rd January 2012, I asked 2 questions of the Facebook community across the country.
1. All of you who know what Lateral violence really is please LIKE – 110 responses and counting
2. Now all of you who know what the opposite of Lateral violence is…Please LIKE – 36 responses and not counting quite so well
So the point of this exercise was to gage the community response regarding the awareness and understanding of Lateral violence.
The legal definition of Lateral violence as found via USLegal is: Lateral violence happens when people who are both victims of a situation of dominance, in fact turn on each other rather than confront the system that oppresses them both. Lateral violence occurs when oppressed groups/individuals internalize feelings such as anger and rage, and manifest their feelings through behaviors such as gossip, jealousy, putdowns and blaming.
And another one taken from Paul Memmott’s Community Based Strategies for Combating Indigenous Violence 2001 ‘unresolved grief that is associated with multiple layers of trauma spanning many generations’. Some of these ‘layers of trauma’ include: colonial aggression; genocide; racism; alienation from tribal lands; breakdown of social structure; loss of spirituality and languages; removal of rights and responsibilities; labour exploitation; and large-scale removal of Aboriginal children from their families (‘stolen generations’). These and other factors have contributed to the erosion of social structures and traditional values, and a range of social problems in current Aboriginal communities’ (Memmott et al. 2001).
Then the Frequent manifestations of lateral violence which include:
• nonverbal innuendo (raising eyebrows, face-making), • bullying, • verbal affront (overt/covert, snide remarks, lack of openness, abrupt responses, gossiping), • shaming, • undermining activities (turning away, not being available, social exclusion), • withholding information, • sabotage (deliberately setting up a negative situation), • infighting (bickering, family feuds), • scapegoating, • backstabbing (complaining to peers and not confronting the individual), • failure to respect privacy, • broken confidences, • organisational conflict, • physical violence.
In a moving email received from Cheri Yavu Kama Harathunian proud Kabi Kabi, Gurang Gurang, Terabalang Bunda Elder, Lateral violence is perfectly described in a way that resonates with me and the definition I am talking about. Cheri states that “Lateral violence is more than behaviors such as gossip, jealousy, putdowns and blaming, resentment, spite, envy, suspicion, distrust, protectiveness, bitterness, hatred, antipathy, racial superiority, taking on of another cultural expression – the Americanisation of Aboriginal youth – because of self shame, offence, umbrage, anger, acrimony, animosity, hostility, enmity, and other negative expressions is the fact that these expressions often have their basis in oral histories, those negative stories of our past that are handed down to us and that are projected into our present living’, she also goes on to talk about the types of violence we know a lot more about and the way that Lateral violence is often ignored because of this…’the strategies that are making a difference with regards to ‘domestic violence; personal violence; community violence and corporate violence have very little if any impact upon ‘lateral violence’. Often, the symptoms are or can be considered to be expressed as one of the above. But the motivators for lateral violence are embedded deeper in the psyche of Aboriginal and Islander peoples than behavior or cognition. What is missed is the spiritual scars that motivate the cognitive systems to the connection that is demonstrated in the behavioral outcome.’ Every behavior and situation is tarnished by Lateral violence, we need to understand this.
What to do about the situation? Well we have started the process. The process in place to be followed is to call together learning circles/yarning circles within your communities, families and networking groups, create these from the absolute grassroots level and continue them all the way through to all levels of society. Come together as a group and openly discuss the realities happening for each and every one of you. Then with an open mind embrace the concept of Lateral violence and how this has shaped the world as we know it in this space and time, then move towards discussions about what we can do to improve our situation by eliminating this negative practice through education and understanding.
Resources are light on the ground, primarily because society has brushed this issue of Lateral violence under the carpet for 200 years plus in this country, nobody has written about the damage that is done to families right throughout the Nation, and because of this, Lateral violence has become the norm and generations have grown up with this as a normal part of life. So much so that the people who are doing the most damage to each other are mostly unaware of the causes and the long term repercussions of their actions. We have dysfunctional families unable to cope with or find the answers to deal with the destructive nature of this type of violence!
I don’t believe Lateral violence is a new western sabotage or smoke screen, not the type of violence I am talking about. Accepting, understanding and sharing is the key to us moving forward as a strong and healthy Nation and to do that MUST examine Lateral violence. It is not acceptable to keep blaming the ‘other’ for how we treat our own, understanding how we all got to this point is important for us to begin healing.
Some people have questioned the way to approach this topic when addressing Elders within their communities. To each and every one of you I say this, by tackling this taboo topic we are trying to alleviate Lateral violence which is showing the highest respect for our Elders. Every single Elders abuse case that I know of is derived specifically from unchecked trans-generational Lateral violence. We need to encourage greater respect for Elders by the elimination of this negative practice and to get there we are all going to have to participate in some very open, confronting and frank discussions along the way. Every single individual in our society has a role to play. Lateral violence is very personal and we need to start getting personal in stamping out Lateral violence.
What have we tried to date? In my opinion, I believe that we have failed miserably in our attempts at Cultural Awareness Programs throughout this Nation. We need to focus on the educating and understanding the true meaning of Lateral violence. By ‘true meaning’ I will share with you once again the wisdom of Cheri, ‘the violence born from the outcomes of the manner in which our parents and their parents learned to survive, the historical violence perpetrated upon our ancestors from so called settlement, through the policies of the past and too you and to me in this present time. Our families’ oral histories are filled with smatterings of ways and means of survival that carried over from one generation to the next’. Every single issue we face today is underpinned by this negative collective consciousness and the well-known manifestations of this Lateral violence. The effects are devastatingly apparent. All of the millions of dollars poured into Cultural Awareness have not worked because Lateral violence is on the increase. ‘Our young people have the right to live life to the full, not carry victimisation, or survival techniques that they watch their parents use and once again perpetrate the cycle of lateral violence upon themselves and others’.
Please take the time to seriously consider Lateral violence and what it means to you and your families.
Talk about it, talk to everyone and participate in this monumental shift, join your ancestors in this Spiritual Awakening.
If we want to seriously address the issues of Youth Suicide in this country, Lateral violence MUST be acknowledged, understood and addressed!
Lateral violence knows no love, understanding or compassion!
January 24, 2012
