After the recent anniversary of the apology to AFL legend, Nicky Winmar, this inspirational moment in Indigenous sporting history continues to be forgotten. The choice to stand and take action in showing the honour to be Aboriginal is scary and brave. They should not feel like this ever, feel scared for showing others their identity, yet they are and being criticised for the colour of their skin. We need to make this a normality for them, so they do not have to be crying out for a place to belong.
Our nation will all experience a loss of identity and belonging at some point in our lives, however we fail to acknowledge this to be a daily routine for many Indigenous Australians. Yet we continue to suppress the value of their washed away culture
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The notion of “forced to feed” indicates doing something against your will which draws our compassion for such harsh forcefulness and cruelty accumulated onto Indigenous people in past and present times. The use of repetition with “my feet” provides the implication of slavery and the loss of autonomy. The idea that we can inflict violence on another and strip their children from the mother’s arms is so barbaric and dehumanising. Not only were children taken from their families, but they were also deprived of the knowledge of their culture, heritage, language, land, traditions and forced to follow white culture. With this, we can try to understand the pain those children must carry now from not knowing their identity or where they once belonged.
We are later told through the use of stage directions that “the Woman retrieve[d] her dress” (p.34), showing her in the final stage of grief, acceptance. As the listeners, we can interpret that as her way of regaining control and retrieving her armour to cover the pain of losing her children. The Woman collects herself, however we can assume the value of the pain she feels with the loss of belonging to her
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For Indigenous people, this moment symbolises the encompassing pain and cruelty of forcibly removed beliefs replaced with new ones. During the scene, Goodes’ mother uses the dialogue of “I know I’m Indigenous, but I don’t know nothing about my ancestors.” Following this is an extended break in the background music throughout this scene which makes us sympathise with her in this scene as no children should have to witness growing up with little recollection of their own
Grant utilises traumatic anecdotes, allusion to contemporary issues and his first person’s point of view to bring forth the readers values and attitudes of accountability for the past, and criticalness of previous actions against Indigenous people. For example, Grant details personal tales of how his grandmother was turned away from the hospital because “she was giving birth to the child of a black person”. The anecdote attacks the latter part of the Australian Dream, stating “(..)deep sense of belonging that allows all Australian to thrive” which was unfortunately not the case where Grant’s elder was reprimanded of her right to treatment. Furthermore, Grant talks about his grandfather who fought wars for Australia but came back to a nation where “he couldn’t even share a drink with his digger mates in the pub because he was black”. The anecdotes again contradicts core Australian values of mateship and equality as Grant’s grandfather who served alongside his caucasian friends was not recognized as a citizen thus was denied the ability to socialise with his soldiers.
The novel addresses the issue of systemic oppression and racism towards Indigenous people in Canada by showing the effects these issues have on Indigenous people today. The Outside Circle best demonstrates the effects of systemic oppression and racism towards Indigenous people through the life of Pete’s mother Bernice. Bernice's childhood, her struggle with addiction and the circumstances of her death prove this. Firstly, what Bernice went through as a child is an extremely important example that supports the fact that The Outside Circle best demonstrates the effects of systemic oppression and racism towards Indigenous people through Bernice.
Although we are living in a time of formal equality and within a contemporary Australian society, Indigenous Australian youth continue to face many challenges when advancing from youth to adulthood. This essay recognises the continuous influences of western cultures on Indigenous Australian youth; with focus on marginalisation and oppression, stereotyping, as well as the main cultural influences on Indigenous youth and how Indigenous youth and a dominant white Australian culture are both interdependent to one another. These factors have an immense impact on Indigenous Australian youth when shaping their identities. ‘Yolngu Boy’ and ‘Black Chicks Talking’ were viewed to gain an understanding and be used as examples of some of the issues faced
I felt like I was being pulled in multiple directions. It is hard to fathom the experience of Indigenous children, who not only have to grapple with the everyday struggles that come with growing up, but also face the reality of a colonial system that
In the novel, most indigenous people have lost their language and, consequently, part of their identity. This passage highlights the impact loss of language has on many Indigenous people and shows the connection between language and identity for Indigenous people and how much they yearn to regain it. Even just learning about the risks they face is traumatizing in itself, as portrayed by Slopper: “‘He didn’t even hear it all’ ... ‘Slopper was pretty messed up for months after. He stopped playing, didn’t want to learn anything, and even stopped sleeping so good.’”
