a penguin of very little brain

echeveria:

searchingforknowledge:

thesavagesalad:

thesavagesalad:

TW: talks on genocide, racism, privilege denial, Australians who don’t know history

Namely those who are quite upset by the PM losing her shoe and have now resorted to engaging in hateful rhetoric directed at the Australian Indigenous communities.

I’ve noticed a few trends going on in the racist, ignorant and possibly written-in-an-inebriated-state, rage posts. And it’s only fair to address these things.

1. There is this misunderstanding that the genocide and ill treatment of Indigenous Australians “happened” 200 years ago. Allow me to correct you (Aussie to Aussie of course, because some of you seem rather flustered when a non Aussie attempts to address your racist disposition)- The Genocide and ill treatment of Indigenous Australians STARTED roughly 200 years ago.

The effects of the genocide, the negligence and abuse by the government, the ongoing institutional oppression of them is still happening today. Whilst you were mourning over the PM’s lost shoe, the NTER was (and is) still running. Police brutality against Indigenous Australians is still happening. The rates of infant mortality, sexual abuse and assault are still disproportionately higher in comparison to the general population. If it comforts you in the slightest- the PM will get another pair of shoes. However, these issues will not experience such an instant fix.

2. Many of you seem quite upset by the fact that Indigenous Australians can access a free education. Now this surprises me because we do have government schools where education is free (and if there are certain payments to be made, government subsidies can still be applied for) which is available to all Australians. And even up to a tertiary level (though the HECS is far from perfect) there are still ways of lessening the financial burden- provided by private and public institutions which all Australians can access.

3. Since we’re talking about university, I’ve also observed a lot of anger due to the fact that apparently Indigenous Australians can get a “free ride” into university because they apparently “swim in” scholarships.

Again- if you actually took the time to research our nation’s Universities, you’d notice that despite there being 2-3 max Indigenous focus scholarships per uni, there are plenty more scholarships on top of that which any Australian and apply for if you meet a set of requirements (and fun fact, even the Indigenous focused scholarships have a set of requirements to meet as well). Also, another point to be made- Indigenous Australians are not exempt from HECS.

4. Many of you seem quite bitter about how Indigenous Australians apparently get free-to-access dole. And the fact that you cannot access such magic dole which you seem to blame Indigenous Australians for. In the time that it took for you to write your hate post, if you had done some research- you would have learnt that applications  for the dole are open to all. It doesn’t mean that you will get the dole (because you have to meet certain requirements to qualify for it) but the same way your application will go through a process of assessment- so will an Indigenous Australian’s ( and they must meet a set of requirements as well). And where there will be some application that will be accepted, there will be those which will be rejected- the same applies to Indigenous applicants as well.

I would go into further detail on the numerous ways the Indigenous community here has been abused by the government institutionally and individual wise, or the 5 acts of genocide this community has experienced- but the Prime Minister losing her shoe, or a flag being burnt (because those who wrapped themselves in the flag as they participated in the Cronulla Riots are not offensive at all.), or you not knowing that you can access a lot of these things which you accuse Indigenous Australians for- is clearly more important than all that.

Reblogging again because there is a hate post on how Indigenous Australians Are The Worst because they can get cheap milk in Western Australia.

Fun fact: EVERYONE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA CAN GET CHEAP MILK

$2.00 FOR 2 LITRES WHAT A BARGAIN YOU PEOPLE ARE RUNNING OUT OF EXCUSES GO TO FUCKING COLES BEFORE POSTING THIS SHIT

They steal and kill and murder and take entire countries…and complain when a few drops of what does not belong to them is sparingly and with much backpatting “given” to the original owners and inhabitants. If I could get  a superpower, it would the ability to induce the missing conscience that so many white people appear to lack.

Here’s the event that the original post references. This Aussie wants to print out the OP and hand it out to everyone.

More FACTS here:

Mythbusters (debunking myths about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)

Some questions and answers about Indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees and asylum seekers

milkeemountainmama:

and one last thing—that’s my number one pure venom spitting hatred for all scifi/fantasy books in the world—the idea that white folks are survivors and resourceful enough to survive in the face of the apocolypse or some other world shattering event— and people of color either don’t exist or exist in this weird other sphere that rarely if ever crosses with the white survivors. the one thing I really admired about the hunger games is that the author at least acknowledged—it only makes sense that a *certain type* of white person will survive under conditions like what is presented—and it’s those who survive off of their privilege and/or those who have historically been treated most similarly to people of color (poor whites).

i *loved* how Rue was written in this story—and oh, yeah, i totally fucking cried my goddamn eyeballs out when what happens happens—i was looking forward to a long interesting relationship between Rue and Katniss. and the gift of bread thing?

**drying heaving sobs into my blanket.**

but all those good feelings shriveled up into a dry puff of dust at how Thresh was written and how he was treated and how Katniss used her relationship with Rue to save her own ass.(which oddly enough, although it was infuuuuriating, it was a believable situation)

i just…don’t understand why it makes sense that the majority of survivors in sci-fi world are white, much less that the majority of **leaders** are white. and i need this to be clear: this is only partially coming from a “i want more diversity in story telling” framework. 

MOST of it is from a practical sense. from the logic of sci-fi/post apocalyptic storytelling—it simply doesn’t make *sense* that the majority of survivors/leaders are white. there has to be a reason to *explain* that—and most of these types of stories very rarely do.

and as such, i think it’s especially important for white folks who can only see “white” when characters aren’t fully described (or in some cases actually *ARE*) to wonder why they only see white.

all of us people of color have known for centuries you couldn’t survive without us there—that the only reason you survive is *because* we’re there— (I just read a testimonial from a woman who was a slave, and she says *exactly* that—if we wanted to kill y’all, you’d be dead, we know all your weak spots, we know you can’t survive unless somebody is putting your clothes on you and feeding you etc)…what does it mean that even today in 2012, white folks don’t clearly understand this yet? are still so certain that they would be smart enough and brave enough and strong enough and desperate enough to crawl under a fence to find food?

that they would even know that a fence exists?

On the plane back to Beijing I read a book about (mostly) Australian women (mostly) celebrating Australian women! It was not perfect but I enjoyed it. You can read my review on one of my many other blogs! (warning: my review is in the form of a letter). Dear Women of Letters.