By Sarah Davies (she/her)
CW: Discussion of ‘Australia Day’, mention of genocide, rape, torture, violence, racism and trauma, as well as alcohol consumption.
By now, most people have heard of the recent riot and storming of Capitol Hill in the United States (US), if only through the memes floating around. I cannot imagine the pain, heartbreak, and trauma being felt by Black people living in the US. I cannot imagine the horror, fear, and resignation of Black/Blak, Indigenous and People of Colour living everywhere in the world.
I can, however, stop centring my own feelings on the matter, and actively work to create a more equitable and just world. Continuing anti-racism work, within ourselves as individuals, in our wider circle of friends and family, and in society is the first, and very basic, step.
Check out a previous blog for a list of books to assist in understanding race relations. Layla Saad, Mikki Kendall, Chidera Eggerue, Reni Eddo-Lodge are great authors to begin reading. The following are people to follow, learn from, and pay on socials, if you don’t already.
This is NOT an exhaustive list, but rather a mix of pages from a variety of different geographical and cultural contexts – please keep researching and expanding your perspective! Please note that, though they may live in specific regions, many discuss oppression experienced in different areas, as well.
Please be aware: Some of these pages are private, and may not accept all requests. Some are open activist pages, and others are rightfully conscious of their own emotional labour and the toll this takes on them, as creators and educators.
Australia:
International:
While in different countries, there are different contexts, here in so-called Australia we have an upcoming opportunity to use our voices – Invasion Day. Also known in the white-settler nation as ‘Australia Day’, the 26th of January is a day that represents genocide, torture, abuse, rape, and unimaginable horror for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of this land.
To some, it is just a day off, where you get to day-drink, slap on some flag tattoos, and ignore the racist, oppressive, and colonial history of this country. The deliberately ignorant will argue that it is a day to ‘celebrate being Australian’. What they actually mean is, ‘I’ve been conditioned to believe that culture means laminations, racism, and drinking, with a few ‘G’day mates’ thrown in. I am going to continue to ignore other people’s lived experiences, and argue that racism no longer exists in this country. I refuse to look at statistics, anecdotes, or actual research on the issue – that would mean I would have to analyse my own prejudice and discriminatory reactions, so I will continue to say that anyone who disagrees is being ‘divisive’, and probably throw a few ableist, sexist and homophobic terms in there while I do so’.
I was raised to celebrate ‘Australia Day’, and am ashamed to say I continued to do so as I grew up. I distanced myself from the Invasion Day rallies and protests, and allowed myself to believe that it was an unhappy few, who were protesting for reasons I did not understand.
Then I woke the f*** up, shut my mouth, started listening, and stopped giving in to my knee-jerk defensive reactions. Since this education (which I would not have without the emotional labour of Blak people, especially women and non-binary people), I refuse to celebrate any part of this colonised country. What I would celebrate is a 60,000-year-old civilisation and culture – the oldest in the world. What I would celebrate is raising the age, so that Blak children are not locked up and torn from their families. What I would celebrate is abolition and real change, so that the inter-generational trauma that continues to this day can be given the space and time to even begin to try and heal, without ongoing violence. What I would celebrate is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being given platforms to speak, create policies and make changes, without having to listen to racist vitriol thrown at them, without having newspapers refer to them in racial slurs, and without people refusing to see through anything but their own discriminatory, false, and racist lenses.
Invasion Day Meanjin rally information. [Alt text: A colourful artwork by Caitlin Wharton is the backgrund, for black text that reads ‘Invasion Day 2021 Meanjin Rally and March. Rallying speeches commencing at 10am at Queens Gardens, 144 George St, Brisbane City. Flag raising at Jaggera Hall at 8am. March commences at 10.30am, finishing at 11.30am at Musgrave Park. Mob are invited to sell merchandise prior to rallying speeches. Please reach out if you are interested. COVID Safe Event - bring face masks and hand sanitiser. If you have any flu symptoms, stay at home. Family friendly event. Food and entertainment at Musgrave Park after the march.]
Doing anti-racism work is not supposed to be fun. It is not an aesthetic you get to throw on your Instagram page, and quietly delete because it doesn’t fit your overall ‘theme’. You have to work, and continue to work for the rest of your life. Change doesn’t occur just from following new people on social media, and ignoring what they are saying. You don’t get to opt out when you are tired, or fatigued, or uncomfortable.
Here’s a tough pill to swallow: we are all capable of being the people who stormed Capitol Hill. We are all capable of being the ones who still celebrate ‘Australia Day’. We are all capable of being the ones who call the police on Black/Blak people, for no reason, putting their very lives in danger.
I am no different to those people. Because I am white and I will hold that privilege for the rest of my life. Even if I did anti-racism work for the next thirty, forty, fifty years of my life, there could come a day I would be able to walk away, and have my life unchanged. I could slip back into society, and read about brutality against others, disproportionate incarceration rates, murders, and be unaffected by it. Black/Blak people, People of Colour, and Indigenous folk, they don’t get the option of taking a break, being unaffected by the ongoing mental, physical, and emotional violence. Ever.
So, let’s do the work.
If (as I hope, and if you posted a Black square on your Instagram page) you will be attending an Invasion Day rally, here are a few things to keep in mind:
You are there to support. Not to lead, not to take over, not to organise. To support. You should really not be speaking at all, unless it is to continue a chant, led by Blak organisers and speakers.
You do not get a free pass on culturally appropriating because you are at a rally. That means no Blak slang, no ochre paint (unless done so by a Blak person), and please, no asking people to pose so you can get a ‘gram-worthy’ shot. That is white centring, and we are not here for it in 2021, or ever.
Ask how you can help – financially, with resources, by spreading the word. Do Elders attending the rally need a lift? Can you bring a slab of water, in case there is a shortage? Can you take extra sunscreen, masks, hand sanitiser and hand it out? Do you have legal knowledge or qualifications – can you offer this for free, should there be any arrests? Can you financially support before the day? Can you take extra cash for the fundraisers that are there? Find out who is co-ordinating (not co-opting) rallies in your area – in Meanjin, it is Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR). Find out how to donate through here, and check the WAR Instagram for updates on bank account changes.
Do you have ally-friendly merchandise? Invest in Aboriginal-owned businesses. Clothing the Gap, Haus of Dizzy and Gammin Threads are just a few (out of many) that have ally-friendly sections on their websites. Blak Business has great guidelines to ensuring you are only purchasing items meant for allies, or you can always message and ask individual businesses – something I have done many times, and which Aboriginal-owned businesses are more than happy to answer.
Example of message: ‘Hi Gammin Threads, I’ve been looking at your ‘Respect the Blak Matriarchy’ tees, and just wanted to make sure they are ally-friendly? As a non-Indigenous person, I wouldn’t want to be wearing culturally inappropriate designs. Thanks, love your work!’
We need to continue the anti-racism conversations that we started in 2020. We need to continue being uncomfortable, so that we can create a society where others are not judged, discriminated against, or abused, just for who they are. 2021 is not a clean slate, not a year where everything gets to return to normal, and we can forget the colonial history our societies have been built on.
Do you want to make 2021 ‘a year to remember’? A ‘better year than 2020’?
Then join us in doing the work, and continuing to stay uncomfortable.