hey sorry to bother you but i just saw a post where you said that you didn’t support the push for constitutional recognition, and i was just curious as to why? anyways, you’re doing an amazing job with this blog and this blog has taught me many things about Indigenous Australians :)

black-australia:

Hey! So I don’t think I’ve addressed this yet so this post is going go up in my FAQ about why I don’t support constitutional recognition. A lot of people have been asking me this question. This is also gonna be a long post so get ready everyone. I only claim to speak for myself and to reflect upon the opinions and views of those of us in the Indigenous community who do not support/are against constitutional recognition. I apologize in advance for any spelling errors!

The way I see it, the Recognise campaign is a government funded and operated
campaign. It is not a grassroots movement by Indigenous peoples and for
Indigenous peoples. It serves to distract away from the real issues and is only
a tokenistic gesture that will amount to no positive change for our people.

If we are recognised in the constitution, we will still be living as
second-class citizens, racism will still exist and essentially we will still be
treated as we are now. Being recognised will change nothing. We don’t need to be included in the constitution and be
told by white people that they recognise that we are the true owners and
custodians of this continent. We know this. We’ve always known this.

Although, I can see why some Indigenous peoples are for this change. We all want to feel and be accepted and included. We want to be treated with respect. All of this is valid and I can honestly see why, but I encourage Indigenous peoples who are for it to look deeper and figure out for yourself if this is something that you and your community want and need. Discuss with your community and elders. I stress the important of doing this because successive governments in this country’s history have never really acted with our best interests in mind. There has never been one policy geared towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that hasn’t been carried out in a paternalistic and racist way. Can we really trust the government to do the right thing by our mob when it comes to constitutional recognition?

More-so, the Recognise campaign itself does not make room for discussion
about constitutional recognition and actively shuts down anti-Recognise voices.
Sure, they’ve been traveling around the country doing community
consultations… but does that really mean anything when our people are told by
the campaign that its all rainbows and sunshine and every other Blackfella out
there wants it? A large chunk of us don’t want this and until we can discuss
that in a constructive and inclusive way, I don’t think that the push for
constitutional recognition should be rammed down our throats.

Also, this is an issue that concerns the Indigenous community. I feel really
uncomfortable about the fact that this campaign is being presented to ALL
Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, for them to have a chance to have
their say and speak up. This doesn’t affect the lives of non-Indigenous peoples
what-so-ever. So it is my belief that at no stage of this campaign should
non-Indigenous people weigh in with their opinions and thoughts. I’m a firm
believer in self-determination and taking control of our own lives and futures. It’s not for non-Indigenous peoples to have a say in issues and discussions that are specifically Indigenous peoples and about the internal workings of our community.

White people and the governments for so long have controlled our lives and
told us what we can and can’t do and acted for us because they think they know
best. I personally favour treaty/treaties over this. I favor recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and the handing back of power to our people. I support initiatives that come from the Indigenous community and have a focus on community leadership and preserving culture and language and talking about real land rights and substantial change to combat poverty, domestic violence, Indigenous health and education etc.

I say, let Indigenous peoples lead this discussion about constitutional
recognition. I’m over non-Indigenous people and government bodies trying to
speak for us and over us. I don’t think we’re ready for a referendum on this issue when our people are still suffering at the hands of racist government policies and actions. A tokenistic gesture will not address the systemic and institutional factors at play here that affect Indigenous peoples. 

I recommend reading the following material on the debate against constitutional
recognition to give some more context and visibility to Black voices out there
who are doing great things:

• Online Poll Finds Majority Of Black Australia Opposed To Recognise Campaign – by Am McQuire 

• ‘Recognising’ The Artful Con That Is The Constitutional Reform Debate – Amy McQuire

• Time To Recognise Significant Aboriginal Wariness of Constitutional Reform – Amy McQuire

• Analysis of the constitutional recognition survey carried out by IndigenousX which yielded interesting results (date analysis by Celeste Liddle and survey carried  out by IndigenousX)

• Indigenous campaign builds against constitutional recognition – ABC Online

• Voices of the 3% –  This site has been set up “allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people share their thoughts on the proposed changes to the constitution with each other and to draw attention to the one sided nature of the so-called debate around constitutional recognition.”
• Creative Spirits page on constitutional recognition, discussing all views on the issue 

• “Let’s Talk Constitutional reform” panel discussion featuring a number of Aboriginal people who are involved in the constitutional recognition debate

Also I recommend just following the discussions around constitutional recognition and listening to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices on this issue. Just generally be aware and open. 🙂