Dear Aboriginal People,
26/1/21: INVASION DAY
I was born and bred in the Mount Druitt/Whalan/Blacktown area of Sydney — the Dharruk land. My area is geographically well known for its richness of the Indigenous population with it being home to the 2nd largest ATSI population. This meant I had the honour of growing up closely with your people in my community, schools, friend groups, local shopping centres, etc. Ever since I was a child, I remember feeling a very deep and close connection to you — to your pain, your stories & your identities. Child me could never explain why & I don’t know if I still can today. Maybe because your story was always close to home, both literally and metaphorically — as a Muslim I understood marginalisation, as a person of colour, I understood racism. As I got older, I closely interacted & spoke to your people more, I would spend hours watching documentaries, researching widely untold stories — finding out everything I could of the oldest civilisation known to mankind, which for me happened to be right at my doorstep. My connection and respect for you only deepened.
There is injustice in every corner of the world, but there is a great injustice that continues right under our own noses & I feel as if I must address it. Today marks the day the first fleet arrived unto a peaceful, flourishing nation. Today is a celebratory occasion for millions across the country, beers, flags, fireworks, etc — all commemorating the genocide, misplacement, rape, assimilation and inter-generational trauma of the oldest civilisation on earth. The anger I feel simply thinking about the dark history of Australia — the injustices that have occurred and continue to occur right under our noses today, terrifies me. One of the darkest human histories belongs to that of our country, Australia.
A while back, I watched a survivor of the stolen generation tell her story + her own personal experiences of the continuing effects of dispossession in her life today. I remember a certain thing she said that strung a deeply sad chord, that will forever resonate within me. Quoting her — “I was never cuddled and now I do not know how to cuddle my children, the closest thing I remember to being cuddled is when I was raped”. In order to educate and explain some of these “continuing effects of dispossession” we often hear about; the separation and what it entailed from the stolen generation were then passed down from generation to generation — this loss of parenting skills, as a result of being brought up in an institution continues to carry through to Aboriginal families today. Today, research states there is not a single aboriginal family/community that has not been scarred by the separation policy.
Also today, as a society we continue to be ignorant to these facts, to undermine, assume, generalise and treat the survivors of the oldest civilisation known to mankind as outcasts. There is underlying racism in the crux of our society, in many of our own minds. There needs to be a re-education and change amongst us. Australia, home to the oldest indigenous nation remains the only country without an indigenous treaty — why? Australia still celebrates invasion day as “Australia Day” — why? Australia still discriminates their first nations people — why? There are many why’s, but no answers. #changethedate
