cation. For example, because homophobia, heterosexism, and heteronormativity are systemic in society most of us don't recognize these systems of violence and oppression. Therefore, when they are brought to our attention we may become defensive and angry, blame the victims, minimize the violence or deny there is a problem. This reaction to something positive (i.e. standing up for human rights and equality) is what Dr. Wilson calls whiplash. It is a great analogy because, truly, it can feel like whiplash when experiencing this resistance to anti-racist and anti-oppressive education. Drawing from statistics, personal stories, news stories, and qualitative research she also explained how racism, sexism and homophobia impact youth in destructive ways that can, and do, lead to suicide. It was very powerful and emotional when we viewed pictures of young boys who had recently committed suicide and were told that, something is going on. Dr. Wilson shared links to: several diagrams that explain how violence is normalized through power and control.
These diagrams can help us to understand how racism, sexism and homophobia are systems of violence that work to normalize domination. To conclude, she shared examples of individuals who challenge interconnected forms of oppression in spite of the whiplash they experience and she asked the audience to volunteer personal stories of the ways that they work as allies in anti-oppressive education. Dr. Wilson’s final words emphasized that, according to research, the most preventative factor of youth suicide is a positive and meaningful relationship with at least one adult. The fact that so many youth who experience racism, homophobia and sexism do commit suicide alarms us to the fact that we are not doing enough to care for and value our children.Thank you Dr. Wilson for your powerful messages. If you want to learn more about her work check out these links: http://iportal.usask.ca/index.php?t=display_solr_search&having=1096641&sid=271821201
and http://words.usask.ca/alexwilson/
