Wherever we are in this country, we respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land and their elders past, present and future. We would like to acknowledge that this land - which we benefit from occupying - was stolen, and that sovereignty was never ceded. We commit, as allies, to continually amplify the voices, stories and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Hi there, we’ve been hearing and seeing a lot of “what can I do?” from our social circles regarding the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. This document was created with the aim of acting as a directory; a place for resource sharing. We believe that there are greater, more sincere opportunities to demonstrate allyship outside of social media. For non-BIPOC, it’s of paramount importance to recognise and call out anti-bla(c)kness in yourselves and in your communities. The BLM movement is not confined to the US; it is a fight abroad, it is a fight in Australia. The very foundations of Australia are marred by bla(c)k oppression, and prejudice towards people of colour persists. This nation needs to acknowledge that bla(c)k lives matter here too, racist silence and complicity is just as prevalent and act accordingly.

White power structures rely on the silence of white people. Dismantling white supremacy begins with acknowledging your own implicit biases and choosing to act against the oppressor. Silence is an immense privilege; one that directly upholds and perpetuates the systems and structures of white supremacy. Identifying and acknowledging privilege is something that non-bla(c)k people should do without shame. Dismissing privilege means that you are complicit in a system that you may not even agree with. Having these privileges means that you can make change. Using your privilege to support, amplify and carve space for BIPOC (black/ indigenous people of colour) is utilising your privilege in the most meaningful way. Always ensure you listen before you act. White protesters have stood before BLM protesters to stop police from shooting; this is an example of how white people can use their privilege to aid BIPOC movements.

Now, it is more important than ever that people listen without hijacking the conversation and deciding for BIPOC what they need. By sincerely listening to BIPOC, ignorance will  become one less obstacle to the drowning of BIPOC voices.

This doc was inspired by the work done by Changing Womxn Collective in the US, created with an attempt to draw attention to the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Australia, to centralise an extensive list of resources, actionables, links and literature for Australian allies. In doing so we acknowledge that there are numerous incredible resources that may not be included in this doc. Consequently, we will update this doc as we come across more information. Meanwhile, we encourage you to message us with anything you find and continue sharing the movement (in all of its forms) with your friends, families, loved ones, followers, communities and local groups.

a note on accessibility*
Please let us know if you come across any issues regarding accessibility of the layout of the document. Please let us know if you have any suggestions on how we can make this document accessible for all! We are open to further resources/campaigns/funds that you would like to see on this doc: direct message @minamcmahon on Instagram.

*UPDATE (13/06/2020): Thank you for all of your messages and suggestions. We are ensuring that everything we add is a reliable source of information and may take some time to do so. Also, we are working on an even more accessible version of this doc for people with disabilities/lower literacy skills. Please message Mina on Instagram if you are trained in Easy Read and are willing to help us out!

table of contents

ally-ship: a beginners guide
definitions

existing guides

 Practical Ways to Support the Aboriginal Lives Matter Movement in Australia
“As protests over the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd grow larger and spread from city to city, Indigenous voices have pointed out the similarities to Aboriginal death in custody cases, saying Australians need to turn their outrage at police brutality in the US to action in their own backyard.”

Here’s How You Can Support the George Floyd Protests from Australia
“There are ways you can join the worldwide movement, while fighting racial inequality in our own backyard.”

‘How to Support Indigenous Australians During Reconciliation Week’ by @syrupaus on Instagram.

‘How to Communicate with Racist Family Members’ by @iamsahararose on Instagram.

‘What to Say When People Deny the Reality of What’s Happening Right Now’, part 1 and part 2  @dwardslife on Instagram.
“A quick guide of responses to common remarks make in regards to the protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder, most of whuch are made, unsurprisingly, by white people.”

‘How to Talk to Your Family About Racism: A Guide for White People’ by @jenerous on Instagram.

‘Environmental Racism is a global issue’ by @browngirl.reads on Instagram
“Environmental Racism is real and one that has a historic footprint… it is the systematic neglect of the physical safety of POC and the lack of governmental response to the health concerns raised by those communities.”

