Online Sunday School – Lesson 46 - Decolonizing the Spaces We Live in

This week’s lesson, the 5 readings on the University of Alberta Faculty blog, has been on "decolonizing the spaces we live in".

As an aside, the head-shaking quote of the week from the blog was a quote from the former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking at a G20 Conference, [who] stated,

"for nearly 150 years [Canada has] had the same political system without any social breakdown [or] political upheaval ... We also have no history of colonialism.” 

(Aaron Wherry, “What He Was Talking About When He Talked About Colonialism”, Maclean’s Magazine (1 October 2009), online: .) 

Mind blowing.

Here is my experience for the week that made me think about decolonializing the spaces we live in.

I went to Value Village with my friend, Sumin, who was looking for jeans for herself, jeans for her husband and winter clothes for her 2 year old. At the check-out her arms were full and she placed some of the items on the counter as the patron before her was checking out two medium-sized items.  The customer's  transaction was nearly finished. Then she looked at my friend and scolded her for putting her armful of second-hand treasures down on the end of the counter in preparation for her own transaction.

So Sumin took them off and put them back in the basket. 

When the woman had walked away, Sumin put the clothes she was buying again on the counter and the clerk looked at us and said, “Why did that customer have to be so rude. There was plenty of room there, and the counter is meant for all customers.” 

 I shrugged it off, saying to the clerk, “Well, she must have been having a bad day.” 

But the clerk continued, “No, if she was having a bad day, she shouldn’t have been taking it out on the rest of us.” 

I replied again, “Well Sumin and I have the mantra ‘who cares’ and we try to forge ahead and not let other people’s unrealistic expectations get in our way.

Still on the way home, Sumin asked me to explain what had gone on with that encounter. 

I was driving, it was late in the day and I needed to give my fullest attention to the road. But here are the best ideas I could give to her. 

1. "I doubt that the patron would have dared talk to me like that. I am white,  and I have age on my side and a certain presence."  (At the moment  of the interchange at the counter, I had been tending the 2 year old in the cart and not really visible when this was going on.) 

2. I also wondered aloud why the clerk didn’t say anything to the patron. I guessed, to Sumin, it was because her job is always at stake if she talks back to a customer. It is not that the clerk didn’t have a voice for she used it when she talked to us – she was the one who brought up the fact that the counter is for everyone, not just the person paying the money. And she is the one who articulated that it is not alright to be rude to someone if you are having a bad day.

For some reason, you can see, I am thinking about what it is we (Settlers) colonize and how. Asking myself, are there certain spaces that I wrap my arms around, keeping visible immigrants out of those spaces. 

Just to go on and on about this, do Settlers need the whole space at the Value Village check-out, even it the last quarter of it is empty?

At any rate, this is my best try at thinking about the theory and bringing it to the specific moments that I am in.

I also want to figure out what it is that I should do in those moments.

Thus endeth online Sunday School for this week.

Arta