Waking up feeling for Jemma Mi Mi this morning because despite the public outcry and support, the reality is if she wants to get game time she will have to make a public gesture in support of the very organisation who excluded her. #WhatAboutMiMi

She will not be permitted to speak freely and the damage control will be centred on the reputation of firebirds and netball Australia and not centred on her care.

There’s no doubting that her exclusion was damaging for her personally but the Black athlete must be superhuman - they are never permitted to express their feelings for fear of being deemed incapable - ironically having already been deemed incapable.

And look let’s not pretend we weren’t warned https://wwos.nine.com.au/netball/super-netball-indigenous-round-2020-marcia-ella-duncan/648186e2-af77-4726-9b7d-5c7db693cee7

This is the cheek of it all. Even in Indigenous round, on Indigenous land, they still get away with pretending in our excellence that we don’t exist or are not fit to take the court even when the players on court are injured.

This is the routine nature of race as foundational 2 this place. It plays out everyday and everywhere. The untold story is typically the impact of said violence upon the minds & souls of Blackfullas. But mob all knew from her face how strong she had 2 be on that sideline

As Blackfullas we have all experienced that moment - from the classroom to the tearoom to the boardroom and locker room - pretending that the violence isn’t real despite our body’s insistence that it is. It is most disorientating & disposessing bc it’s meant 2 be.

Settlers love 2 talk abt our supposed intergenerational trauma -they invest millions of $ to prove how incapable we are via Indig hlth research yet never attend to the everyday & ongoing trauma of racial violence upon the lives & supposed *choices* of Blackfullas #WhatAboutMiMi

There’s real and everlasting consequences for Blackfullas who speak out about racism. But there’s also consequences for silence that are far more damaging to the souls of Blackfullas than truth telling will ever be to white institutions.

Pay attention to who is not speaking about race within their institution and take note of the trade off. Not everyone who is silent about race in this moment are early career mob trying to seek entry to a game they’ve been excluded from. Believe that.