'You don't look like one' syndrome remembered

Page 7

Dear Editor:

I just finished reading your October edition, and while I found a number of things to commend in it, Drew Hayden Taylor's column in particular got my attention.

As an Aboriginal woman with a light complexion, I've been there, done that too. In my home community - to which I relocated last year, after 21 years - I am accepted for myself, but I had to deal with the "Funny, you don't look like one" syndrome for much of my career in print journalism.

In most cases, being blessed with a strong sense of cultural identity and self-esteem (colleagues who know me well might say a healthy ego), I merely laughed it off. I even began collecting a list of my alter-ethnic identities. This was based on people's wildly inaccurate guesses about my vaguely "exotic" looks (the most original one was Magyar). Moveover, Zsa Zsa!

At other times and in other places, I found my camouflage to be rather helpful. People would drop their guard and make comments they would never have made otherwise, had they known there was an Aboriginal person present. As you can well imagine, this phenomenon can be very career-enhancing for a journalist.

However, the one thing that invariably got under my skin were those white pseudo-liberals who, having known me for oh, say, five minutes, would come up with my favorite groaner:

"Oh, you're Native? I probably know a lot more about Natives than you do."

Unfortunately, by the time it took me (years, actually) to come up with a few snappy comebacks, people stopped saying stuff like this to me. Go figure. Maybe they see me coming and realize they don't stand a chance.

I have come to accept that until our education system is drastically changed, these people will always be with us. This is why I feel compelled to express my appreciation of Mr. Taylor's hard-earned wisdom and advice to his correspondent "Linda." The double discrimination encountered by light-skinned Aboriginal people isn't going to go away any time soon, but I'd like to wrap up with this final thought for the Lindas of the world: What doesn't kill us will only make us stronger.

Sincerely,

Lynne Jorgesen

(Danish/Okanagan)

Merritt, B.C.