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I want to talk impacts of racism & intergenerational trauma, speaking of my families story. I want to speak this acknowledging how my mental health deteriorated this year
I won’t go into heavy detail *Warning for mob, it will speak Stolen Generation, dormitories & systemic abuse*
I won’t go into heavy detail *Warning for mob, it will speak Stolen Generation, dormitories & systemic abuse*
Nanna Georgina (5) & sister Harriet (8) were Stolen from the Daintree early 1900s. Troopers told them their mother died in hospital giving birth (We’re still not sure) they were taken to Yarrabah & lived in the dormitory
Around the same time grandad Silas is removed to Yarrabah from Cooktown (we think) we are not sure how his mum Granny Ginny came to be there? They only removed ‘halfcastes’ from families. Silas was Granny’s only child. We think she tracked him to Yarrabah
Nanna & pop have 5 kids, my mum the last. Pop dying before mum is born. Aunty Paula, Aunty Carol, Uncle James & Uncle Ollie live in the dormitories & allowed home to their parents on the weekends. Aunty Paula talks of almost dying in the dormitory. She is v sick. Can’t go home.
Her best friend lies with her on the cold floor hoping for treatment. It finally comes. Aunty often spoke of the tough ‘discipline’ constantly cleaning & eating old food with live weavels wriggling through it.
Anthropologist Tindale is visiting the missions collecting data & other information. He takes photos. The are haunting. Nan & uncle Ollie. He records nan’s menstrual cycle.
we found this record only a few months ago
Granny Ginny absconds In 1920 for 5 years. To where we don’t know. Tindale reveals she was stolen as a child in the late 1800s to be a slave to white ppl in Cooktown!!! (No slavery in Aust
)
Granny Ginny absconds In 1920 for 5 years. To where we don’t know. Tindale reveals she was stolen as a child in the late 1800s to be a slave to white ppl in Cooktown!!! (No slavery in Aust
)
Grandad Silas. He passed before mum was born. She finally saw what he looked like through Tindale records. it was an emotional day. He died in his early 30s. He absconded 2ce, to where we don’t know. He & granny running from life in missions & under the act.
They have no freedom. They work for pittance & it’s controlled by the inspector. They have to ask him to buy clothing, underwear. It’s demeaning, degrading. They are institutionalised. Granny stolen & a slave child. Grandad stolen & in the dorms & missions
When pop passed Nan has 5 kids, including newborn mum. She has another girl & is raising the neighbour’s boy Uncle Denny, a promise to his mum when she past. Life Is Tough. She moves to Cairns & has another girl & married a white man. A white man gives my mum opportunity, but...
It comes at a price. Mum attends catholic school, the only Blak girl. The racism she faced I can’t imagine. Mum has arthritis & she said the nuns would wrap her in gladwrap & lie her flat on a table in the basement for hours as ‘treatment’ she’d cry hearing the kids playing
Meantime her older siblings Aunty Carol, Uncle Ollie & James turn to alcohol to medicate their trauma. Uncle James had been sent away as a teenager for allegedly touching a white girl in the cinema. We know things happened to Uncle James there. It tortured Nanna.
Aunty Carol has a stroke young & her son dies from alcoholism before turning 30. They might have seemed ‘free’ in Cairns but Life in the dorms, under the act never escapes. Nana is often tough, but her childhood was stolen. She had no parents or family to cuddle her, comfort her
Mum used her opportunities to fight for our mob. But I know it wasn’t easy. I know that dad’s ‘friends’ looked down on her. I know dad couldn’t take mum rental hunting. I know all the family trauma back to granny Ginny a slave child in the 1800s was ever present
As a teen I watched my mums mental health start to deteriorate. Then rapidly. She past aged 58. Earlier this year, I started to feel mentally unwell. Everyday I was battling workplace racism. One day I realised I was the same age my mother was when her mental health deteriorated
I reflected on all the racist inflicted trauma I heard & saw from my aunts, uncles, nan & mum. I reflected on my own. At school. Uni. My first job & then now. I reflected on the collective trauma, listening to Blak colleagues. I chose to leave fighting. But it took its toll
Here’s the kicker. Modern day racism is insidious. It’s non-Indigenous ppl & institutions abusing Blak staff psychologically & emotionally & claiming ‘ignorance’ or ‘implicit/unconscious bias’ I’m calling FAKE NEWS on this bullshit ppl. It. Is. RACISM.
I’m calling FAKE NEWS on this bullshit ppl. It. Is. RACISM.
It’s white ppl upholding racist structures bcoz they’re comfortable. They don’t want to dismantle their tower of power. They talk ‘Reconciliation’ ‘Cultural Competency’ bcoz it’s safe, it’s not threatening. The only way to stop this is to be actively anti-racist.
Which means acknowledging the racist behaviours, structures, systems. If majority white men/women hold power in your workplace. IT’S RACIST. Simple. If Blak staff are at the bottom. IT’S RACIST. No amount of Indigenous Advisory Group is going to change this racist power dynamic
