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I'm fair skin
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I'm Ranga as well, red hair
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got blue eyes
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but I identify as an Aboriginal person.
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The representation of Aboriginal people is always dark skin.
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It's always that tourism,
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"Come to Northern Territory, this is the real Aboriginal person."
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And anyone else you're not.
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I remember in primary school, the kids just saying,
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"Well you're only like a quarter, you're not full Aboriginal."
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You're constantly having to justify your identity.
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The denial of Aboriginality
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It is pure and simple racism.
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My name's Michael James, I'm from Jervis Bay area.
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I'm 17 years old, and my mob is Yuin.
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My great-grandmother was full Indigenous.
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My Dad and also my Pop, they married Irish women with red hair.
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So that's where the mixture comes in.
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The types of things that people have asked me when I've told them that I'm Indigenous
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"Nah you can't be Indigenous, you're not black enough."
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"What percent are you Indigenous?"
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"Surely you can't be getting the benefits."
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"You can't be a Jaffa."
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Because Jaffa's are the little lollies that are red, and then you suck on them they go white
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but then when you bite, they're black on the inside.
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The first message you get, not even "Hey, how you going?
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It's like "Wow, you, are your sure you're Aboriginal?"
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You're too pretty to be Aboriginal.
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The text read, "You don't really look Aboriginal.
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Are you full?"
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Like, that was just the first message that he sent me.
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Who gives a fuck how much Aboriginal blood i have in my body?
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You wouldn't ask that question to any other ethnicity.
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That is really fucked up.
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It makes me angry.
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Yeah.
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And frustrated that people can't see that, what they've actually asked and said
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is disrespectful.
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Like they don't see it as a bad thing.
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When Georgia has brought a friend home
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in general, anything Aboriginal they feel uncomfortable.
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It's their own guilt.
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They think that they're being attacked.
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It's almost like they think
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"Oh you know, her Aboriginality, it's gone away."
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But it's almost like when I bring them back home that they go
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"Oh, she really strongly identifies."
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Officially speaking, the Governments adhere to the three-point definition of Aboriginality.
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So that is you must first self-identify,
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you must have evidence of your Aboriginal lineage,
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and then you must also be accepted by the Aboriginal community.
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My great-grandmother, she was part of the stolen generation.
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But of course, even looking at me now
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the stolen generation never worked.
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I still identify as Aboriginal.
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So when you say, "You don't look Aboriginal."
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Not only are you denying the very negative history of white Australia policies.
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You're denying our connection to our languages, you're denying our culture.
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If someone questions my Aboriginality and they're not Indigenous,
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I can sort of palm it off as, oh it's ignorance.
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But I think what's really painful is when its actually coming, within your own community.
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And that does happen a lot.
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And what we often refer to that as, is lateral violence.
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For instance, calling other Aboriginal people a coconut.
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I've had that before.
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Basically what that's saying, is that
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you are betraying yourself as an Aboriginal person, by acting white.
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I think you would find every Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander person
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has experienced some form of lateral violence.
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And, you know it really does hurt.
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Because you're not really accepted in any part of Australian communities.
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In an eagerly watched landmark case
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the outspoken newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt
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is being found to have breached the racial discrimination act.
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The two opinion pieces Bolt wrote in the Herald Sun in 2009
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implied that fair-skinned Aboriginal people claimed Aboriginality so they could access benefits.
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If we look at policies, past and present policies
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and the laws that prevented Aboriginal people
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from progressing and participating in society.
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We wouldn't need all of these initiatives.
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It makes me upset because my grandmother was denied an education.
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People get this misconception that Aboriginal people get all these special benefits.
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That we get free cars all the time and that sort of thing.
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Might put on just a bit of a snorkel, the flippers
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have a look around for the abalone or whatever else is there.
5:00
Might want some sunscreen buddy.
5:05
My mate Jiah King
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he's great with culture, I learn off him almost everyday.
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You know about them right?
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Not too sure.
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You chew on the white bits to hydrate you.
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Careful not to chew on the green part.
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Cause it kind of works as a laxative so...
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We've definitely had different experiences.
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I haven't really had anyone say
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"Oh, you're not Indigenous. What are you on about?"
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I've had the flip side of that.
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People assuming all the stereotypes of Indigenous people
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and place them all upon me.
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I don't believe Mike is any less Indigenous than me.
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It's what's inside that counts,
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he's got the culture, he's got the knowledge,
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he's willing to be a part of it.
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Same as the rest of us black fellas really.
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Thanks brother.
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How fair you are or what you look like, that's really not the point.
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The point is that you have this connection
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that is a part of who you are,
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and up to no one else to decide that for you.
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That's your identity, you own that.
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I have thought maybe on a first date
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If I didn't tell them I was Aboriginal
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what would their behaviour be?
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But then I thought, no. Never let anyone question you for who you are.
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In this world there's just so much racism.
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But because I'm lighter skinned people listen to me more I feel.
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It gives me those opportunities,
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to be able to teach them.
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And one day just get rid of that stereotype.
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And then there won't be so much racism.
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My fair skin can actually help with fellow Indigenous people.
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I hope.
