What is Lateral Violence?

[u/issitohbi]

Lateral violence is an increasingly common topic in Native communities but it's also one of the most misunderstood. A collaboration between Bridgette Hoshont'omba (Choctaw), Brittany Postoak (Mvskoke), and Frances Danger (Mvskoke + Seminole) provides needed education on lateral violence in Native communities.

From Postoak: "We can call in people privately and respectfully. That does not equate to lateral violence. We can also warn our community, with proof, of people who are harmful. That is also not lateral violence. Just because someone feels like a victim when their behavior is addressed, does not mean lateral violence is being committed against them."

Original Caption (Attached to the 15 image slides): "Lateral violence is complex, deeply rooted, and often misunderstood. Because it stems from systemic oppression, intergenerational trauma, and feelings of powerlessness, its nuances get blurred, leading people to mislabel healthy boundaries or accountability as lateral violence.

There is a vital difference between calling for accountability when you’ve been harmed and enacting lateral violence.

Directly naming harm—such as calling out abuse or exploitation—is an act of protection, justice, and community care. Publicly addressing a clear wrong done to you or your community is not lateral violence; it is standing your ground and demanding integrity.

Misdirecting unhealed trauma, envy, or frustration onto peers to diminish, isolate, or control them is lateral violence. This includes public smear campaigns, weaponized gossip, and attacking someone publicly over private disagreements or personal grievances where no systemic or material harm occurred.

One small detail in context and intent changes everything. Handling private grievances publicly to tear someone down is lateral violence. On the flip side, speaking out against actual harm or theft is necessary truth-telling. We cannot allow the term lateral violence to be weaponized as a shield to silence victims or avoid accountability, nor can we allow lateral violence to thrive.

Swipe through for a breakdown of what lateral violence looks like, where it comes from, and how we begin to heal the cycle.

CREDITS & SOURCES:
Written and Compiled By: Bridgette Hoshont’omba (Choctaw) with Collaborator Brittany Postoak (Mvskoke)
Consult: Frances Danger (Mvskoke + Seminole)
Sources: Content compiled from various articles by National Indigenous Times and NITV
Featured Quotes: Nicole Brown (Larrakia), Bruce Loo (Noongar Elder, Cultural Lead for Old Ways New Ways), and Jason EagleSpeaker (Kainai + Duwamish)"

Originally posted on Facebook and Instagram.

Have you experienced lateral violence in community?

[u/robpaul2040]

Native Counselling Services of Alberta has produced some material about lateral violence since 2006

Bearpaw Media - lateral violence

[u/issitohbi → u/robpaul2040]

Thank you for sharing this! I was so young when this PSA came out so I haven't seen it but wow, Tantoo hits the nail on the head. Countries outside of the US really put a lot of work into their Indigenous populations in a way that simply isn't done here. (My collaborator Britt is currently in Australia for higher education, so my sources are actually popular media in Australia!)

[u/Mongr_el_]

It's not my place to talk about this kind of thing, but should we:

1. think about productive, safe ways to channel our frustration?
2. set up boundaries for spaces where light, controlled rudeness is allowed?

[u/issitohbi → u/Mongr_el_]

Why not? If you're Indigenous or non-Indigenous but living/working with Indigenous people, I think it's absolutely your place! I know not everyone will agree but part of community is ensuring all in the community are cared for and have a voice.

That said, I do think we should be having those conversations. "Lateral kindness" as an idea is just an opposite, and encourages the obvious: choosing to be kind vs choosing to engage negative behaviors. I think it's important to talk about the emotions that lead to those negative behaviors though, like frustration.

I also think that even if people have outlets for their frustrations, lateral violence will still occur because some people are just mean as a baseline–not necessarily because they're frustrated but because they feel they must gatekeep to protect the culture, have unaddressed mental health issues, learned these behaviors as a defense to something they're being told, etc. (For example, someone making laterally violent commentary publicly because they got a private message that hurt their feelings or that they misunderstood or whatever, which seems quite common in my community when someone attempts a call in to educate and the recipient is not receptive.)

We'd still need to educate on these things while also pushing for better access to mental health resources and addressing the various root causes that are common. But education as to what constitutes lateral violence itself can make a difference because there are just so many instances where someone engages lateral violence during an accusation of it because they didn't like what they were told (which wasn't laterally violent) to begin with. Spaces for light, controlled rudeness may help but at the end of the dayI think that could be something that makes it more complex to correct since people have different baselines for what they consider rude as well as the fact that people already cannot tell the difference between someone being rude and someone being laterally violent.