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I started a conversation yesterday about #Colourism in Aboriginal/TSI communities, coz I saw debates rehashed yesterday on #BlackfullaTwitter. Had a big yarn to family and friends about this.
So I’m gonna broach this topic very carefully, and try to have an open conversation /1
So I’m gonna broach this topic very carefully, and try to have an open conversation /1
I heard the argument that being a fair-skinned Blackfulla makes you closer in proximity to whiteness. I understand the intellectual origins of this argument, but I don’t think this entirely applies to Aboriginal peoples 2/
Fair-skinned Blackfullas are fair skinned coz they’ve been targeted by successive, genocidal policies. Their skin colour is the product of the Stolen Gens - of children being removed, of Black women being raped. We also know that Aboriginality has nothing to do w/ skin colour 3/
I am a darker skinned Aboriginal woman, who has a dark-skinned Aboriginal father and a white mother. My 3 siblings have the same parents. I am the only one with darker skin. While I do get targeted for my skin colour, so do my siblings 4/
But our experiences are different. I’ve been followed around shops by security guards who racially profile me. My siblings get questioned, constantly, about their Aboriginality because of their skin colour. People assume that they’re aren’t Black because of their fair skin 5/
And the sad thing is, fair skinned Blackfullas get questioned by white people and by their own mob. We all know that’s the case. They’re stuck in a place where they’re judged to be not black enough to be black, not white enough to be white 6/
And I don’t see what privilege there is in having your identity constantly called into question because you are a fair-skinned Blackfulla. That’s a brutal aspect of being a fair-skinned Blackfulla - you cop it harder in some ways because of your skin colour 7/
So we talk about Blackfullas who don’t follow protocol, but let’s be honest: the issue is not skin colour. There are dark-skinned & fair-skinned gammon Blackfullas. The issue is how we as Aboriginal people conduct ourselves & uphold mob and cultural values 8/
Remember that there is some privilege in being a darker-skinned Blackfulla too. Your identity isn’t questioned. Your family lineage can probably be traced, and may not have been affected in the same way by the Stolen Gens as fair skinned Blackfullas 9/
Being an Aboriginal person in this colony is tough, full stop. Our skin colour does influence our experiences of being Black, but don’t think that fair-skinned Blackfullas automatically have it better. Unity in Blackness is what’s needed, not infighting 10/
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