I’m very certain French is not the indigenous language of Huahine.

Is there a point to this post? Of course there is.

The solidly germane point of this post is to highlight the presumptive nonsense of this goofball named Robert Salazar who tells me I don’t know what it’s like to be brown and have my lands taken from my people and my women raped and disease brought down upon my people and being killed by the thousands and other ignorant fallacies.

I just wanted to make a point about rubber stamp peer advocates so in love with their own constructed suffering that they’re blinded to the struggles of other peers.

Also noteworthy is how even a peer advocate aligned with NAMI Connection can blatantly neglect one of the most important rules of the support group:

We don’t judge others pain as less than our own.

That sort of myopic, self-congratulatory hubris and hypocrisy is better served by narcissistic politicians versed in how to portray themselves as a victim through noble pity … without ever considering that we have more in common than apart, if only we’re willing to ask sincere questions and genuinely agree to listen. I expect more from a NAMI peer advocate and I’m disappointed with NAMI for allowing such callousness.

Responsible advocacy so as not to diminish others. True advocacy is all about helping others empower themselves. That’s the point.

Did I mention? My Mom was born on Huahine. I’m first generation born in America. I grew up knowing the stories of the tyrannical, murderous abuse my people endured. My family continues to live in Polynesie Français.

By the by and quick the rye, my French is a hybrid mess. Tahitian, Chinese, and French all working beside each other as the mongrel moonman language of a many times over conquered people.

And for the record, there’s no generational guilt and reparations expectation from me, calling upon the French, British, Portugese, and Spanish to cough up responsibility, accountability, and culpability for perceived wrongs committed centuries back. The people of Huahine, Moreaa, Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc. were already conquering each other long before Europeans arrived. Thus is human nature for good or bad.

So it’s known, I share my family’s stories openly … all you have to do is ask and listen.