Today i met the most inspiring women! All potrayed the utmost strength. Strength that came after oppression. This strength is the strength that lasts forever. Yes, it is unfortunate that sometimes the inner power within us comes only after great sufferage but when it does it comes full on.
There was a forum today at school on South Asian women on Violence: Resisting and Speaking out. And there were 2 women who rose out of oppression and finally spoke out, thier main goal being to carve out a path for us young women to follow along and walk with them. To believe that we can stand straight and that we must reach our full potentials. I sat there listening and crying not out of feeling sorry for Vicki Waters or Gurjeet Ghuman but the pride and privalege i felt of having these strong women speak in front of me. I was there celebrating their accomplishments and that of many other women.
One of the things that was said by Sunera Thobani that has stuck with me is that "i did not learn to be a feminist from a white woman". And that makes so much sense. I learned to be a feminist by my own surroundings and experiences-from the experience of being first generation Indo-Canadian! People of my own culture may say that my thoughts are western but i would say that no my thoughts come from questioning. Questioning both cultures, because i am both cultures. However the bigger question is who defines what is western or south asian? Who defines me as culturally different?
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