The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017 - 16

conFlIcT TransFormaTIon

Colour-coded,
continued from page 15
It is socially constructed, agreed-upon, often supported by the
latter through unconscious or conscious internalisation of
endless messaging about who's who and who's not. Perhaps
most profoundly, we talked about decolonisation as a joint task
of colonised and coloniser: we all have unlearning to do, as
oppressed peoples confront their capitulation and oppressors
their cluelessness.

"Perhaps most profoundly, we talked
about decolonisation as a joint task
of colonised and coloniser: we all have
unlearning to do, as oppressed peoples
confront their capitulation and oppressors
their cluelessness."
We recognised the tendency of the dominant culture, upon
hearing stories too hard to hear, retreating into self-flagellating
guilt, a place centred on the suffering of the self rather than on
the task of moving beyond guilt and into action and allyship:
Who grants it? What does the dominant culture need to do
or learn in order to earn it? What is the grace and forgiveness
available when we allow ourselves to accept our conditioning
and begin the work of consciousness?

Towards the end of the training, we heard a story offered
by LeDayne McLeese Polaski, Executive Director of the BPFNA ~ Bautistas por la Paz, a painful story of the challenges of
entering into difficult conversations, to which the participants
responded with advice from their own experiences. How do we
take risky steps into conversations we'd rather avoid, conversations that seem to hold the prospect of a price too high? go
along to get along? Or find the words, take the risk, reframing
the issues through understanding and un-learning?
In a closing circle, led by Renée, we ritualised our learnings,
our hopes, our commitments to ourselves and to one another,
to a world looking for love.
-Lee McKenna, a former BPFNA board member and staff member, is a
Conflict Transformation specialist living on a farm in Ontario. She travels
all over the globe, leading CT trainings and working for peace. (For more
information about Lee, go to www.partera.ca.)
Author's note: Designed by Partera International with Michael Blair (executive staff with the United Church of Canada) and Renée Hill-Thomas
(Elder, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory), Colour-coded was supported by LeDayne McLeese Polaski, Executive Director of the BPFNA,
the Toronto Conference of the UCC and the Living into Right Relations
Circle, a settler-First Nation initiative of the UCC.
Endnotes
1. "Bennett Buggy" was a term used in Canada during the
great Depression to describe a car that had its engine and
windows taken out and was pulled by a horse. The phenomenon was named for Richard Bennett, the Canadian Prime
Minister from 1930 to 1935.
2. On February 3, 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens and J.P. (The Big Bopper) Richardson were
killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, IA. The event was
later named "The Day the Music Died" when songwriter Don
McLean referred to the event in the hit song
"American Pie."
3. The Doctrine of Discovery was based on a
Papal Bull (or edict) issued by Pope Alexander
VI in 1493, giving Christian explorers the
rights to claim lands they "discovered" for their
monarchs. Any land that was not inhabited by
Christians was fair game to be claimed and
exploited. The indigenous inhabitants were to
be converted-or, if not converted, enslaved
or killed with impunity. This practice laid the
foundation for genocide and profound oppression of indigenous peoples all over the world. n

Conflict Transformation training participants share
profound feelings, laughing and weeping together.
Photo by Laura McAlpine, an intern for
Partera International.

16 Baptist Peacemaker

jul-sep 2017

http://www.partera.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017