This post has turned out to be too much for me to bite off and finish today. The idea is rather complex and I let a stomach bug get the better of my efficiency goals for most of the day. I did get some satisfying professional work in. And I did eventually manage (barely) to get three kids off to bed. The 2-year-old finally falling asleep amongst a pile of sniffles and sobs just before 10 PM. (Dad is off training this week and she doesn’t see to understand.) But now, I find myself getting in my 30 minutes of writing just before 11 PM and suddenly it is actually 12:04 AM and I have yet to finish.

And so, I will introduce the concept to you today, even if I have to finish off the meat of my discourse tomorrow. The subject is yet another look at semantics and language. At meaning and usage. My focus is the word Indigenous. And how the use of Indigenous is evidence of White Privilege/Occidentalism. This subject has been brought to us originally by a discussion I had a few years ago with my husband. As you have probably noticed by now, my husband and I are both rather opinionated individuals. We both live very value driven lives, but we have had very different life experiences. Sometimes these experiences mean that we don’t always see eye-to-eye. In other words, my white privilege led me to see the word indigenous in a very different light than my husband.

Before I get into my story and the following discussion, I want you to read an article that came through my Facebook feed several times in the previous 24 hours. This article is responsible for reminding me in the shift in my understanding of the word Indigenous and the implications behind its usage.

And so, I have cut and pasted the body of today’s writings into a template for Day 21. And instead of reading me, your assignment for today is to read this article by Ijeoma Oluo and then come back and read my discussion tomorrow.

“The Heart of Whiteness: Ijeoma Oluo Interviews Rachel Dolezal, the White Woman Who Identifies as Black,” by Ijeoma Oluo

This post has been republished on my main Alibcandid blog as “Hidden Connotations.“