Sitting Comfortably? I Hope Not.
For those who are getting tired of seeing all the posts or stories about what’s happening in the US, take a moment to reflect on the immense privilege you hold in being able to treat this as a passing issue. Think about why you are feeling tired of seeing such content. It is perhaps making you uncomfortable? It should. Racism is uncomfortable.
We should all be uncomfortable at what is happening in the US, but also at what is happening at home, here in Australia; a country with great experience in racial discrimination and silence. A country which remains silent as our Aboriginal Peoples, the world’s oldest continuing civilisation, continue to experience the highest incarceration rates and highest rates of suicide of any group in the world — two stark facts which are not unrelated.
We sit back idly, comforted by our ignorance, as police continue to discriminate against Aboriginal people and inflict violence on their communities. Since the end of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, a total of 432 Aboriginal men, women and adolescents have died at the hands of the police. No police officer has ever been prosecuted for a death in custody.
Please, by all means, be outraged and vocal about what is happening in the US, but don’t assume some moral high ground because there is relative silence in Australia on the same issues. As Indigenous activist, PhD candidate and writer Amy McQuire put it so eloquently:
“If you don’t support black rights here, in this country, then you can’t support them internationally — any proclamation is shallow and performative.”
We have to acknowledge that as white or white presenting people, we will never know what it is to experience racism or the violence that stems from racist thought and behaviour. No matter how much you read, observe or think you know, you will never as a white person, understand what it is to be on the receiving end of discrimination — myself included. For this, we should be thankful and for this reason, we should advocate and mobilise wherever possible to support people of colour across the world and Indigenous Australians back home.
Global attention towards what’s happening in the US is an essential step in the right direction, but it’s not the only movement you can support. Look within your own communities and see where discrimination hides. Call out friends/family/strangers for racist slurs, whether outright or subtle. Pay attention to how Indigenous people are treated in society, in policy and in law. And if you don’t have Indigenous people in the country where you live, check in on your friends of African, Asian, or Latinx backgrounds; remembering times of racial injustice are hard for many people who are not white-presenting.
But most importantly, each of us needs to learn to listen and pay attention. No one knows more about the injustices being committed than those on the receiving end. We should be listening to them and asking how we can help, not assuming we know what is best to do.
People of colour don’t need white people to speak for them, they need us to give them the space to speak.
We must actively use our privilege to help keep movements going — remembering not to make this about ourselves in any way — because it’s not. Our opinions on whether racism is happening, whether rioting or social backlash is justified, or any type of commentary that takes away from the issues are hand, are irrelevant. What is relevant is advocacy and action.
Here are some strategies I’ve learned are the most effective:
1. Advocate — By keeping stories of injustice circulating you keep the focus on the issue, the victim/s and the perpetrator/s.
2. Donate — This is a game-changer in terms of impact. There are already so many grassroots NGOs/movements working on the frontlines. Support them directly, because they know what they’re doing better than anyone else! Here’s a list of groups I know of in Australia:
Justice for David Dungay Junior — https://www.gofundme.com/f/d9qkb6-justice-for-david
Three weeks before his release, David Dungay was violently held down by six armed police officers in his cell. Like George Floyd, he screamed ‘I can’t breathe’ repeatedly before his death.
Justice for Kumanjayi Walker: Inquiry into Police Shooting — https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-yuendumu-inquiry-on-police-shooting
Kumanjayi Walker was just 19-years old when he was shot by police three times in his home at Yuendumu in the Northern Territory in November 2019.
Tanya Day: Family Fundraiser — https://www.gofundme.com/f/day-family-fundraiser
Tanya Day was a Yorta Yorta woman, who was removed from a train for public drunkenness and taken into police custody, where she sustained catastrophic brain injuries leading to her death.
United States
Black Visions Collective — https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
Reclaim the Block — https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home/#about
North Star Health Collective — https://www.northstarhealthcollective.org/
Minnesota Freedom Fund — https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/
3. Contact your local MP — In Australia, and in most countries, there are Anti-Discrimination Laws and policies. Write to your local government demanding focus and attention be put on issues of systemic Indigenous discrimination and the national culture of violence within our police force. Policy is influenced by the needs of societies, yet discrimination pushes Indigenous issues to the background of policy agendas. We must use our privilege to push policy reform forwards.
4. Educate Yourself — This is key. If you have not lived with racial discrimination, you most likely do not understand the issue as well as those who have. But there are so many ways to educate yourself: talk to people, read work by Indigenous/black authors and pay attention to current events. Be prepared to check yourself, and never assume that you are ‘one of the good ones.’ Remember:
Standing up for Black and Indigenous lives is not a moral high ground it is an acknowledgement of basic human rights. It is the bare minimum we should all be doing.
Here are some fantastic resource organisations and books:
Deadly Connections Community and Justice Services Inc — https://www.deadlyconnections.org.au/
Creative Spirits https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/reducing-aboriginal-incarceration-rates
NITV — https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/
Books
Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
The country I grew up in is stolen land, established on imperialism and the erasure of Indigenous people’s sovereignty, history and basic human rights — actions which continue each and every day in Australia, as well as in the US and countless other countries. These realities predate the riots in the US and will remain long after they have stopped.
We as non-Indigenous people will never be able to repay for what has been taken, but we can use our privilege to change the future of Indigenous inclusion and self-determination in our national narrative. I urge anyone reading this to take this international momentum on racial injustice and use it within your own community and country. Because choosing to be apolitical in times of political and moral injustice is in itself a political act rooted in privilege.
With privilege comes responsibility, and anyone who disagrees with this or is unwilling to examine the many ways they benefit from the current status quo is part of the problem.
