International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The 21st of March is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

This date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations states:

Each year we mark this Day on the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre. We can never forget the 69 unarmed and peaceful demonstrators who were killed by South African police as they protested the country’s unjust apartheid laws. Apartheid has long since been dismantled and there have been other important advances in the struggle against racism. These include treaties and declarations, the development of an international framework to combat racism, and national protection systems by numerous States. Despite much progress, racism remains a pervasive menace to individuals and ethnic and religious groups worldwide. It is a threat to stability and a grave violation of human rights. We must join forces to end racism, and sport can help reach this goal. On this International Day, let us recommit to ending racial discrimination and realizing our vision of justice, equality and freedom from fear for all.

It is my personal experience that Australian's do not have a sophisticated understanding nor an ability to identify, talk about and/or critically reflect on their own racism - individual, institutional and systemic. "I'm not racist" is frequently heard in the media as a defence. I would argue that probably all of us are racist to some degree or another. It doesn't make it okay of course. But it does mean that when you attempt to defend yourself with "I'm not racist", you look, sound and probably are being absurd, and un-productive. It takes a long time to grapple with one's own racism - to be able to self-identify it, to challenge it. It's an ongoing journey of reflection and personal challenge.

Here are some links that may assist you on your journey to better understanding racism -

• All Together Now - is a not-for-profit foundation set up to directly challenge and combat racism in Australia
• It Stops With me - campaign to challenge racism from the Human Rights Commission
• Racism: No Way - education campaign to challenge racism from NSW Government, Department of Education and Training

It's good to also share individual experiences of racism, so I've "mined" the Deadly Bloggers list for some personal reflections on racism -

• "Nigger" does not belong in the school yard from Not Quite Cooked
• I wonder what Johnny's mum was up to today from Not Quite Cooked
• White Privilege is Totes a thing from Sarah's World of Procrastination
• Response to racism in Rugby League from Dr Chris Sarra
• Am I White enough for you? from Clouds on a distant horizon
• The Racism post: I'm calling you all out from Black thoughts live here

I'll end with this poem by the very very deadly Murri poet Steven Oliver....

In Australia, other commemorations are also held on the 21st of March. These include Harmony Day and Closing The Gap.

If you know of any other deadly posts on racism, let me know so I can add update the list above ...

Cheers, Leesa

Happy Birthday David Unaipon

Today, the 28th of September is the 140th birthday of David Unaipon. He was the first published Aboriginal author. He was a scientist and mathematician, an inventor and a religious educator.

We can only image what his life, as an Aboriginal man must have been like 140 years ago. It is not hard to imagine the hardships and disappointment he would have experienced as a result of society's embedded racism against Aboriginal people. And we can only imagine what he might have achieved had he been given the same opportunities as other men of his age.

Sadly, most Australian's, young and old, will say "who?" when we mention his name. Let's spread the word of him and work and begin to make him the household name he should be.

More information about David Unaipon:

• Diju Know about David Unaipon from ABC's Message Club. Written by Anita Heiss.
• Local and history information about David Unaipon from Adelaide
• Fact Sheet from the Racism No Way resource. 

Image credit: A deadly birthday cake for David Unaipon by Annie Ah Kee using Minecraft.

2012 Deadly Singles of the Year - some class ideas

One of the categories at the 2012 Deadly Awards is Single of the Year. Each song in this category is very different and spans a range of different styles and genres. Each artist expresses different ideas in their music - some sing about identity, some sing about music, and others love. We have found links to each of the nominated 2012 singles for you.

Class activity ideas:
1. Listen to each of the songs
2. Go online and find out more about each artist
3. What are the different styles of music in this year's singles?
4. What styles do you like or don't like?
5. What other artists are in each of the different categories? Eg. Troy Cassar-Daley is a country music artist, who are some other country music artists you know of
6. What are these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists singing about in their music?
7. The artists nominated in 2012 are at different stages in their careers. Some have a very strong web presence, while others are still developing theirs. What kinds of technology and mediums can an artist use to generate an audience.

Yabu Band - Petrol, Paint and Glue

http://www.voiceproductions.com.au/assets/music/Petrol-Paint-and-Glue.mp3

Troy Cassar-Daley - Country Is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpiiV5SsVY

Yung Warriors - Standing Strong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clJZDJuf2gs

Busby Marou - I Still Don't Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3SYLJNimRg


Jessica Mauboy - Galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGwm5vIYKDY

The Deadlys

It's time to celebrate The Deadlys. Created in 1997, The Deadlys celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians, artists, sports people and community leaders. In 2012 the Deadly Awards will be held on the 25th of September at the Sydney Opera House.

