However,I was told that to make the opinion pages,you needed to write something. So here I am,the day after,explaining why you did not hear from me on your public holiday,and will likely not on any future January 26.
January is a traumatic month for all First Nations people in this country. Invasion Day is a gnawing hole in the calendar,sucking all else into it,if you but happen to cross its event horizon. It consumes everything,and not even light can escape.
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Every year that event horizon gets more and more unavoidable,as Australian racism and white supremacy persists,aided and abetted by all sections of society,including members of parliament.
The trauma of Invasion Day itself,and everything it represents to us,is the dark heart of that black hole. The inherent pain and anguish that comes with that date is not something we want to discuss. We don’t address this emotional toll as often as we should,but it is there.
Being forced to explain this to an audience is a public performance of that trauma. Year after year we explain,in as many ways as you can count,the cause of justice for our people. We fight for our presence to be heard in front of you. We fight for our rights to be recognised in front of you.
In the 233 years since British arrival,too much black blood has been spilt in this fight. Actively resisting this colonial project,fighting for our justice. Resisting genocide. Dispossession. Violence. And too much black ink is spilled by us writing out its horrors to you,fighting for our voices.