Month: August 2017

Abuse does not make you a broken monster

realsocialskills:

Our culture often sends the message that if you were abused as a child, you’ll inevitably abuse your children.

It’s not true. I know multiple people personally who grew up in violent homes who have chosen not to be abusive. They experienced violence as children; they do not commit acts of violence as adults. It is possible, it is happening, and people making that choice deserve more respect and recognition.

It’s easier to learn how to parent well from growing up with good parents. It’s also possible to learn from other people. I know this because I’ve seen people do it. To some extent, *everyone* learns from people other than their own parents. (Including their own children. Kids are born with minds of their own, and people who respect their children learn a lot from them about how parenting can and can’t work.) 

It’s a matter of degree. Everyone needs some degree of help and support in learning how to parent; some people need more help and support. Abuse (among other things) may mean that someone needs more help learning parenting; it does not mean that someone will inevitably become an abuser. 

I think we need to talk about this more. Abuse survivors should not be treated as broken monsters. Violence is a choice, and abuse survivors are capable of choosing nonviolence. Abuse survivors are full human beings who have the capacity to make choices, learn skills, and treat others well. 

You Should Stream: This Doc Explores the Struggles of Honduras’ Afro-Indigenous Garífuna People

wocinsolidarity:

The vibrant cultures of Central America are far too often overshadowed by their larger neighbors to the north and south, but what does that mean for a local ethnic group that’s even neglected within its own borders? For the Afro-Indigenous Garífuna people of coastal Honduras, the struggle for recognition is also the struggle to preserve their unique culture into future generations.

The short documentary On Our Land: Being Garífuna in Honduras gives us an on-the-ground look at how this plays out in communities like Trujillo and Limón, where some of the country’s nearly 150,000 Garífuna speakers are concentrated. Through a series of interviews with community members, local politicians, and members of the Garífuna diaspora in the United States, the documentary explores urgent challenges of linguistic survival, institutional representation, and that are affecting the Garífuna.

As the documentary explains, the mixed Garífuna culture formed after a shipwreck left captured Africans stranded on islands of the lesser Antilles, where they intermarried with indigenous Arawak and Caribs. When the British took the islands of St. Vincent and Dominica in the 18th century, the expelled the so-called “Black Caribs” to the island of Roatan off the northern coast of Honduras.

Directed by Neil Dixon, Erica Renee Harding, and James P. Frazier, On Our Land shows how the Garífuna have survived and thrived in the face of continued obstacles, all without losing the passion and joy that characterizes them as a people.

You Should Stream: This Doc Explores the Struggles of Honduras’ Afro-Indigenous Garífuna People