Can we learn from Bolt?

Unfortunately Andrew Bolt does not stand alone in his view that Aboriginal people are dark skinned, live in the bush and must live a traditional lifestyle to be “really Aboriginal”. Bolt quite openly has the view that if you are Aboriginal and you don’t fit this mould, you are not really Aboriginal? To him I would be one of those people. I’m Aboriginal, I live in the city, I finished high school, I went to university and too many peoples surprise I’m currently studying a masters. 

In a professional capacity I have had many people say bizzare things to me like “oh you went to private school?  So were you on a scholarship?” “Oh you grew up in the suburbs?” The element of status quo pusher inside me always wants to respond by being facetious however overtime I have learned that I have more chance of changing these attitudes and beliefs through the simple art of narrative.  Everybody has a story and everyone’s story can teach us something, it might be little, it might change our lives and the learning may be delayed.  How does being Aboriginal automatically relate to scholarship or living in the bush? 

I’m a teacher and so Aboriginal kids that I work with often shock me at the negative things that are said to them, I try my hardest to reassure them and without sounding trite I really do admire them because they are at the cold-face of the change that more and more Australians are talking about. I frequently remind them that being a part of change is difficult but it’s our job, if our parents, our grandparents and our Aunties and Uncles didn’t fight for change and said it was too hard where would we be today?

If I can say this to 14 year old boys, I can say it everyone.  Change is hard.  And it’s that simple. When people learn to drive and they stall; they start again, when we are learning to walk they fall; they start again.  I’m not suggesting that for one second we step back in time and start again, what I am saying is learn from this.  From the negative and vitriolic nature of people like Bolt, we must look at the crazy outrageous elements and think, what can we learn from this as a broader community… In my opinion we can learn that for many reasons Aboriginal people don’t have a “look like type”, we don’t all live in the bush, we work in many different industries and we will stand up for ourselves if  you try to push us around. 

Just take a moment to look at all the amazing things that Aboriginal youth are doing and celebrate those, don’t find one bad news story to hold onto it especially if makes you mad, find a good news story that you want to share.

Check out the work of these young Aboriginal people spreading the word about equality and change.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DesertPeaMedia#p/u/0/opDj4Bne-po

Recent Events

As Australians celebrated the national ‘Close the Gap’ day, we again heard the news reports and the read the papers that have rehashed the statistics.  70% Indigenous students do not attend school regularly; Indigenous people are three times more likely to be unemployed.  On March 24 we read the blogs that were also posted support for the Close the Gap campaign.  Many of which outlined the positive contributions of many organizations that continue to work towards equality.  I loved that I could jump online and see so many people talking about the same things I talk to people about. 

Throughout the day I read a lot of information some well researched, some opinion and some that was trash.  It was the trash that stopped me in my tacks. Not only did some of the things posted online make me feel physically ill, but they left me breathless and made me feel un- Australian.  Racism isn’t completely foreign to me, I have had a few choice phrases thrown at me by all walks of life, what I have never seen is so many people use the words “them” and “us”.  Who is them? Who is us? I thought Australians were all working towards the same goals, equality for all Australians through education and meaningful employment… it seems that there are some people that think access to education and employment is only on offer if you aren’t Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.  It would appear that I have been living in a state of naivety for a while.

I hear a lot of people in my life say “I don’t have the answer”, or “what can I do, I mean really I’m one person” or “they don’t really want our help”.  To me these quotes present me with two main challenges for society.  The first of these challenges is time. People need time to make a commitment to changing the way Aboriginal people are marginalized; it is strange to me that people can commit to a TV show but can’t commit to support a cause.  If we take the time talk about the things that lead to disadvantage, we can do to change them.  The more aware you are, the more knowledge you have and sharing the facts with your friends, family and colleagues can lead to change.  The second challenge is doing what we can… the laid back attitude that is so fondly looked upon as a classic Australian attribute can’t apply to this aspect of our lives (and by our I mean all Australians). 

So to pass it on, the knowledge not the problems, I encourage you to look at the websites listed below.  Sign up to Generation One, check out ANTaR and Reconciliation Australia.  It’s well worth your time.

http://generationone.org.au/ 
http://www.reconciliation.org.au/
http://www.antar.org.au/