neon_vomit

Yay! Last day of school. Today we are having a big feast in my last class. With real live tabbacco and everything! (atleast thats what they tell us is in the pipe). This morning in class we were discussing why Native people encourange laughing at one another when say one of them does something wrong, or makes a mistake. Their is also a lot of humor in their language and they way they speak/insult eachother. Someone today asked why this was..and there were a variety of theories, including one I had heard in my Cree class. So I say, "I think that I heard it had something to do with the opression that many had endured". Immediately this guy in my class barked at me. He says "OPRESSION IS A WHITE MANS WORD" ( I wanted to say, well im white so I can say it, but didnt) anyway...he is in his 50's and went to residnetial school so i understand his outburst but soon the whole class errupted because we totally disagreed. He claimed that white people use that word to describe natives because white people assume that people are poor and unhappy. The rest of the class defended me luckily and said that every single one of our classes has used the word "opressed" to describe the nature of first nations people way back when when the Europeans came. And he says "And WHO wrote those texts? WHITE MEN I betcha". Well, no, they didnt...infact in our History of and Current First Nations Education class..our NATIVE teacher uses the word Opressor, and the oppressed every five minutes. Anyway..I think he was misinterpreting what we were all trying to say. I was beggining to think that he thought I meant "deppressed" not "opressed". And..there are variations of the term. As I left the class however I heard a scowl and a grumble comming from behind me "I'm not oppressed". I just kept walking, nobody said you were opressed. dammit. Its tough taking these classes, This is the first time i haver really offered my opinions and theories and it might be the last because what just happened is exactlly what I thought would happen. Always someone who damns the man.