From an Australian White Ally
Eighty of us from Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia came together recently for three days (on Zoom) to learn, discharge, and decide to act to end white racism. We were led by Dvora Slavin.
I heard Dvora say that “the white identity is almost entirely about exploitation.” Australia was brutally colonised by white people—who often came from desperate circumstances and competed in taking land.
My peoples arrived in Australia sixty years after the beginning of colonisation. I was raised with silence about both my own peoples and the First Peoples. We didn’t talk about the real history—in my family or in school. It was “whitewashed.” I heard, “There’s no real culture here.” As white allies, coming home to our peoples—to our stories, cultures, languages—is key to unravelling the silence.
The workshop enabled me to break the silence and discharge deeply. I focused on discharging the oppressor patterns—control, superiority, urgency, desperation, domination of others—that I’d been forced to take on [assume] by the harshness and disconnection from others.
I worked on having been raised not knowing that a group of peoples exists and denying much about my own peoples.
I had heard about genocides when I was ten years old, and it had terrified me that humans would do that to one another. My feelings of fear, and grief, became “unlocked” at the workshop.
Genocide intersects with the targeting of my mother’s Jewish people and the hurts and oppressor distresses of my Gentile father’s people. It also intersects with my peoples’ having benefited from genocide since they came to Australia four or five generations ago from Poland, Prussia, Wales, and England.
I am a member of a group of largely white people who visibly act together as allies to First Nations people in the city where I live. We share stories of our peoples’ histories, and this creates strong bonds between us. Our confidence and effectiveness are growing. My intention is to keep listening, learning, and connecting with other allies as we build solid relationships with First Nations peoples on their terms.
Australia
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for white allies ending racism
(Present Time 206, January 2022)