• How to break the cycle: ‘The Story of Stuff’ (project and book) by @annie_leonard on IG.

‘How to talk about race & racism with your friends & family’ - by @hellogiggles on Instagram.

‘9 Mistakes White People Make When Fighting For Racial Justice’ by @jenerous on Instagram.

10 steps to allyship

Words from @mireillecharper on Instagram.

1. Understand what optical allyship is
   “Allyship that only serves at the surface level to platform the ‘ally’, it makes a statement but doesn’t go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that opress” - Latham Thomas
2. Check in on your bla(c)k friends, family partners, loved ones and colleagues
   This is an emotional and traumatic time for the community, and you checking in means more than you can imagine. Ask how you can provide support.
3. Be prepared to do the work
   Understand that coming to terms with your own privilege will not be a pretty or fun experience. It is necessary to feel guilt, shame and anger throughout the process.
4. Read up on anti-racist work
   It is not enough to dislike racism, you need to work towards antiracism. The following will be essential for your learning: ‘Me And White Supremacy’ (Layla Saad) and ‘How To Be An Antiracist’ (Ibram X.Kendi)
   * more works in the reading list section
5. Avoid sharing content which is traumatic
   Whatever your intentions, it is vital to consider sharing videos of bla(c)k people being abused and hurt can be traumatic and triggering for many bla(c)k people. Avoid sharing this content as it increases also to the dehumanisation of bla(c)k people.
6. Donate to funds and support initiatives

Consider supporting platforms and initiatives which support bla(c)k people. Put your money and pen where your mouth is.

7. Do not centre this narrative around yourself
   Whilst it is nice that you can relate and empathise, now is not the time to insert your personal experiences into a narrative that isn’t about you. This is actually harmful and takes away from the severity of the situation. Leave your ego.
8. Keep supporting after the outrage

It should not take an act of brutality or the virality of a situation for you to suddenly show your support. Keep supporting bla(c)k media, initiatives, charitable organisations and continuing your work AFTER the attention has died down.

9. Stop supporting organisations that promote hate
   If you read pieces on media platforms that promote hate or fund supremacist and hateful organisations, you are contributing to the problem. Equally, stop supporting organisations that love ‘black culture’, but fail to speak up on issues affecting the bla(c)k community.
10. Start your long-term strategy
    How are you making a long-term impact or affecting change? Can you mentor a young person? Can you become a trustee for an organisation that supports the bla(c)k community? Could you offer your time to volunteer? Make the effort to do something valuable over a long-term period.

the do’s + don’ts of allyship

List from The Guide to Allyship. Click here to access the entire guide.

how to be actively anti-racist: a checklist

From @goodgoodgoodco on Instagram.

In light of several recent racist events - and in recognition of the countless we don’t and likely will never know about - we’re reminded that when we see injustice, it’s up to us to step in and make a difference. And it’s not enough to “not be racist,” we have to be actively anti-racist. It is our responsibility to listen, learn, take action, fail forward and repeat. Not just for the next few weeks. Actions and intentions must be sustained.

1. Understand that white supremacy occurs both overtly and covertly - see the pyramid here
   Because of the history of white supremacy in the US (and Australia) and its impact on our culture, whether intentionally or not, we’ve all taken actions with racist consequences. Instead of getting defensive or denying this reality, we have the opportunity to learn, change and do better. Learn about some of the “socially acceptable” racist actions you may have unknowingly taken part in the past and make a plan to reverse course in the future.
2. Follow organisations doing important work surrounding racial equity and justice
3. Watch films and shows that creatively dive into racism, past and present
4. Discuss with your social circles and networks