The Deadlys, like the NAIDOC awards, provide a positive affirmation of identity and achievement. In the face of overwhelming negative depictions in the mainstream imagination for over 200 years, affirmation is important.

Best of luck to all the nominees. The Critical Classroom team will not be in Sydney, but we'll definitely be watching the social media feed as well looking for the broadcast.

Will you be following The Deadlys? 

Aboriginal diggers fighting for recognition of their service

Our nation have fallen short on all accounts when it comes to our treatment of our Indigenous servicemen and women. Pastor Denis Atkinson

In our previous posts about an Indigenous perspective of ANZAC Day, we wrote about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women being discriminated against.

Here is a link to Uncle John Lovett who is seeking to have his father's, grandfather's and uncles service recognised and a recognition by the state that those men were not given the same recognition as other service men and women on their return from military duty.



What must be remembered in talking about compensation claims for previous wrongs, and I think it's something that is rarely thought about when determining the amount of compensation to award, is that when you do not allow people to take advantage of a wage or benefit you not only discriminate against that person at the point in time, but you also impact on the economic and social condition of the next generations.

Benefits (like privilege) advantage the present, AND the future.
Likewise denying benefits to a whole generation disadvantages present and future generations.

ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective - online resources

I posted recently three conceptualisations of ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective. This post provides a number of useful online resources based on these ideas.

The War of Colonisation
The war of colonisation has not been recognised as a "war" despite the devastation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and cultures.

Some useful resources: 

• National Gallery of Australia: Aboriginal Memorial exhibition which recognises all thoseAboriginal people who have lost their lives since 1788. http://nga.gov.au/AboriginalMemorial/home.cfm
• A chilling read is a list of massacres of Indigenous Australians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
• The Myall Creek Massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myall_Creek_massacre
• Tracker: ANZAC Day march labelled as disrespectful  http://tracker.org.au/2012/04/anzac-day-marched-labeled-disrespectful/
• Tracker: Invasion debate: Was Australia settled peacefully?  http://tracker.org.au/2011/08/the-invasion-debate-was-australia-invaded-or-peacefully-settled/

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were diggers too
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have given their lives in every official military operation since Federation.

Some useful resources:

• Story of quest for a local Aboriginal War Memorial (Adelaide) http://city-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/no-sign-of-aboriginal-memorial/
• The Australian War Memorial: Too Dark for the lighthorse: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the defence forces http://www.awm.gov.au/education/resources/box/3/
• Australian War Memorial: Reginald Saunders, the first Aboriginal person to be given a commissioned rank. http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/aborigines/indigenous.asp
• The Australian War Memorial: "One ilan man": the Torres Strait Light Infantry http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/12/ilan-man
• Tracker: Aboriginal War Veteran on memorial on Bondi memorial  http://tracker.org.au/2011/11/aboriginal-war-veteran-featured-on-bondi-memorial/
• Tracker: Renewed calls for an Aboriginal veterans memorial in Sydney  http://tracker.org.au/2011/05/renewed-calls-for-an-aboriginal-veterans-memorial-in-sydney/
• ABC: A light is shone on Aboriginal soldiers'service. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-10-29/a-light-is-shone-on-aboriginal-soldiers-service/2316108

Social Media resources

• Facebook: Mark of respect for Indigenous Australians. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-of-respect-for-indigenous-Australian-soldiers/159267687432284

Leesa Watego

Exploring ANZAC Day from an Indigenous perspective

[Note: This post contains images, words and works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are now deceased]

 

We can understand ANZAC Day in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in a number of different ways. Here are three ways of conceptualising Indigenous responses -

1) Challenge the authority of ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day as a commemoration remembers the sacrifices of Australian men and women in Australian wars since World War 1. It is a recognition of those who "wore a uniform" in official battles. From an Indigenous perspective, this day is flawed as it fails to acknowledge the thousands of Australians - men, women and children - who fought and lost their lives in the War that was/is Colonisation. The above National Gallery of Australia exhibition created in 1988 is a recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died since colonisation.

2) There were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers too
This perspective acknowledges ANZAC Day but recognises that there have been Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers in every Australian conflict since Federation. These men and women fought proudly beside their comrades. That there has been little acknowledgement of the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers is linked to the third concept.

3) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers were treated as second-class citizens
This perspective is about a recognition that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers, despite their sacrifice and contribution in wars overseas, were treated as second-class citizens when they returned home. When they returned home they were subject to the same individual and systemic racism from White individuals and institutions as they were when they left.

William Cooper, Secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League, argued in 1939

that Aborigines should not fight for White Australia. Cooper had lost his son in the First World War and was bitter that Aboriginal sacrifice had not brought any improvement in rights and conditions. He likened conditions in White-administered Aboriginal settlements to those suffered by Jews under Hitler. Cooper demanded improvements at home before taking up "‘the privilege of defending the land which was taken from him by the White race without compensation or even kindness'. Quote source

There are multiple ways of conceptualising ANZAC Day, these are just three. The key is to be considerate and understanding of these different perspectives (and the many others you will encounter) as you approach your investigations of this annual event.

Leesa Watego

Top ten Indigenous resources for business studies

There has been a lot of emphasis over the last decade on the creation of vocational and educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and rightly so. Emphasis on inspiring and increasing access to career opportunities definitely plays a part in redressing inequity. Programmes to date have tended to focus on increasimg Indigenous students participation in apprenticeships & trades, ín sport, in education, health, the arts and law.

One area that is not discussed at great length as an option for Indigenous students is business and commerce. This may be as as a result of few visible Indigenous role models in the business arena. Lucky for young people today however, there are quite a few business role models out there.

Here are our top ten (so far) -

1) Aboriginal Business Magazine is published by Willmett Group in Brisbane. Coming out each month, it is a very reasonably price, well designed publication featuring a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in business.

2) Indigenous Business Council of Australia (IBCA) is a national body seeking to represent the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities in business.

3) Mandurah Hunter Indigenous Chamber was the first Australian Indigenous chamber of commerce. It supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business people in the Hunter region.

5) South East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce was established five years ago to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business people in South East Queensland.

6) Victorian Indigenous Business Directory by the Koori Business Network is a directory of over 100 businesses and organisations in Victoria.

7) Yulkuum Jerrang, Victorian Indigenous Economic Development Conference is a major annual conference held in Melbourne each year for the past three years. Speakers and participants from all around Australia attend.

8) Kinaway Victorian Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce is an active chamber of commerce based in Victoria.

9) Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining, Exploration and Energy Ltd (AEMEE) is a not-for-profit organisations created to support Indigenous businesses in mining and allied industries.

10) Inguides is an independent classifieds and directory created by Cairns based media company Blackvine Media for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, organisations and events.

I look forward to writing a second top ten list of business resources and organisations over the next month.

Leesa Watego

Participation of Indigenous People in the 2012 Queensland Election

Last year I created a post about how to explore Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander perspectives of democracy, politics and civics in your classroom. Like other Australians, one of the ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can contribute to Australian democracy is by being active voters. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can also participate by standing for election.

Queensland does not have a great history of electing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with only Mr Eric Deeral representing the seat of Cook in 1974 - 1977 for the National Party.

The business of politics is not easy, but the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in all levels of government - local, state and federal, and across all the divides - left, centre and right - is something we should be aiming for in order to improve the representation of Indigenous voices and ideas.

This year's election sees three Indigenous candidates competing for the seat of Inala in Brisbane's south-west, on behalf of The Greens, the LNP and the Australia Party. Michael Quall, the Greens candidate for Inala pointed out yesterday -

Putting aside our individual politics for a moment, it's worth pausing to acknowledge how significant it is to have three Indigenous candidates running in the Inala electorate - win, lose or draw, this is a positive development for the community in this region.

I personally would like to wish all the candidates a great few weeks of campaigning.

Cheers, Leesa

The presentation below is a compilation of candidates standing for the 2012 Queensland election. They're listed in alphabetical order.


So far I only have three candidates, if you know of others please let me know. Is the information correct? Am I missing something? Please email me: lwatego [@] gmail.com



More information:

• History of Indigenous Vote by the Australian Electoral Commission
• Electoral Milestones / Timetable for Indigenous Australians by the Australian Electoral Commission
• List of Indigenous Australians in politics and public service (Wikipedia)
• The right to vote is not enjoyed equally by all Australians (February 2010) HREOC

Leesa Watego

A quick craft activity idea

One of the downfalls of using Blogger is that there is no space to upload files and documents. I have to upload them somewhere else and then link them here. When The Critical Classroom is a bit bigger, we'll move over to a self-hosted site with loads of space. But til then, we'll have to stick to linking.

