Note: This diary is in support of an ongoing crowdfunding effort by the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB). The funding will play a crucial role in helping regenerate the building they've occupied for the last 40 years. Please help in any way you can - ideally, by Rec'ing and sharing as widely as you can, and if time and finances allow, with whatever you can provide to help with the fundraising effort. Times are tight for many of us - simply sharing news of this effort is more than appreciated. Please read on, and thank you.
Where do you call "home"? Is it where you hang your hat, or sleep at night? Is it where you gather with family, friends, or relatives? Is it a real place, or is it a virtual spot in your memory, heart and soul?
Or is it all of the above?
Have you ever been far from home - perhaps a bit homesick - only to walk into some place in a strange new area and suddenly feel at ease...at home? Or at least at ease, comfortable and familiar?
Now switch it up: has life sometimes become so fraught with stresses - social, financial, physical - that "home" offers less comfort, less release, less protection from those stresses?
It happens. A lot. Life can at times beset us with challenges that we cannot always handle ourselves, which keep us from being able to relax even for an instant. The constant state of stress can invade our home lives, our shelter from life's storms, and introduce conflicts that interfere with our families and our attempts to progress and grow. Sometimes - too often, nowadays, for too many - we spend 100% of our time fighting against the onslaught, only to find that for every two steps forward we've moved three steps back.
That's when those of us fortunate enough to have family, or friends like family, or a close-knit community, can band together to face the challenges and better position ourselves through the combined strength of others to not only survive, but move forward in facing and dispelling the various and sundry impediments facing each of us.
United we stand, whether that be within a family, a union, a neighborhood, a culture, or a community center. And "united" doesn't mean, nor does it require, losing one's individuality, or forcing a distillation of one's culture. We can stand together, united, on our common humanity while supporting each other in spite of cultural, religious or familial bonds.
That's what we do here at the Daily Kos community. That's what the folks do at the North American Indian Center of Boston. That's what families and communities do when they bring out the best of humanity to rise against the challenges that can arise from life, especially when some of those challenges are imposed by divisive elements that arise from a lack of cultural awareness, or bigotry, or racism, or ignorance, or fear.
It's important to know where you are from; it's important to know where you're going. And it's important to know that you can, when needed, locate & reach out to those who could provide information, guidance and assistance.
In a nation like the United States, comprised of a mixture of people from different walks of life - different races, cultures, religions and nations, it's easy to get lost. The history of the nation is rife with misguided1 attempts to assimilate all into one generic cultural norm; only relatively recently, in fits and starts, has the recognition of the importance of maintaining ties to one's past cultural history gained traction. The dominant culture still drives onward, imprinting itself on the national identity, as the national identity, often without regard for the other rich cultural traditions that comprise our nation's people. Inherent within this is the unfortunately too-often remnants of embedded racism that was once a primary tool used to push non-dominant cultures toward assimilation.
If you're not part of the dominant culture - if, in fact, you are easily identified as a minority due to physical appearance or gender - then you can easily find yourself facing challenges to you and your family that are significant, yet some if not most of those very real challenges are decried as nonexistent if not entirely overlooked or ignored by non-minorities who are fully assimilated within the dominant culture.
And past "assimilation" practices, still embedded1 and sometimes resurgent, can add stresses that make it even more important to have a home, or at least be able to connect with others of similar cultural background, in order to establish a solid point of reference upon which to build a foundation from which a positive path forward can be forged.
While non-minorities may never fully understand the problems faced by minority groups, all people can understand the need for a place to call "home" or gather with others with whom they can be themselves, share stories, and encourage each other or provide support for each other whether it's in the form of social, mental, environmental, physical or even financial form.
In recent years, regardless of race or color or creed, more and more families have found themselves in situations where children, having left the nest to start their own families, have been forced by circumstance to return home to their parents - with their families - and still work hard to survive.2,3
"Home" takes on an extended meaning, as does "family." Care-giving responsibilities grow and extend; stresses ebb and flow as situations change, and people strive to survive in the best ways they can.
And many still need help.
Over the past few weeks, I've been posting diaries to help grow support and awareness of the North American Indian Center of Boston's crowd funding effort, so that they can regenerate their building, qualify for more government grants and programs, and build on their success in helping to serve the Native American community in and around the greater Boston area. One of the programs they started in recent years is specifically geared toward helping grandparents who have found themselves once again serving as primary caregivers - it's a good program, one which the folks at NAICOB are proud of. Over the fold, we'll talk a little about that - and a bit more about the importance of a cultural touchstone that the building which houses NAICOB provides for many Native Americans in the northeast.
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