• Text your friends and inform them of racial inequalities now! Call them in. Say something like “hey, if you have a minute, I want to inform you about…” or whatever! And yes, treat this like a door to door campaign. You’ve got to get people engaging in this NOW.
• DM your favourite influences who aren’t speaking up, and ask them to engage their audience in #BlackLivesMatter discussion and to provide resources for their followers. That one conversation you have with a friend about the harmful stereotypes of bla(c)k people might prevent potential harmful situations. Trust us, people’s responses will surprise you. More often than not they are willing to co-operate and do better. If they don’t? Who cares. You did your part. BUT, do NOT, under any circumstances ask BIPOC people to ‘speak up’ right now. It’s other people's work to do, no theirs.
• Feeling guilty is normal! If you didn’t feel guilty, we’d be very worried - it’s what you do with it that counts. Use that guilt and shame about not speaking up sooner or being aware sooner to create change! Else it’s just self-indulgent. We need to sit in it, marinate in it, interrogate it.

“I see a lot of white and nbpocs out here sharing quotes and protest signs and saying sorry to alleviate feelings of guilt. FYI feeling guilty from benefiting from a system built on white supremacy and anti blackness is HEALTHY. It’s part of our process. Sit with it. Face it.” - @BunnyMichael (Twitter)

for nbpoc people

To non-bla(c)k people of colour, we must show solidarity in this moment by centering and providing a platform for bla(c)k and indigenous voices. This is not the time to hijack the narrative. As settler nbpoc, we not only benefit from settler colonialism and ongoing dispossession, but are privileged in our proximity to whiteness. We must use that privilege to call out and undo anti-blackness and colourism in our families and communities. This means amplifying solidarity and explaining to them that we will not truly be free until the full liberation of the bla(c)k communities. This is challenging but it is more than possible, and there are certainly windows of opportunity for engagement. Perpetuating racism against other races will not end racism, and upholding the model minority myth only reinforces white supremacy.

• Red Pocket Press Support Document (IG: @redpocketpress) has put together a VERY useful resource list and guide concerning Asian support for First Nations People.
• Anti-Colonial Asian Alliance (IG: @aaa_kulinnation @aaasyd) are a group of Asian peoples living on unceded land, and working in solidarity with First Nations Communities and elders to dismantle colonialism.
• 30+ Ways Asians Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism Everyday, 20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now- two very digestible and accessible articles by Michelle Kim for Asians to read
• Letters for Black Lives: An Open Letter Project on Anti-Blackness (IG: @lettersforbl)

Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-blackness in our families and communities. This project has letters written in several different languages to explain anti-blackness that you can share with your community. They are looking for more translators to contribute, so if you have the language skills, please consider helping out.

other existing action / resource docs 

• BLM Master Doc - free PDFs, email templates, petitions, donation links, resources etc.  
• Antiracist Allyship Starter Pack - a list of articles, books, resources etc.
• Aus/US Donations and Resources Doc - lists of readings, donation links, petitions, free PDF links, resources, etc.
• Anti-racism Resources for White People 
• Black Revolutionary Texts - an extensive list of readings.
• ‘Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives’

Read the entire document of antiracism resources compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein, and make a plan on how you’ll deepen your antiracism work.  The guide includes direct links to tools for white parents to raise anti-racist children, articles to read, videos to watch, podcasts to subscribe to, books to read, films and tv series to watch, organisations to follow on social media and more. You can access the document and resources here.

things to avoid

isn’t

Performative Allyship (via Forge)

Performative allyship is when someone professes support and solidarity with a marginalized group in a way that either isn’t helpful or that actively harms that group. Performative allyship usually involves the “ally” receiving some kind of reward — on social media, it’s that virtual pat on the back for being a “good person” or “on the right side.”

Related to this is the practice of ‘virtue signaling’, which is essentially the act of making it known that you, in theory, support and are committed to a cause—even if you aren’t actually doing anything to further it. Its objective is to demonstrate  good character or the moral correctness of a position on a particular issue.

How do you spot performative allyship?

On social media, there are four clues.

