If you are in Sydney, you can join the audience, Friday July 4, 10:15am for an 11am commencement at the Sydney Opera Houses The Studio. RSVP by Wednesday July 2 to [email protected]. The special will be broadcast Wednesday July 9, 8:30pm on NITV.. thestringer.au/stan-grant-hosts-a-special-on-identity/#.U7CTY2Qfv1I The Stringer Stan Grant hosts a special on Identity by Gerry Georgatos June 29th, 2014 Stan Grant - Image, news.au tinyurl/mtfxy87 Andrew Bolt started something he may not have expected - a national conversation on identity that is coalescing people, putting to rest once simmering tensions about identity - what it is and what it means. Today at the Opera House award-winning journalist and NITVs Awaken host Stan Grant will record a panel discussion before a large audience on Identity. The Sydney Opera House will welcome a guest panel to explore the emotive and at times divisive debate surrounding the question of the identity of First Peoples. It is not just non-First Peoples who have had something to say about the identity of First Peoples however it has been a simmering tension to various degrees among some First Peoples in remote, regional and urban settings. The panel will include NSW Deputy Opposition leader, Linda Burney, respected First Peoples stateswoman and Arrenrte Elder, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, academic and last years NAIDOC Scholar of the Year, Dr Mark McMillan. Dr McMillan was one of the plaintiffs who sued Mr Bolt for his poor use of language and for alleged imputations. University of Western Sydney researcher and lecturer Dr Anthony Dillon will offer contrary insights to most of the rest of the panel. The panel will also include postgraduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Sydney, Mykaela Saunders who also blogs at Defender of the Faith and who wrote a now signature piece on identity, But You Dont Look Aboriginal. It has been shared tens of thousands of times. When you tell me you dont look Aboriginal, you are denying that I am Aboriginal, wrote Ms Saunders. To deny that I am Aboriginal is to deny that my grandmother was taken by welfare because she was Aboriginal, by the dictates of past government policies. To deny that she was taken because she was Aboriginal is to deny that past policies attempted genocide of Aboriginal people. To deny that the governments objective was genocide is to deny that the government is responsible for the widespread decimation of Aboriginal language, traditions, land rights and intact family trees today. To deny that there are no widespread crises of identity within Aboriginal individuals, families, communities - and indeed our entire country - is to deny our lived reality. And when you deny our reality, you deny us our humanity. And so when you tell me you dont look Aboriginal, it goes much further than just skin-deep. Dr Dillon has written, Firstly, I identify as a part-Aboriginal person. I have been told that use of the term part-Aboriginal is offensive and that I should not use it. Nonsense - I can describe myself in any way I wish. People, in their concern/criticism sometimes say, Well which part of you is Aboriginal? Or some Aboriginal-identifying people may say, Well I am a whole person, I am not part anything. The current definition of Aboriginal is exactly that - a definition. All definitions, without exception are based on the perceptions and motives of people with vested interests - and the less objective reasoning there is for the definition, the more the definition is emotionally influenced. I think that by focusing on who is Aboriginal and who is not, we distract ourselves from addressing the problems of poverty, crime, homelessness and sickness that need urgent attention. Yes, we can all be proud of ancestries, but lets not see ourselves as different and separate to one another. Lets adopt what I believe is a traditional Aboriginal belief and see ourselves as one people with one spirit. Once this happens, we can then more effectively engage in providing help to those fellow Australians who most need the help. Ms Burney once said, Being Aboriginal is not the colour of your skin or how broad your nose is. It is a spiritual feeling, an identity you know in your heart. It is a unique feeling that is difficult for non-Aboriginal people to fully understand. If you are in Sydney, you can join the audience, Friday July 4, 10:15am for an 11am commencement at the Sydney Opera Houses The Studio. RSVP by Wednesday July 2 to [email protected] The special will be broadcast Wednesday July 9, 8:30pm on NITV. thestringer.au/stan-grant-hosts-a-special-on-identity/#.U7CTY2Qfv1I
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 23:18:36 +0000
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