Red Door Magazine 23
Visit www.reddoormagazine.com
Visit www.reddoormagazine.com
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
We talk about the importance of role models + the<br />
strong visual sense that indigenous kids learn by. Seeing<br />
a face you can identify with achieving with a proud<br />
voice, helps to build confidence.<br />
On the other side of representation there is currently no<br />
indigenous representation in Federal Parliament + less<br />
than 3% of the Commonwealth public sector has employees<br />
of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.<br />
However within the criminal justice system, housing +<br />
children in care services, the numbers are huge.<br />
Philly references this over - representation “ Our children<br />
are still being removed from their family’s care at<br />
higher rates than ever before by government agency.”<br />
Self Determination<br />
A way forward...<br />
Self determination gives peoples the right to determine<br />
their own political status and pursue their own economic,<br />
social + cultural status.<br />
For the last 50 years West Papuans have been fighting<br />
for Independence + the debate for self governance has<br />
been topical for Aboriginal + Torres Straight Islander<br />
communities in Australia.<br />
From the 1970s to 1990s, there was a push from the<br />
Australian government to support aboriginal groups<br />
moving from large settlements in remote areas back to<br />
outstation communities in formerly traditional lands.<br />
Aboriginal communities began running their own<br />
health services, legal services, and housing cooperatives.<br />
Self determination encompasses both Aboriginal land<br />
rights & self governance.<br />
Constant changes of Governments + policy meant that<br />
most commissions + committees that were supposed<br />
to support Aboriginal self determination had been<br />
abolished or shut down, often through allegations of<br />
corruption.<br />
In 2017, The Uluru Statement From The Heart was a call<br />
for a First Nations’ Voice to discuss conflict resolution,<br />
peacemaking + justice within constitutional change.<br />
It was rejected by the Turnbull Government.<br />
Now in 2020, Philly says “the problems are still<br />
systemic.<br />
Our prison rates are the highest in the world. Our suicide<br />
rates also... its not ok... People say this system is<br />
broken... its not broken its set up to do exactly what<br />
its doing... its gonna take real sacrifice to bring real<br />
change.”<br />
In PNG in 2019, a petition with over 1.8 million West<br />
Papuan signatures was handed to The United Nations<br />
High Commissioner of Human Rights calling for the<br />
United Nations to “put West Papua back on the Decolonisation<br />
Committee agenda and ensure our right to<br />
self-determination...”<br />
Empathy<br />
The thing we find missing from peoples’ moral conscience<br />
+ what is fertiliser for the tree of oppression is<br />
an inability or refusal to look inside oneself + reflect on<br />
the conditions another is living by.<br />
Philly stated clearly “There is always a lack of empathy<br />
in this world to things that comes from people being<br />
willingly ignorant + also from privilege. That comes<br />
from not having to deal with the things that black +<br />
brown people have to.<br />
When it come to people of colour (for the most part) we<br />
are able to empathise with other people. Like when a<br />
brother from The States is being killed+ dying, we feel<br />
that pain as well all the way over here... Its the same<br />
fight.”<br />
That self reflection is key to empathy + awareness.<br />
NGAIIRE shared...<br />
“Ive been forced to face + deconstruct my own<br />
blackness. In ways I don’t think I intentionally<br />
wanted to do it... It was the way I was feeling...<br />
I was questioning why am I getting so<br />
emotional?<br />
Why do I feel confused?<br />
Why do I feel so angry?”<br />
ISSUE # <strong>23</strong> - LANGUAGE<br />
57