1. The post is usually simple—a few words, an image (e.g. a black square) or whatever the going hashtag is (in the aesthetic of their personal brand, of course). Performative allyship refuses to engage with the complexity below the surface or say anything new.
2. It almost always expresses itself as outrage, disbelief, or anger “at the injustice.” But your outrage isn’t useful — if anything, it’s a marker of your privilege, that to you racism is still surprising. Trust me when I say this is not so for BIPOC for whom racism is an everyday reality.
3. It refuses to acknowledge any personal responsibility for the systemic issues that provided the context for the relevant tragedy. Instead, it looks at a villain “out there”:  a crooked police officer or a heartless conservative. It separates you (good) from them (bad).
4. Perhaps most noticeable, it’s usually met with praise, approval, or admiration for the person expressing it. That is its lifeblood.

Why is this bad?

The problem with performative allyship is not that it damages, but that it excuses. It excuses privileged people from making the personal sacrifices necessary to touch the depth of the systemic issues it claims to address. If you hashtagged #sayhisname, you’ve done your bit, right? You’ve publicly declared you stand against racism and therefore can check it off your to-do list.

Looking through the Instagram stories of apparent white allies shouting for justice, you can see that their posts are immediately followed by photos of what they had for lunch or something similarly unrelated. This kind of allyship is transient. A passing story. A repost. For the ’gram. It’s cheap and inauthentic.

• ‘Why white/non-black people have not spoken up about the rebellion in America and/or racism in general’ by @edwinkwong7 on Instagram.

The #AllLivesMatter Argument

By commenting #AllLivesMatter as opposed to #BlackLivesMatter, we are detracting and minimising from the main issue that racial injustice is inherent in society. For a long time, bla(c)k lives weren’t seen as lives that mattered, evident through the centuries of protests extending beyond recognition, segregation, and slavery. The usage of the hashtag BlackLivesMatter indicates that we recognise how the community is undervalued in society, the effects of systematic racism and the disproportionate statistics attributed to police violence. In a street of houses with one on fire, we will not go to each house equally because all houses matter. We go to the house on fire to put out the flame, because they are the ones in need. The bla(c)k communities are the ones in need right now.

Video explainers:

• ‘The next time u wanna say "all lives matter*" understand what the movement is actually about’
• “STOP SAYING 'ALL LIVES MATTER': Don't be mad because you don't have a movement. Be happy you don't need one."
• Lizzo on Black Lives Matter

#paytherent

Put your money where your mouth is. Donate and support Indigenous Australians.

Australians live, work and play on land that was forcibly taken from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Sovereignty was never ceded and the effects of colonisation on First Nations peoples continue today. Pay a regular amount to the traditional owners of country via Pay the Rent.

Since we are in a pandemic right now, it is important to keep in mind how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting BIPOC. If you are home and can’t attend protests, consider donating to the below funds.

funds

WAR - The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance
“WAR is at the forefront of Indigenous activism in Australia. All progress ever made in Australia has only come after determined grass-roots activism. This will continue with or without funding but we would be excited to see what could eventuate with increased funding and support.”
There is no donation link however money can be sent to:

COVID-19 Victorian First Nations Mutual Aid Fund
“COVID-19 will affect the Aboriginal community in Victoria in devastating ways. Donate to ensure our communities have the essential resources we need to survive.”

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency
>80% of people in prison in the Northern Territory are Aboriginal and of these prisoners, around 80% live in regional/remote communities. Specific legal aid is a very important thing - the system is accessible and that’s one thing contributing to overrepresentation. Info on how to donate here.

Koorie Heritage Trust
The Koorie Heritage Trust is a 30 year old Aboriginal owned and managed not‐for‐profit organisation that supports, promotes and celebrates the living culture of the Indigenous peoples of south-east Australia. Donate here.

Victorian Aboriginal C.C.H.O Bushfire Fund

The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) has established a central point for funds directed towards bushfire relief for the Aboriginal community in Victoria. Donate here.

