Starting on Monday I have seen on social media quite the outburst of anger as well as smug attempts to excuse ignorance pertaining to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Yes, even right here in Howard County.
Ignorance: when you don’t know and you don’t care. (A Mom definition.)
In looking over my post from last year’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day I came across a video shared by the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity. It’s three minutes long and it puts the focus right where it should be:
Ignorance and a fierce determination to defend it are not something to be proud of. Caring enough to learn the truth and come to terms with it are what we should be striving for.
Here is what the Indigenous Peoples’ Day deniers seem to have missed: it is absolutely possible to love this land, to love our democracy, and at the same time believe we are made stronger by learning the truth about our history and by choosing ways to do better.
It isn’t weakness. It’s strength.
Rigidity leads to brittleness. Things that are brittle are more likely to break. Take trees, for example. The ones that have even a small capability to bend are the ones that can withstand heavy storms. We each have a choice: to remain rigid in the face of uncomfortable truths, or to have the flexibility to learn from them.
I am beginning to be convinced that the future of our nation is threatened to its core by those who demand the former and spurn the latter.
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