Perpetual Outrage It Is.

This country loves listening to the didgeridoo while we dance for them, it enjoys hanging our dot paintings down their hallways and in their boardrooms, and they feel so humbled to allow us the honour of Welcoming them to our Countries, but there is a quick and sudden line drawn in the sand of what will be tolerated when we decide to utilise a voice we have earned, and fought hard for, to question the country they believe we should be so grateful for.

As January 26th approaches, there are a few things that we have come to expect and have learned to prepare ourselves for.

We’ve recovered from celebrating the New Year – lists of things we are all grateful for fill our newsfeeds, and resolutions to be healthier, lose some weight and maybe even join the gym seem to be how a lot of people strive to be a little better come January 1st.

There is a sense of freshness, of newness, and even some excitement of the unknown. Everything is new. Well, almost everything.

Come January 2nd, a small portion of the population can almost smell the opinion pieces and social media posts coming. We wait, with baited breath, to hear again that we have more important things to be worried about, that we are lucky that it was the British and not some other evil invader that arrived at this land, and that we should be grateful for those boats bringing us the world’s most important invention – the wheel.

We expect them, and they arrive.

My hope is that at some point during the day, you stop to ask yourself, “What am I really celebrating here?”

What these pieces fail to possess, more often than not, are Blak voices which bring with them the wealth of knowledge and experiences necessary to truly explain the significance that surrounds a celebration of a country that continues to keep them silent. It’s ironic really.

One recent commentary around January 26 used the analogy of a fight between two dogs that could not be pulled apart.

The article likened us to one of those dogs, being so vicious and locked in battle that only adrenaline-fueled strength could pull us apart. The article goes on to explain that the author was exhausted from having to engage with this discussion and, luckily for us, she would like people to focus on the real Indigenous issues – not ‘distractions’ like a meaningless public holiday.

The problem, and this is where all these pieces fall flat, is that the day itself and the ‘real issues’ are actually one in the same.

Articles such as that one miss the point entirely – I do not want to change the date, because the date itself is not the only problem for me. It’s the nation that needs to change.

While you and your comrades stand barefoot on that beach, or at the local park or in your own backyards, draped in your flag-capes accompanied by massive inflatable thongs, I can’t help but wonder if you will take a second to stop and think about what had to be lost, and continues to be taken, in order for you to celebrate in that space this January 26th.

My hope is that at some point during the day, you stop to ask yourself, “What am I really celebrating here?”

I have no doubt that you’ve been inundated with the perfect responses, which are surely something about it being a day for us to all come together and celebrate what makes us Australian. It’s a great line, and I am sure it will help your BBQ remain guilt free – but what is it that actually “makes us Australian” and is it really something worth celebrating?

Once you’ve sorted your way through the uneducated guesses about how this country arrived at January 26th and why it is such a historically significant day that must never be changed, it seems to me that most people are interested in one thing.

Most see January 26 as a public holiday where you get together, listen to some music (not The Hottest 100 though, sorry not sorry) and get so drunk en masse that if you belonged to any minority group you would probably end up in some news report on the threat your people pose to the values of this fine country.

There has been a perpetual attack on Aboriginal people who’ve been given a platform and choose to use it by speaking about topics important to them.

It’s the concept of a day off of work that remains so important to people. Of course, sometimes our urgency to make the most of a public holiday can outweigh the importance of acknowledging and addressing a history of attempted genocide which continues today both directly and indirectly. I get it, I really do… enjoy your fireworks.

So herein lies the problem – which parts of Australia are we to celebrate, and which are we expected to just ignore?

Those of us unhappy with the concept of Australia Day have recently been labelled as “perpetually outraged” by one of our politicians, and to be honest I’m not that unhappy about my new title. You see, when we describe something as ‘perpetual’ it implies that it will never end, it implies that it is so frequent that it cannot be interrupted.

The term perpetual can fit a lot of common events happening in this country right now. There is a perpetual wave of politicians who support neo-Nazi propaganda, including actual neo-Nazi rallies and white-supremacy slogans.

There is a perpetual mistreatment of black teens and children, including locking them up in cages or strip-searching them for crimes they did not commit.

There has been a perpetual attack on Aboriginal people who’ve been given a platform and choose to use it by speaking about topics important to them.

So, if my outrage over the mistreatment of our young people, our women and men, and my outrage over the rejection of our call for a voice that should be heard needs to be uninterrupted, unending and undying…

Perpetual outrage is what it will be.