Opinion: Protecting my daughters in today’s world
- Alyson Bear | March 23, 2019
It is not only me I am trying to protect.
I have daughters who have to grow up in this place.
As I continue to bare witness to missing and murdered Indigenous women who cover this land and place.
This is not a safe place for me, it is not a safe place for my babies.
Where do I turn when so many of my people are lost in this colonial space?
Who are our protectors? Why does everything come down to me and how come so many people would rather look the other way while this genocide is ongoing and no one’s safe.
My feelings are valid but everywhere I turn people are trying to erase the truth that continues to rise as if were not meant or allowed to even be alive.
My existence has made it through genocide, by the love of my ancestors for the children to hopefully one day break free of this ongoing legacy. Where I have to fear for myself and my daughters everyday.
How do I know my babies will be safe when so many people show on their face that they don’t even care or want to hear the truth of how we got here?
My daughters are brave warriors and I am tired of this place tainting them to think less of themselves and take them down a path of self-destruct like it did to me for so many years.
I am trying my best to overcome these fears but the truth is I am scared and there seems to be no real safe space in a colonial world where our own people are so lost, tired and drained.
Stop stealing my energy, I won’t just be a statistic, I whisper to myself. I will devote my life to raising girls who can rise above the mess and all I can do now is at least make sure our home will always be a safe space.