I went to an event recently and someone tweeted about it at me afterwards, calling me a pioneer:
1) First and foremost, I do appreciate the sentiment and good intentions that motivated the above tweet. Pioneer generally has a positive slant in our society, so if I can just skim the good connotation off the substance, I will. I'll take the cream off the top. We generally applaud pioneers for their successes, knowing or seeing something first, and usually taking some action because of it. Parts of me certainly would like to be part of this trend-setting group.
However, there are some less-desirable characteristics of the word that I wouldn't like to embody, and for those reasons, I don't identify as a pioneer.
2) The word pioneer, says Google, means:
Though I am part of U.S. settler colonialism, I don't seek to actively reify it.
3) I'm also not the first, nor only one ...probably doing anything. There are countless people who have come before me and set forth ideas that have lead to my own. To discount all of that work, thoughts thoughts, the labor, and the individuals before me is narrow-minded and...quite frankly self-centered.
So, nope, I'm not a pioneer. I acknowledge those who have come before me, those who have helped me get to where I am now, and I am actively against reifying settler colonialism!
World changing pioneers! It's a @women2 @W2citymeetup #FF @activismo, @alizardx, @anadiazhernandz, @arilikeairy, @ArtfulAllie, @Avilesm
— Nicole Lazzaro (@NicoleLazzaro) May 2, 2014
I have a few thoughts.1) First and foremost, I do appreciate the sentiment and good intentions that motivated the above tweet. Pioneer generally has a positive slant in our society, so if I can just skim the good connotation off the substance, I will. I'll take the cream off the top. We generally applaud pioneers for their successes, knowing or seeing something first, and usually taking some action because of it. Parts of me certainly would like to be part of this trend-setting group.
However, there are some less-desirable characteristics of the word that I wouldn't like to embody, and for those reasons, I don't identify as a pioneer.
2) The word pioneer, says Google, means:
3) I'm also not the first, nor only one ...probably doing anything. There are countless people who have come before me and set forth ideas that have lead to my own. To discount all of that work, thoughts thoughts, the labor, and the individuals before me is narrow-minded and...quite frankly self-centered.
So, nope, I'm not a pioneer. I acknowledge those who have come before me, those who have helped me get to where I am now, and I am actively against reifying settler colonialism!
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