Account Name: VACCHO – Bushfire Fund

Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia

BSB: 063-123

Account Number: 1059-3553

Victorian Aboriginal Funeral Fund

Initially established by Edna Brown in the 1960s, the Aboriginal Funeral Fund was revived for 2020 Invasion Day as part of Pay the Rent. This fund goes towards those dying who cannot afford a funeral.
BSB: 313-140

Account Number: 1223-7641

individuals

Fundraiser for First Nations water protector facing court

Fundraising for NGEMBA/ GOMEROI woman Caroline Kirk whose life is dedicated to protecting and defending the natural environment. As a traditional custodian of the lands that much of the Murray-Darling flows through Caroline and many others believe her work will set a precedent for enacting rights for the Murray-Darling. More info here.

‘Auntie nangala and son to get back to Country’

“Auntie Nangala is a First Nations Elder who has spent many years at the Canberra Tent Embassy, much of her life is dedicated to engaging in grassroots movements fighting for Sovereignty, land and water protection and Human Rights for all peoples who live in Australia. Auntie Nangala and her son are in need of the community’s support to be able to make their way back to Country in Darwin (Larrakia Country). We need to raise $6,700 in total - this will cover airfare and travel costs, relocation costs and will also cover costs for two weeks quarantine for Auntie Nangala and her son.”

Justice for Tane Chatfield 

Funds for TANE 

BSB: 112-879

ACC: 4420-88759

Justice for David Dungay Junior
David Dungay Jr, was a 26 year old Dungatti man, who died on December 29, 2015 in Sydney's Long Bay Prison Hospital. In an attempted cell transfer, Dungay had refused to stop eating a packet of biscuits. As a result, six guards held him down in a prone position, administering a sedative while nursing staff and four other guards looked on. He called out twelve times that he couldn't breathe before losing consciousness and entering irreversible cardiac arrest.

• A written piece by David Dungay Junior’s nephew
• More information on David Dungay Junior’s death - Justice Action

Justice For Yuendumu

Funds that are raised here are used to pay for the lawyers to travel to Yuendumu to facilitate the inquiry into police shooting and death of Kumanjayi Walker.

In Memory of Joyce Clarke #JusticeforJoyce
On the 17th September 2019, 29y/o Yamatji woman Joyce Clarke was shot and killed by police on a suburban street in Geraldton. Aunty Anne (Joyce's Mum ) has given me (Debbie Kilroy) her permission for this fundraiser to be set up and Aunty Anne will be the beneficiary of all funds donated.

groups / organisations / collectives

Sisters Inside Children’s Fund

Established in 1992, Sisters Inside is an independent community organisation based in Queensland, which advocates for the collective human rights of women and girls in prison and their families, and provides services to address their individual needs.

• FreeHer by Sisters Inside. Free Aboriginal women from imprisonment over fines (WA)

Djirra - Aboriginal Family Violence and Legal Service (Abbotsford, Victoria)
“Djirra is a place where culture is shared and celebrated, and where practical support is available to all Aboriginal women and particularly to Aboriginal people who are currently experiencing family violence or have in the past. As most of our contact is with women, the work we do is predominantly designed by and for Aboriginal women. We are an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation governed by an Aboriginal Board of Directors who are elected by our members.”

Black Rainbow

“Black Rainbow is a national advocacy platform and touchpoint for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBQTI) peoples. We support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBQTI people through a variety of community projects and initiatives that we have, and continue, to develop. We call these initiatives Contagion of Love projects. We are a non-profit social enterprise that is 100% Indigenous owned and operated. Black Rainbow is premised by advocacy, leadership, and solutions which identify and address social and cultural determinants of wellbeing as they relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians whom identify as LGBQTI.”

Bush Mob Aboriginal Corporation

“BushMob was founded in 1999 as an Aboriginal community led response to issues affecting the safety of Young People. Today it operates a 20-bed residential and community outreach alcohol and other drug treatment program for Young People aged 12-25. The service user group is predominantly but not exclusively indigenous Young People who have complex needs arising from co-occurring health, social, psychological and structural issues.”

Family Violence Prevention Legal Service

“Family Violence Prevention Legal Services provides culturally sensitive assistance to Indigenous victim-survivors of family violence and sexual assault, working collaboratively with other service providers to deliver appropriate, accessible, equitable, efficient and effective legal assistance and related services to victim-survivors of family violence.”