I've uploaded the craft activity we gave to visitors to our QEDREX earlier this month. You can download the file from either the SlideShare or Google Docs.

Teacher Activity: Create a jigsaw

View more documents from Leesa Watego

More to come soon ....

Leesa Watego

Gathering information and curating the past - some ideas and challenges

Historically, many east-coast Australian communities have paid little attention to the cultural history of their places. Most communities proudly display plaques to their war dead, the young men and women from families that marched and died on battle grounds in Europe, the Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Occasionally there are plaques to explorer and settler families, but quite often these are held in the naming of places, streets, parks, mountains, and hills.

Generally there is little recognition of the people who walked and lived the land we now know of as Australia, since time immemorial.

Gathering and then curating this knowledge and information to suit classroom purposes is our modern day challenge. Quite often information is held within individual families, but mostly it's in the archives, in old newspapers, explorer/settler diaries and/or historical books that are out of print. Some of this information is on the web, but most is on shelves.

The community I live in, Everton Park in the north-west suburbs of Brisbane, is one such place. Over the past few years I have slowly cobbled together some information in my spare time.

My first effort at compiling information in a way that was presentable was using Google Maps. I was inspired by Stilgherrian's 50-50 project.  Using a word list from Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of early Queensland, I used place markers to mark the Aboriginal names of places throughout Brisbane. My next effort was in creating a Picasa/Google album of Aboriginal Place Names. Unfortunately, life has got in the way of my extra-curricula activity and I've not progressed as far as I'd like - still so many places still to add.

This is one of the on-going barriers to the challenge of curating information for a specific purpose - time, energy and focus. The other key challenge comes in making sure that any texts (in the form of maps, albums, podcasts or books) is done in a way that is appropriate to the memory of Aboriginal peoples of the past as well as respectful of Peoples that live in communities today.


A recent query from a teacher at the local primary school has prompted me to compile what I have so far here in a  a public Google document . I suspect that much of this information would work well and be useable in a blog format - perhaps I'll leave that one for an empty weekend.

What tools have you used to gather and present information about your community? What are some of the barriers or challenges you have faced?

Cheers, Leesa

Update - I'm not certain if the Map link is working. I'm going to try to embed the map below to see if this works.


View Aboriginal Place Names of Brisbane in a larger map

Blak History Month Poster

32/365 Blak History Month poster
Originally uploaded by leesawatego

Last week I ordered a poster created by Aboriginal artist Sam Cook from Redbubble.

Australian Blak History Month is a very grassroots celebration of history, people, events, stories from a Blak perspective. I have written about it elsewhere on this blog, and there is a link also to my Blak History Month website which has a range of free resources.

I highly recommend all schools purchase this poster. Not only does it look DEADLY, supports an Aboriginal artist, but it will resonate with your students and their families when they see it hanging in your school and classroom.

The poster I chose is print mounted on a matte board. I chose the white matte board. There are different options of purchasing with RedBubble including already framed prints.

You can see all Sam's artwork at www.redbubble.com/people/kissmyblakarts.

Leesa Watego

Thinking the 26th of January

For many people the 26th of January is a day of celebration, while for others, it is a day of sorrow or mourning. We have created a series of lessons designed to assist teachers to create activities that are inclusive and respects the beliefs of their students. The document is created as a Google Doc and is accessible via this link.

You will need this Google Presentation - Stimulus Texts for the 26th of January. I will be adding to this presentation over time.




More posts on this topic:

•  Time to celebrate what's great?
• 26/01 What will you teach on Australia Day?
• Australia Day: Part 2

Any difficulties downloading, contact me: lwatego [ @ ] gmail.com

Deadly Ways - Democracy & Politics

Here is the first of the Deadly Ways presentations. It currently sits at 5 Deadly Ways to Explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of democracy, politics and civics in your classroom, but will definitely grow in the coming months.

I did want to note that Annabel Crabb, political commentator and journalist, made an important point on the 1st day of the opening of the 43rd Parliament. On the Drum on the ABC, her and Chris Uhlman were discussing the recent changes to the opening procedures where from now on a Welcome to Country would happen and also changes to the Standing Orders which now instruct the speaker at the start of every sitting of Parliament an Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners must happen. Annabel Crabb while noting that this was a significant step forward, it was still a 'step' that was 'given' by the Parliament (and one that could be taken away).

