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There is no end in sight to these modern-day forms of colonial violence inflicted upon our peoples by these two liberal democratic states, Australia and Israel. Grief, sorrow and anger bind us together as we face the attempted elimination of our Peoples. Together, we understand the role that racism has played in both our histories and current contexts.

Government policies have been just another way to restrict our Freedoms, to remove our rights. To take away our choice, destroy our dignity and ability to contribute to our cultural practices and norms. 

Events such as Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC are important but adequate action is required immediately, action that includes letting our peoples run our lives on our terms, as per the Articles in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Djab Wurrung woman Sissy Austin tells us that despite losing an element of our country, the fight continues this week with the three day Supreme Court trial.

As an Indigenous psychologist who has dedicated decades to prevention efforts the core of my argument is that locking children up is ineffective as a crime prevention measure.

Meriki Onus sits down with her Nan, Alma Thorpe, to discuss her amazing life as a communist, an Aboriginal Health Worker and above all, a Gundijtmara activist.

Our children’s innocence is stolen, and the system presents them with a life in and out of prison

The inquest into the death in custody of Wayne Fella Morrison continues and a team of researchers and advocates report the daily account of the inquest here.

Being the first in the family to go to university has meant that I have been away from my family for a long time. I’ve missed birthdays, funerals, family gatherings and other life events in between.

In our communities, we all know someone that has been impacted by the criminal justice system in a harmful (often devastating) way.

This is not a numbers game. These are people, Aboriginal people, whose lives have been snuffed out in the ongoing machinery of colonisation and the carceral State.

Tony Birch says that to state that a loss of Aboriginal life results in yet another ‘death in custody’ is to use language that refuses the reality of murder in custody that we know will be failed by the system.

If we collectively support the families’ calls and call on governments to act, we can end this injustice once and for all. We cannot, and must not, wait another generation for change.

Human Rights Law Centre Director and Yorta Yorta woman, Meena Singh speaks of how little has changed and the current outcomes being a result of targeted policies.

There is a stark difference between hurting for and channeling your pain into your art, and demanding that Indigenous peoples bleed for your art so that you can tell everyone how bad colonisation and the crimes of the British Empire are.

We must love, support and protect each other at all costs. Not only through encouragement and uplifting words but by holding one another to account to uphold and protect the legacies that our old ones created.

Senator McMahon has spoken at a Senate media inquiry where she criticised a media outlet for using the decades old slogan, Always was, always will be, citing herself as an authority and saying that it is offensive to non-Indigenous Australians. Identity politics a convenient tool of conservatives who often centre their own victimhood when racism is pointed out.

This piece is a beautiful reflection on the power of Black women and a celebration of that power and its healing capabilities.