Red Door Magazine 23

We talk about the importance of role models + the
strong visual sense that indigenous kids learn by. Seeing
a face you can identify with achieving with a proud
voice, helps to build confidence.
On the other side of representation there is currently no
indigenous representation in Federal Parliament + less
than 3% of the Commonwealth public sector has employees
of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.
However within the criminal justice system, housing +
children in care services, the numbers are huge.
Philly references this over - representation “ Our children
are still being removed from their family’s care at
higher rates than ever before by government agency.”
Self Determination
A way forward...
Self determination gives peoples the right to determine
their own political status and pursue their own economic,
social + cultural status.
For the last 50 years West Papuans have been fighting
for Independence + the debate for self governance has
been topical for Aboriginal + Torres Straight Islander
communities in Australia.
From the 1970s to 1990s, there was a push from the
Australian government to support aboriginal groups
moving from large settlements in remote areas back to
outstation communities in formerly traditional lands.
Aboriginal communities began running their own
health services, legal services, and housing cooperatives.
Self determination encompasses both Aboriginal land
rights & self governance.
Constant changes of Governments + policy meant that
most commissions + committees that were supposed
to support Aboriginal self determination had been
abolished or shut down, often through allegations of
corruption.
In 2017, The Uluru Statement From The Heart was a call
for a First Nations’ Voice to discuss conflict resolution,
peacemaking + justice within constitutional change.
It was rejected by the Turnbull Government.
Now in 2020, Philly says “the problems are still
systemic.
Our prison rates are the highest in the world. Our suicide
rates also... its not ok... People say this system is
broken... its not broken its set up to do exactly what
its doing... its gonna take real sacrifice to bring real
change.”
In PNG in 2019, a petition with over 1.8 million West
Papuan signatures was handed to The United Nations
High Commissioner of Human Rights calling for the
United Nations to “put West Papua back on the Decolonisation
Committee agenda and ensure our right to
self-determination...”
Empathy
The thing we find missing from peoples’ moral conscience
+ what is fertiliser for the tree of oppression is
an inability or refusal to look inside oneself + reflect on
the conditions another is living by.
Philly stated clearly “There is always a lack of empathy
in this world to things that comes from people being
willingly ignorant + also from privilege. That comes
from not having to deal with the things that black +
brown people have to.
When it come to people of colour (for the most part) we
are able to empathise with other people. Like when a
brother from The States is being killed+ dying, we feel
that pain as well all the way over here... Its the same
fight.”
That self reflection is key to empathy + awareness.
NGAIIRE shared...
“Ive been forced to face + deconstruct my own
blackness. In ways I don’t think I intentionally
wanted to do it... It was the way I was feeling...
I was questioning why am I getting so
emotional?
Why do I feel confused?
Why do I feel so angry?”
ISSUE # 23 - LANGUAGE
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