Free Resources from the Sydney Morning Herald

Popped into Our Lady of Mount Carmel school yesterday at Waterloo, Sydney and spied Part 1 of the Indigenous Australians Educational supplement from the Sydney Morning Herald. Looked pretty deadly too.

The Sydney Morning Herald have also provided a number of online resources for teachers. Click here to access them.

Have contacted SMH to see if they'll be digitising the supplements and making them available online for teachers in the future. Will let you know what happens.

Rembering the Mabo Decision

THE MABO CASE

Ever since Captain James Cook's declaration of possession in 1770, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have fought against the dispossession of their lands, food sources, waterways, families and homelands.

Remembering the Mabo Decision - Student Links

Mabo Day is the held each year on the 3rd of June. It remembers the historic Mabo decision in 1992. Use your Remembering the Mabo Decision booklet, learn about this day at the following links:

ABC - Schools - Eddie Mabo
http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/australians/emabo.htm

Torres Strait Island Regional Authority (TSRA) - Mabo Day
http://www.tsra.gov.au/the-torres-strait/events/mabo-day.aspx

About Eddie Mabo (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Mabo

Mabo: The Native Title Revolution
http://www.mabonativetitle.com/home.shtml

Resource Preview - Sharing culture the Yolgnu Way

The third of our Easter holiday Indigenous education resource producer series - checkout Sharing Culture. Qld based, but Yolngu culture, this deadly family produce CD-Roms for literacy, art, language, culture learning. These look great - and are very reasonably priced too!

Special Days Calendar - March events now added

New Events added for Feb/March -
24 February 2010 - Putsch by proppaNOW Aboriginal Artist's Collective

Their first group exhibition outside of Queensland and as part of the Adelaide Festival, Putsch opened on February 24th 2010 at Tandanya Cultural Centre.

16 March 1995 - The High Court decides against Western Australia's constitutional challenge to the Commonwealth Native Title Act in Western Australia v Commonwealth [1995]

The Native Title Tribunal provides a range of resources about Native Title Law, determinations and issues.

20 March 1969 - The Aboriginal Welfare Board abolished

This website contains detailed history of Aboriginal affairs in New South Wales.

22nd March 2003 - Linda Burney, first Aboriginal woman elected to New South Wales State Parliament.

Linda Burney was elected on the 22nd March 2003, and has since been promoted to various ministerial positions.

28th March 1922 - Neville Bonner, the first Aboriginal person elected to Federal Parliament is born

Neville Bonner was born on Ukerabagh Island on the Tweed River. He was elected to the Senate in 1971. He passed away in 1999.

29 March 1984 - Charles Perkins is appointed Head of the Federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs


29 March 1995 - ATSIC (Indigenous Land Funds) Amendement Act passed.

This amendment created the Indigenous Land Corporation.

30 March 1962 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Qld, NT and NSW are given the right to vote at Federal elections.

The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 (Cth) denied Aboriginal people the right to vote unless they were covered under s41 (allows for those who are already enrolled in State electoral rolls). The Commonwealth Electoral Act was amended in 1962 to allow Aboriginal people to vote if they wished (though it was not compulsory).

NB: This is a Google Calendar that we've created as a public calendar. We're uploading events month-by-month. If you know of any other events that we don't have and you would like to include, please send us an email. You can embed this calendar into your own website/blog by clicking here:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=c0uruhv7tm38vof0n2ib73jta0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Australia/Brisbane

(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 03/02/2010)

Map of Aboriginal Australia

The Map of Aboriginal Australia was developed by Dr David Horton and the Australian Institute of Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in 1994.


I believe that AIATSIS and Dr Horton own the copyright for the map. We recommend that each classroom should have a copy always available for their students.


You can purchase the Map of Aboriginal Australia (affiliate link) here.


However, if you want to use the map in your presentations and in particular, student presentations, you can download -

• a jpeg (right click & save image as)

• or a pdf 

(Please note: these sites are external to Blacklines and AIATSIS and may not have copyright permission to make the map available).
(Originally posted on criticalclassroom on TypePad on 02/07/10)

Update 2 February 2011 - I have signed up as an Affiliate with Fishpond.com.au, an Australian online retailer of books, dvds and other products. I receive a small commission on each sale generated from my recommendation.