DIARY: Australia Day and a Certain Facebook Post

Terrigal below the Skillion, credit: Rhys Pope 

It's interesting to note, I posted a status in support of the Aboriginal people of Australia on Facebook this week.

The jpeg text with aboriginal flag, and the hashtag #invasionday, mentioned asking white people to not apologise for past wrongs, but to please step in to dismantle any systems of oppression that still exist today.

It means identifying them, and making effort to make changes that bring about equality, in your industry, in your town, in your neighbourhood, in your schools. Being a whistle-blower and supporter of the minority in Australia. End of story. They are the minority. And yes, they are very special and precious people.

I am only 4 years into my journey of understanding. And I will spend the rest of my life sitting around fires, dinner tables... Listening and learning and supporting as best I can in my industry and my everyday life. Speaking out when I see injustice.

It's interesting to note that the only comments were from 3 white cisgendered males. One was genuinely asking "how can I do this thing you speak of?"
The other two were negative. Missing the point of the post completely. Not recognising the flag, nor the meaning of the hashtag. (what are the chances that they've read of Captain Cook, of the multiple horrific massacres of Aboriginals, or the proposed heritage ship set to circumnavigate Australia? (instead of funding dementia studies perhaps?) Do they know of Flinders? Or his cat? Or of Bungaree who was the first Aboriginal man to circumnavigate Australia as Flinders' aide - but isn't mentioned, or honoured with statues even though Flinders' cat is...) They were demanding and asking for exhaustive lists "of these so called systems of oppression" from me, and "evidence of how you are helping to dismantle these systems"...

White males. Why?

One was Australian. He asked how he could do what I asked. He teetered along the edge of appropriate. The other was from South Africa with zero experience in the Aboriginal struggle. Someone who has literally lived his life benefiting from his skin tone. And the other was American and also in no way involved, but demanding that he be recognised as having NOT benefited from his race.

White males. Why?

I don't care if my opinion offends people. I stand with Aboriginal people, always will. I always stand with the underdog. My father and mother and grandmother showed me that I could love and respect people of colour even while apartheid was raging around us. They all did things that put them in the red zone. They were kind and fair, and an example to me of how to treat those who are the minority, or who are less fortunate, or who are oppressed.

I lived through apartheid. I saw it with my own eyes. I loved people that I was not "allowed" to love. I was separated from friends, and even a possible boyfriend because he was not white, I had a mother who breastfed me but was *not* my mother, and when she died I was not invited to her funeral because I was the interloper...

I also have lived the other side of the coin. Being the minority. Being disrespected and disliked by the majority in my home country. I know how it feels to seem insignificant. I know what it is like to walk through the streets in town and have people intimidate and threaten you, to feel so unsafe (I can't speak for all of my fellow white South Africans, only from my own personal experiences)

White males. Why?

It's not too much to ask. IF you see and recognise a system of oppression in your town, in your school, in your neighbourhood, do something about it. Promote inclusion, promote understanding, promote sensitivity, promote unity, promote fairness. IF you do NOT see and recognise a system of oppression in your town, in your school, in your neighbourhood, then ask yourself why. Open your eyes.