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Welcome to the Webinar

Presenters: • Cecilia Fire Thunder, President, Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition

Moderator: • Jennifer Rose, Consultant, Futures Without Violence

Returning to Being Good Relatives: Addressing Lateral

Oppression and Violence

October 21st, 2015

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Federal Coordination

• US Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney

General

– Office of Justice Programs

• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

• Office for Victims of Crime

• National Institute of Justice

– Office on Violence Against Women

– Office of Community Oriented Policing

– Executive Office of US Attorneys

• US Department of Health and Human Services

• US Department of Education

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Goals of the Defending Childhood Initiative

• Prevent children’s exposure to violence.

• Mitigate the negative effects experienced by

children exposed to violence.

• Develop knowledge about and spread

awareness of this issue.

Over $30 M Invested From FY2010 – FY2012

• Research and Evaluation

• Direct Action in Communities – Comprehensive Demonstration Project

– Safe Start Program (www.safestartcenter.org)

– OVW Children Exposed to Violence grants

• Training and Technical Assistance

• Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence (www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/cev-rpt-full.pdf)

• Action Partnerships with Professional Organizations

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• There will be time for Q & A at the end of the presentation.

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Presenter

Cecilia Fire Thunder

Lakota Name:

Tawachin Waste Win

(her will is good)

Opening Blessing

RETURNING TO BEING GOOD RELATIVES: Addressing Lateral

Oppression and Violence

Cecelia Fire Thunder, Presenter/Consultant

Defending Childhood Initiative

POLL: When you hear the term “Lateral Oppression and Violence”, what comes

to mind?

Type in the chat box – we’d love to “hear” your thoughts!

Lateral Violence

• Lateral violence is the expression of rage and anger, fear and terror that can only be safely vented upon those closest to us when we are being oppressed. Those who oppress us do not hear us nor do they assist us in changing the oppression-therefore it’s unsafe for us to speak to them.

Characteristics of Lateral Oppression

• Organized, harmful behaviors that we do to each other within our oppressed group: within our families, organizations, workplace and within our communities

• Expression of rage and anger, fear and terror

• Vented on those closest to us when we are being oppressed

It Is Also Called Internalized Colonialism

• Colonization created a hierarchy based on fear-based power and control techniques (such as warfare, genocide, threat of death), male gender and economic power. Superiority of some and inferiority of others was assumed. Lateral violence begins as deflected aggression, hostility is directed towards those who will not retaliate.

Where Does Lateral Oppression Originate From?

• Being subject to oppression and internalizing the oppression where it can manifest into oppressing others

• “Freire’s theory is that it’s dangerous to direct aggression at the oppressor. Since the aggression has to go somewhere, it goes out toward others…”

Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart http://aianhealthcareers.org/page7/page58/page95/page95.html, retrieved

9/8/15

Establishing and Maintaining Power

• Lateral violence works to maintain power in an oppressed group when someone is seen to threaten that power in some way. It is dangerous to shift the oppression, some form of safety has been found at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Expression of Lateral Violence

We repeat our original oppression by oppressing those around us. However, we often are harsher on ourselves than our oppressors. And we usually find techniques to normalize the lateral violence. Therefore, lateral violence is understood to be a result of ’internalized oppression’.

Tactics of Lateral Oppression

• We intensely focus on the negative in another person or another group. Any piece of information can be twisted to the negative, assumptions made, fear-based conclusions created until someone has been labelled ‘Bad’ and ‘Wrong’. Once the labelling has happened, then the attack begins.

Tactics of Lateral Oppression cont.’

• Collective cooperation is also a key element in Lateral violence. A number of people work together negatively to attack and undermine another person or group. This usually is an ‘informal working group’, but can become formalized.

Lateral Oppression and Violence Uses This Information

• Economic/Money

• Social Position/Role/Job

• Family Membership

• Education

• Eye, Hair, Skin Color

• Sexual Orientation

• Gender

• Blood Quantum

• Health / Disability

• Culture

• Association/Relationships

• Behavior

• Differences

• Body Language

• Tone of Voice

• Clothes

• History

• Spirituality

Forms of Lateral Oppression and Violence

• Gossip • Jealousy • Revenge • Blaming and Judging • Shaming and Guilting • Shunning/Ignoring • Negative Labelling • Emphasizing the negative • Financial disabling • Financial greediness • Firing or Threat of Firing • Selective Hiring • Physical Attacks, including

possessions of the target • Verbal Attack • Spiritual Attack

• Attacking friends, family members, associates, pets of the target

• Sexual Attacks • Obsessive concern about another

person’s behaviour • Imposing rules and regulations to

maintain power and control by one person/group

• Memo’s/Internally distributed newsletters/Papers that verbally attack, often anonymously

• Sabotage of projects and jobs • Family feuding/Organization feuding • Threatening to harm • Bullying

Stages in Oppression and Violence

• The Build Up • The Attack • The Retreat • The Denial • The Quiet Period • The Cycle Begins Again •

Transforming Internalized Oppression

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian organizer and educator, in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, says that the oppressed can change their circumstances through praxis – reflection and action – and that in order to do that, they have to learn to analyze their lives and to throw aside internalized oppression.

Section 3: Healing from Internalized Oppression

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/healing-from-interalized-oppression/main, retrieved

9/8/15

How Can We Transform the Negative Energy of Lateral Violence into Positive Energy?

• We’d like to hear from you! Type into the Chat box.

Ideas to Transform Lateral Oppression

“This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. The oppressors who oppress, exploit and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both. Any attempt to "soften" the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifests itself in the form of false generosity; indeed, the attempt never goes beyond this.”

PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED by Paulo Freire. New York: Continuum Books, 1993

Dismantling Lateral Violence/Oppression

• Workplace and school policies to address and eliminate hostile behavior and hostile work environment

• Awareness and hands on education for students and staff on prevention, intervention and healing related to bullying and hostile behavior

• Change the language of oppression designed to isolate, dominate, alienate and marginalize

Deconstructing Systems of Oppression

Recognize how oppressive systems are constructed 1. Patterns of abuse- change tactics used in relationships

that create and maintain dominance. Example: violence (physical and emotional) in a relationship to establish and maintain power 2. Social Justification – understand and change how dominance is excused or explained. Example: “the people don’t need to know how the Tribe is spending the money, it’s the Tribal Council’s job to take care of the money”

http://www.creativeconflictresolution.org/jc/maps-1/systems-of-oppression.html

Deconstructing Systems of Oppression cont.’

3. Acknowledge how secrecy is maintained to support the structure of oppression Example: Keeping others from finding out what they have a right to know (vs. Privacy – keeping others from finding out what they have no business knowing) 4. Manage/take care of Internal Distress – factor in dominating and oppressing to soothe anxiety. Example: “If I’m anxious, I’m going to act in a way that tries to get someone else to be responsible for how I feel and to take care of me”

Responding to Lateral Oppression

• Self-awareness-Change roles or patterns that sustain oppression

• Reflect vs React

• Understand power is about perception, what impact does this perception of power have on me

• Recognize Triggers – if upset, don’t try to problem solve, or try to have a dialogue until calmer

• Speak Up – address issues directly

Closing Blessing

Please take a moment to take a short survey regarding today’s webinar and future webinars.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BTLGML5

October 21st, 2015

This project was supported by Grant No. 2011-MU-MU-K011 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

Points of view expressed in this webinar are those of the

presenter(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or

policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of Justice.

Returning to Being Good Relatives: Addressing Lateral Oppression and Violence