Australia’s media has intensified the debate surrounding the way colonial figures are currently honoured. This morning, both morning shows invited guests to comment but they forgot the most important thing… an Aboriginal voice.
This is something we have become used to as the paternal attitudes of British migrants and their descendants continue to dominate Aboriginal discussions in the media as well as in government. There have been numerous calls for this type of exclusion to change in recent years, so now in 2017, there are simply no excuses as to why we have once again been left out of the conversation which is effectively “Apartheid media”.
In case you’re not up to speed with the latest news in Australia, there has been heated debate surrounding Australia’s colonial statues. Many of the statues honour British colonial figures who took part or even ordered the killings of Aboriginal people. The debate intensified this weekend after several statues were touched up and spray painted with the protest calls of “Change the date” & “No pride in genocide”.
Both channel 9 & channel 7 invited guests on the shows to share their opinions but both channels failed to invite any Aboriginal guests. Expert guests ranged from radio hosts to celebrity chefs and ‘professional? commentators’. You can see both interviews at the bottom of this article, if you feel the need to. The reason we are writing this article is to share an Aboriginal perspective which should be at the centre of these conversations.
So what are the answers from an Aboriginal perspective?
To the question of whether the statues should be removed, many of our people have said, “why don’t you step into our shoes? If people came into your home and killed your family, would you be happy about a statue being placed in your house in honour of the murderer”? Now that is a pretty convincing argument isn’t it!
To the question of whether the actions of the vandal was right or not, many of our people point out the obvious double standard by saying, “our sacred sites are often vandalized or destroyed by mining and nothing is said or done to investigate”.
You see, we have some pretty hard hitting truths to deliver and it is quite clear by the actions of the mainstream media today that they are not ready to expose these truths to the majority of the Australian population. You have a choice right now to help share the truth and break the silence by sharing this story which at the same time will help name and shame these mainstream media outlets who try to manipulate the nations conversation by leaving us out completely.
If you really want to hear what the invited “commentator” or celebrity chef’s have to say, you can watch the Sunrise debate here and the Today shows debate here. Or instead you could check out and share our article on suggested Indigenous statues that Australia desperately needs.
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