Jennah Martens-Forrester reflects on privilege

Meet Jennah Martens-Forrester

The CDLI team sat down with Jennah Martens-Forrester, a local Indigenous activist and business owner to talk about privledge and her anti-racism journey. Note: interview has been edits for clarity and brevity.

We asked “what would you say was the biggest/most impactful learning or action that helped you to understand your privileges?”, here’s what Jennah had to say:

When I was old enough to realize how my mom was treated in comparison to me, I realized that I have light skin privilege. I have white privilege. There is the possibility of being “outed” but I look white, not Indigenous and there are issues that I will never deal with. That realization contributed to my anti-racism and decolonization work by making social connections with people who live different lives than mine.

I had a very loving mom and despite economic challenges, she would always try to improve my life and that is a privilege. I have met people whose families struggle with addiction issues. I have never been in the foster care system, but a lot of my friends have and have come out with severe challenges. I do not deal with ableism on a regular basis and I have never had to deal with physical accessibility issues. I’ve never had to not attend an event due to accessibility, but others have.

For anyone trying to recognize your privileges, I would say to talk to other people and compare your life experience. Keep track of the things that people tell you and compare it to how you have lived. For example, if someone tells you about an abusive parent how does that compare to how you grew up? Or if your parents had stable jobs so you never had to worry about money. Take stock of privilege. For example, going to a shop and noticing that there isn’t a wheelchair ramp or when you walk into a room and you’re the only person of your ethnic background. Recognizing your privilege is an attempt to recognize things you don’t have to think about and how would it be different for you if you were not able-bodied/a man/straight/white/cisgender.

You can keep up with Jennah Martens-Forrester on Twitter and Instagram @bannockburrito and checkout their work at BannockBurrito.etsy.com.