You tell me, and I won’t put it down on the form, No-one will know but you and me”. It’s obvious that the author, Thomas King, is trying to make awareness about the treatment of Aboriginals are facing in
Monkey Beach is an adaptation of “Queen of the North,” both written by Eden Robinson. The texts both touch on the theme of intergenerational trauma within Indigenous communities. Through the lens of different main characters, however, Monkey Beach approaches the topic differently through its portrayal of the transmission of trauma. In “Queen of the North,” the transmission of intergenerational trauma is most clearly seen through Josh reenacting trauma onto Adelaine. In contrast, as a novel, Monkey Beach offers a more nuanced depiction of the methods of intergenerational trauma transmission, such as the loss of Lisamarie's cultural identity.
The documentary skillfully juxtaposes archival footage that showcases the triumphant moments of Adam Goodes, a celebrated Indigenous footballer, with a deeply affecting interview where Goodes shares a chilling anecdote about the racial abuse he endured during a game. By giving Goodes a voice to recount his personal experiences, the documentary humanizes him and exposes the emotional trauma inflicted by racist comments. Through this construction of voice, viewers are led to question the values of a society that celebrates success on one hand but fails to protect and support its Indigenous citizens from racial abuse on the other. The stark contrast between Goodes' achievements and the racial hostility he faced challenges the notion of an Australian Dream built on inclusivity and equal opportunity for
In the short story Borders, Thomas King uses the mother to demonstrate that identity is fluid; changing through a person’s experiences, nationality, citizenship, and pride. King aims to demonstrate the effects of indifference towards Indigenous identity and citizenship through his short story. King demonstrates the theme in many ways. Illustrating the mother’s pride in her nationality, which is Canada, while continuously contrasting this throughout the story by having the mother not change her answer about her nationality of being Blackfoot. A key point that King drives in his short story is the denial of Indigenous identity and the turmoil that Aboriginals face due to that.
The poem My Mother The Land by Phill Moncrieff poetically describes the struggles the aboriginal people faced at the hands of the European people and colonisation throughout history. The fact that the author based the poem on accurate historical events adds to the authenticity of representations and engages the reader in an emotional journey with the struggles the aboriginal people faced with the somewhat loss of their country, culture, identity, people and place. The author uses a variety of language features and text structures to create this view point, for instance the author uses several language features and text structures throughout verse one to demonstrate the loss of culture and people. The poet uses effective language features throughout the poem to describe the loss that the narrator feels in their country, culture, identity, people
This article discusses the speech given by an Indigenous journalist, Stan Grant who participated in a debate where he spoke for the motion “Racism is destroying the Australian Dream’’. Hence, the main points of this article are mostly evidence given by Grant in his debate to support his idea that the Australian Dream is indeed rooted in racism. One of the main points is that the indigenous Australians are often excluded and disregarded as non-Australians simply due to their race and skin colour. Grant pointed out the incident where AFL player Adam Goodes was publicly jeered and told that he did not belong to his country as he was not an Australian despite the fact that Australia indeed is the land of his ancestors.
But what about every other Australian? What about the Indigenous population and the multicultural population? Both of these groups which make up and help define who we are as Australians, so I ask you all this morning to consider why is it that we find these groups constantly being marginalised, discriminated against and not being offered equal opportunity? Ladies, gentlemen and prestigious guests, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak here
This displays the notion of the white society covering up the Indigenous culture. Towards the end, Harrison’s use of a short declarative sentence in, “We demand the right to make our
The narrator describes how the Indigenous Australians in the area were forced to leave their land, saying, "The black people are gone, and so are the dingoes" (Ottley, 2007, p. 5). This quote highlights the displacement of Indigenous Australians by white settlers, as well as the impact of their absence on the environment. Moreover, the artwork in the text portrays the Indigenous Australians as dark and shadowy, emphasizing their marginalization and exclusion from mainstream society. Together, these examples demonstrate how power imbalances are present not only between humans, but also between humans and animals, and between different racial groups. The text serves as a commentary on the
This poem’s structure reveals resistance because it shows that the words of apology extended to the Indigenous people mean nothing to them, if not backed up by action. I think this tactic is effective because it lacks unnecessary aggression, but at the same time does not excuse the