2021-07-02
Threatened by a pandemic but the march for Truth, Treaty and Voice continues
By Dorinda Cox, Lead Senate Candidate for The Greens (WA) for the next Federal election
“What Aboriginal people ask is that the modern world now makes the sacrifices necessary to give us a real future. To relax its grip on us. To let us breathe, to let us be free of the determined control exerted on us to make us like you… recognise us for who we are, and not who you want us to be. Let us be who we are – Aboriginal people in a modern world – and be proud of us. Acknowledge that we have survived the worst that the past had thrown at us, and we are here with our songs, our ceremonies, our land, our language and our people – our full identity. What a gift this is that we can give you, if you choose to accept us in a meaningful way.”
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, ‘Rom Watangu’
As we hit the middle of 2021 it’s been a long journey in the past 12 months or so to this point for the First Nations communities of WA, continuing the conversations on Blak Lives Matter, the 30 year anniversary of the Royal Commission on Deaths in Custody and Reconciliation week here all the while keeping safe from a pandemic that threatens the lives of Australia’s most vulnerable group.
The onset of the COVID pandemic last year was difficult for people everywhere, with border and school closures, the isolation of working from home, movement restrictions, and face mask wearing, to name a few. For First Nations Peoples in WA, it has been especially hard coping with the addition of working to keep the virus out of our communities alongside the ever-changing uncertainty which plagues our daily lives, we have had to become more vigilant.
The Black Lives Matter movement was initiated in the US in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmermann for the shooting death of a 17-year-old unarmed African American teenager. In May 2020, Black Lives Matter roared back into prominence when African American man George Floyd died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes. An estimated 15 million people took to the streets to protest across the US and prompted nation-wide rallies here in Australia, drawing attention to racism, police brutality and the deaths in custody of First Nations Peoples.
April this year marked 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC), a landmark inquiry at the time. RCIADIC made hundreds of recommendations to address the crisis. But three decades on, the situation has worsened with overrepresentation central to the problem. First Nations peoples are about 12 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous Australians. That reality, a product of systemic problems and disadvantages faced by First Nations Peoples in Australia, has prompted fresh anger over the lack of action. The Federal Government has a target to reduce the rate of Indigenous incarceration by 15 per cent by 2031. But its own data shows they’re not on track to meet this goal unless drastic action is taken. The opposition Labor party has pledged $90 million to reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration. Still, many of us are unconvinced that the political will exists to fix the problem.
As activists we continue to march, protest, wave our flag, and are joined and supported by many non-Indigenous allies ‒ I believe that together we all speak strong!
Here in the WA, Greens have shown this by pre-selecting me to be your Lead Senate Candidate ‒ it's our party that with dignity and empathy we are championing First Nations issues across the country. From my perspective as a proud First Nations Woman, we will continue to campaign to reconcile our nation’s history and to heal, create peace and just outcomes for all. My hand will always be extended, ready to embrace genuine efforts from non-Indigenous Australians where and when they come.
We can continue in our own individual ways to articulate what a reconciled Australia can and should look like, and how healing, justice and peace will make a difference for the future generations of our children and their children. I want us to persevere from all our places and spaces of influence – high academic, political, government and corporate levels, and I’ll keep supporting all of those who are working for our unity in my grassroots activist way up to the next election and beyond until we reach our goal ‒ together.
First Nations peoples make up only three percent of the population, so any vote for advancing our causes requires a YES from a great number of non-Indigenous Australians. More than ever we need our friends, allies and the broader public to take that first step of investing in our nation-building which will be for Treaties at State and National levels, building our pathway brick by brick through the Truth, Treaty and Voice processes, enabling us to celebrate the Australia we can all be proud of, ultimately working to create social justice for all.
Header photo: At the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody rally in Perth city. Lucy Cowcher-Guthrie