White Supremacy has been on my mind this week as I saw a lot of it on Face Book via links to articles and videos.
I wrote an article called White Supremacy All Around Me. A video by Kyla Pawis helped prompt that article and today’s vlog.
Kyla was racist toward South Asians. After seeing responses to Kyla I wasn’t down with most of the reactions from people. Sexism, misogyny, profanity, and attacks on Kyla’s appearance and intellect were seen throughout the responses.
Kyla is young, lost, hurt, suffers from mental health issues, and she can change with support.
Racist ideologies like Kyla’s are the reason behind the murder of Reena Virk and many other acts of violence toward Indigenous peoples and peoples of colour.
Let’s educate people like Kyla and stop white supremacy.
Black feminist professor bell hooks says, “For me, forgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?”
That’s what this vlog is about.
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i am impressed by your compassion. i am utterly disgusted by her comments but i agree that a lot of the responses were filled with sexist hate speech and attacks about her looks. thank you for looking at both sides and trying to heal everyone. and thank you for recommending the words of indigenous women and women of colour as guiding lights out of this.
I didn’t see her video, but I think you’re on the right path about the forgiveness, many young people don’t know the history of this land, they are left to rely on misinformation or none at all, I say forgive her and educate her for sure.
Brenda,
Chi-Miigwetch for your comment!
I’m still learning forgiveness and I’m still learning about this land. It’s a life long process.
Peace,
Jorge
if she is really sorry she should make a video just like how she made one to make racist you could say shes not racist but shes racist stop trying to stand up for her you do stupid shit and it will come right back
Malton,
Thanks for commenting.
A well thought out and honest apologetic video from her would be good. I hope if she does one that people would accept it.
Peace,
Jorge
Excellent vlog!! I didn’t see Kyla’s video, but I am impressed by your loving and forgiving attitude. Darkness cannot be defeated by darkness. Only light can defeat darkness. In the same way, only love and forgiveness can defeat hatred. Good on you!!
Peter,
Thanks!
Peace and light to you,
Jorge
me just like any other person of colour would usually respond with anger if i saw her video but that wouldn’t do much to solve the problem…thank you for sharing, i think its important to educate people and forgive instead of breeding more anger and creating more racism and tension.
Atow07,
Thanks!
I totally agree.
It can turn into a vicious cycle. We don’t need that.
Peace,
Jorge
Totally agreed dude. I’ve been saying that myself, and continue to catch flak from these ignorant people. Its a shame, really. Here is a golden opportunity to let the white man get a glimpse of how we are as people, and instead we get aggressive like animals.
Sameer,
Thanks for your comment.
It is totally an opportunity to educate and forgive someone who is young, confused, and has a chance to change. Kyla Pawis is not a 70 racist who has her mind set.
Peace,
Jorge
I am so honoured and proud to have you as a friend. These are such positive steps towards combatting racism. It’s too easy to get angry, it’s too easy to insult Kyla Pawis. Thank you for taking the time to see her as a person. Thank you for taking the time to learn her name and talk to her pain. Thank you for the recommended book lists that can heal and educate not only the lost, but those of us who react with hatred first (myself included). This is true journalism. This is true compassion.
Whitney,
You are the bomb!
Thanks for your support.
Peace,
Jorge
I think you may like this reaction as much as I did. It is a lot different than most of the other responses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=KC8EhKs7abI
I am actually not impressed by your response. I feel she needs to realize the consequences of her actions. I agree about the fact that using profanity to justify yourself or make her look bad is a terrible idea. However, that does not change the fact that she was racist and now she has to learn it the hard way that these things have consequences. If people didn’t show hate towards this video then you would start seeing more racist videos online. You have no idea what Sikh men go through. I understand that one should be forgiving but there is a limit to that. Try facing racism everyday for the rest of your life and then we will see if you can be forgiving. Coming back to the issue of this girl, well, she is young and very opinionated. I agree with you on not using profanity or making fun of her eyebrows, or making random negative comments that have nothing to do with this video. Another thing I want to add on this subject is that racism comes ignorance not some “pain”. If you saw the video, you don’t have to be a genius to tell that one clear objective of that video was racism not some pain. The only reason I forgive her is because she is young and has a lot to learn.
Well I’m not from Brampton, I’m from Toronto ( her favorite City ,lol ). Now I do understand her outrage was mostly against Sikh people, but we must understand that these things have happened, are happening, and will keep happening for quite some time now. Is she naive , yes, does she deserve all that hate from a community, not really, but the reason why the Sikhs especially and colored people generally reacted in such a way, is because they wan to send out a message, and set an example.
Just like Kramer (Michael Richard) did not really mean to hurt the black people ,but the outrage that came was because a message needed to be sent. We should also not forget that if a race has had a history of , and still continues to practice racial supremacy over others, and considers them “sub-human” , for that particular race, everything they do will be taken seriously, even if they’re joking. If brown people say something against Black people ,it’s not necessarily a big deal and vice-versa, but being white, I think her parents and most white parents should educate their children about the horrible things their ancesters did in the past and their relatives are doing in other countries.
I feel really sorry for her. I think everyone should forgiver her, hey we are human and we make mistake. “live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”