Defining statement revised

This idea of creating channels into knowledge is evolving as I think and pray more about it.

My original statement was: The only way for non-Native people to understand so they can respond to injustices that Native people endured, and continue to suffer from, is to create channels into that knowledge.

On further reflection, there are some problems with that statement.

• Native people are depicted solely as those who have suffered, when actually they
  • hold the knowledge,
  • offer the invitation,
  • set the direction,
  • and lead
    • Ronnie James at Des Moines Mutual Aid
    • Sikowis Nobiss at the Great Plains Action Society
• It is not true that there is only one way to build a channel, and the settler is assumed to be the builder
  • Some channels are built from the other side and offered. Where one exists, the obligation is to use it correctly — unsummarized, at full length, in their own voice — not to build another.
    • The article Zitkála-Šá wrote about her boarding school experience is an example.
    • As are invitations to work at the Great Plains Action Society’s Urban Resilience Hub
• Because I, of necessity, write from my own experience, there is the implication that Quaker practices are required to make channels. Which wasn’t intended, or true.
  • The initial need to sense that there is something you don’t know can come from any reflective or meditative practice.
  • Or may come from a challenge or a story from someone who holds the knowledge you don’t have
• The knowledge through an established channel flows in both directions.
  • Otherwise, it would just be extractive
    • A reminder that you need to contribute to the channel in an ongoing manner

A better statement would be:

Non-Native people cannot respond well to what Native people endured, and still suffer, until they understand it — and understanding of that kind arrives only through a channel: a relationship with the people who hold that knowledge, built over years, entered by invitation, and carrying in both directions.

Or a shorter form:

Understanding that leads to response arrives only through a channel — a relationship with the people who hold the knowledge, built over years, entered by invitation, carrying both ways.