Race & Racism

This article is for the young blerds of our community, the blak nerds who haven’t really felt included in the community or made to feel “different”. Our IndigiNerds going into the gaming industry, cosplay realm or just being a panellist on a stage at a comic convention.

It’s unfair to attempt to lift this guilt off yourself by burdening it onto a black person. We don’t exist to carry your guilt and rid you of your sins.

As the oldest living culture on the planet, both First Nations and first-raced, we have a distinct articulation of the global Black Lives Matter movement, one which was best captured at the rally convened by the Brisbane Blacks (Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance and Stop Black Deaths in Custody Committee) on Friday 4th July 2020 in Meanjin.

On May 25th, 2020 in Minneapolis Minnesota, a black man by the name of George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight. Giana, his beautiful black six-year-old daughter will grow up fatherless because of the collaborative act of homicide by three men.

Change happens when we demand that change happens. Australia is founded on white supremacy.

This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme is In This Together. However, are we really in this together? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have called for a voice, we have called for a treaty, and we have called for a truth-telling commission.

As so many in the media space scramble to congratulate him on his career, equating his longevity with some sort of reflection of his value when it can be directly correlated to the dominant mindset and power brokers, I reflect on the damage he has done.

I am angry for the many things I don’t know and cannot ask, for opening those wounds would only hurt more. The inquests, the fights, the deaths and ones we no longer speak of, or those who we no longer recognise.

ABC Newcastle deleted a post about Newcastle's Invasion Day rally in response to racist comments. This article explains why deleting ABC content and erasing Indigenous stories is not an acceptable option.

Racists pretending to be Aboriginal online is not a new phenomenon, with the basic idea being to increase hatred against Aboriginal people by validating white supremacist rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

In the absence of government leadership, our grieving families and communities are leading the way to change the nation.

“Just ignore them” our white foster family advised, as my 8 year old sister stood crying, “just ignore them and they will go away”.

The Australian Dream was devastating, with a running time of 106 minutes, I had tears slowly running down my cheeks for at least 45 of them.

You know when you rage and are that wild you grind your teeth, bite your tongue and sing people in your head? That is how I have felt writing the words that follow, so much so, that I have done CTRL+find checks to make sure none of my usual four letter words crept in.

A few years back, Joey Williams caused a bit of a stir when he made a point of not standing for the anthem when he won the Citizen of the year Award in Wagga Wagga.

You may have heard a collective triumphant cheer emanating from Indigenous people on Twitter the other night.

By now I’m sure everyone is aware that Senator Fraser Anning is a racist.

Racism is even evident in the dictionary definition of racism.