. @AlannaSmith96 selected racial justice as her theme for her My Kicks My Cause AF1’s to shed light on the struggles of Aboriginal people in her home country of Australia.

Aboriginal people have occupied the Australian continent for over 60,000 years, but sadly they have endured much trauma and oppression. Aboriginal Australians have many languages, and an extension of their languages is the storytelling symbols seen on these shoes.

Every dot, circle and line have a deeper meaning and messages behind them as a result. The circle formation with the yellow dots in every other line is meant to represent colonists and a journey line where direct impacts were felt from policies and legislation written...

without consultation with Australian First Nation people. Some of the impacts of this include Frontier Massacres, Assimilation Policy and Northern Territory Intervention.

Alanna wants these shoes to display the current state and long history of the mistreatment of Aboriginal people in Australia. While at the same time celebrating their culture and the amazing art that they produce.

Instead of a non-profit for her cause Alanna wants to encourage everyone to research the history and current state of Aboriginal people in Australia.