This week is NAIDOC week (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee).
This years' theme is ‘heal our country, heal our nation’.
For me, healing begins with hearing.
I write these words tentatively as I am nervous about straddling the *performative allyship line with a genuine intent to share and grow, and inspire others to do the same. I am also fearful of saying the wrong things and being seen as insensitive in some way. Forgive me if I am.
At the same time, my own words of advice to the many men I counsel around gender allyship ring loudly in my ears, and I know I must contribute anyway, no matter how clumsy my attempts might be. After all, we can't heal if we are not heard, so we must communicate. We must brave the fall out of our ignorance's in the quest to be better informed.
Confession: I am ashamed to say I don't know much about the lived experience of First Nations people. I know nothing save from what I started learning after the Black Lives Matter movement. I am even more ashamed to say it took the BLM movement in the USA for me to really think about my own country's experience with people of colour.
Fuelled by shame, guilt and a genuine desire to be better, I started reading books, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and learning what I could to better understand what was happening in my own country.
I am far from ‘educated’ about the topic, but I am on my way to being more informed and am definitely more engaged.
For those of you considering where to start on this topic, may I humbly share some of my initial resources and observations from my own early efforts.
Here are some early take-aways so far:
1. It's never too late to start - just get going on learning as much as you can. Guilt and shame only win when inertia sets in.
2. There is much work to be done - I feel overwhelmed with the enormity of the road ahead, but know it is nothing compared to the longevity of the culture so far. It can be done. It must be done.
3. One of the most surprising insights I learnt was the struggle First Nations People have with the colour of their skin. And no, I don't mean, being 'black'. I mean 'not being black enough'. Not looking like an Aboriginal when you are one seems to be as great a sin in today's age as it was to be an Aboriginal at the turn of the century. And I too have been guilty of this judgement. I remember seeing an Aboriginal performing a Welcome to Country ceremony and thinking that he was 'too white' to be an Aboriginal. I felt my cheeks burning when I later read about how painful this sentiment has been to the Aboriginals of today, who are desperately trying to keep the culture alive (black, brown, tan, white or other!)
4. Another surprising realisation was how different the experiences of different aboriginals' lives have been. Some have grown up deeply ensconced in the cultures and customs of their ancestors, whilst others don't know their blood lines, their ancestors or the beauty and tragedy of their families' history at all. Some have been bullied and traumatised and made to feel less than, and others have been loved and cared for and always felt like they belonged. Some love the Aboriginal cultural training offered to keep them connected to their heritage and others are embarrassed by it. Every story is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
5. And finally, the more I listen the more I learn, and the more I learn, the more I realise how little I still know. I have much work to do...I take solace only in the fact that I have now begun. I am listening. I am open. I am here.
Are you with me?
Here are three excellent resources if you, like me, need a place to begin.
Books
Podcast
What other resources could you recommend to help people 'heal our country, to heal our nation'?