Every single Australian person who is outraged at the police (and entire societal) brutality against black people in the US that’s currently in the headlines needs to put the same amount of energy into learning about the VERY SAME brutality that’s used here in Australia to oppress Indigenous Australians.
Every single Australian, whether in Australia or overseas, born in Australia or born overseas, needs to put the onus on themselves to EDUCATE, INFORM and TALK ABOUT the institutional violence black Australians face.
White Australia has:
Warning. These links may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased.
- committed genocide against black Australians "comparable to" Nazi Germany
- legally enslaved black Australians
- legally classified Indigenous Australians as animals (Flora and Fauna Act)
- committed mass genocide of Indigenous Australians over 200 years
- denied Indigenous men and women the right to vote for over half a century AFTER white women were granted the right to vote
- actively passed legislation designed to eliminate Indigenous Australians from Australia altogether
- Refused Indigenous people treatment from the Royal Flying Doctor Service in preference of less in need white people (‘Ray Martin: The Great Divide’, SBS)
- Tested nuclear weapons upon the Anangu lands of Maralinga in South Australia
- Minimised and attempted to erase the scientific achievements and discoveries of Aboriginal people (creativespirits.info > Education)
- separated Indigenous children from their families and communities nationwide (page 29) from colonisation to present
- stolen lands from Indigenous Australians from colonisation to present
- allowed a white policeman to murder an Indigenous man (name in link) from the Palm Island community in Northern Queensland in 2004 in custody, resulting in his liver being cleaved in half across his spine from physical abuse
- caused Aboriginal deaths in custody to rise sharply over the past 5 years, including causing Indigenous deaths in custody to quadruple from the 1970s to the 2010s
- minimised and attempted to erase the historical importance of Aboriginal Australians, including that Indigenous Australians may be the earliest humans on the planet
- caused an Aboriginal woman to die in mandatory rehab (name of deceased not present in link)
- caused deaths in custody that NO policeman has EVER been held guilty for
- and so much more that I could stay up all night linking to
Resources
Timeline of Aboriginal history in Australia:
Timeline of racism in Australia
CreativeSpirits.info – a site dedicated to spreading information and awareness about issues relating to Indigenous Australians (n.b. owner is white)
KooriWeb.org – created by Dr. Gary Foley (b 1950) Born in Grafton, northern NSW, of Gumbainggir descent.
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Be outraged at Ferguson. Be outraged about Tamir Rice. Be outraged at ALL the black deaths due to police brutality and institutionalised racism in the USA.
But ALSO be OUTRAGED at the same treatment shown to Indigenous Australians here in this country.
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