First Nations Workers Alliance

The First Nations Workers’ Alliance is a new organisation which will campaign to end the CDP and replace it with a program that works for Indigenous people rather than oppressing them.

Grandmothers Against Removals

Grandmothers Against Removals (GMAR) is a grassroots organisation that advocates against the forced removal of First Nations children from their immediate and extended families.

Click here to donate or here for their GoFundMe, and click here for their Facebook page.

Gunawirra

“The mission of Gunawirra is working together with communities to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island mothers and children. We do this by delivering innovative, transformational and culturally appropriate programs fully evaluated by research. We empower young Aboriginal and Torres Strait mothers to break the cycle of suffering. Our programs focus on healing intergenerational trauma and promoting maternal nurturing through the influence of cultural knowledge and art. Your donations help us to directly improve the lives of traumatised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island mothers and children.” Donate here.

The Aboriginal Legal Service

ALS provides legal representation and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in every Australian state and territory:

• NSW/ACT: Aboriginal Legal Service Limited
• QLD: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service QLD Limited
• WA: Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia Incorporated
• SA: Aboriginal Legal RIghts Movement Incorporated
• NT (North and South zone): North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency Limited
• VIC: Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service Co-operative LImited
• TAS: Tasmanian Aboriginal Community Legal Service

The Bail Project

“The Bail Project provides free bail assistance to low-income individuals who are legally presumed innocent, and whom a judge has deemed eligible for release before trial contingent on paying bail. They enable clients to return home to their families and communities while awaiting their court dates.”

The Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre

“Wirringa Baiya receives limited government funding, the demand far outweighs the capacity of the Centre. Unfortunately, we can’t always assist women to the extent to which they need, and sometimes have to refer  women on to non-Aboriginal services. This is one of the hardest parts of our job.”

ISJA Melbourne
ISJA – Melb is a grassroots, multi-racial activist group — open to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people — which works collaboratively with others around the country campaigning to stop Indigenous deaths in custody. ISJA – Melb works in collaboration with those who have lost a loved one in custody and makes its decisions democratically with all meeting participants having an equal say.

NATSIWA - Empowering Women to Advocate for Effective Policy

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance (NATSIWA) was established in 2009 to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women to have a strong and effective voice in the domestic and international policy advocacy process.

Change the Record
“Change the Record is doing crucial work right now to highlight the impacts of Covid-19 policies on First Nations communities.  Right now, as we all adjust to living with the threat of Covid-19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are locked in prisons or are experiencing family violence in community, are at an increased risk. Change the Record has worked with our front-line legal, family violence and human rights organisations to track the impacts of Covid-19 policies on policing, prisons, child protection and removal and family violence in our communities and we need your help to get our message to the decision makers calling the shots.”

Sisters Inside

“Established in 1992, Sisters Inside is an independent community organisation based in Queensland, which advocates for the collective human rights of women and girls in prison, and their families, and provides services to address their individual needs.”

Seed MOB
SEED is Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network contributing to a movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people for climate justice with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

Deadly Connections Community & Justice Services Inc.
“Deadly Connections is a Aboriginal Community Led, Not For Profit Organisation that breaks the cycles of disadvantage and trauma to directly address the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the child protection and justice system/s.”

The Wunan Organisation
Wunan is an Aboriginal development organisation in the East Kimberley, with a clear purpose and strategy to drive long-term socio-economic change for Aboriginal people by providing real opportunities, investing in people’s abilities, and by encouraging and rewarding aspiration and self-responsibility.

The Healing Foundation
The Healing Foundation addresses the harmful legacy of colonisation, in particular the history of child removal that continues to affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The organisation aims to help heal survivors and their families by connecting them back to our culture, philosophy and spirit. This national not-for-profit supports other organisations across the country to design and deliver healing programs that work for their communities.

Common Ground

Common Ground is an Aboriginal led non-for-profit that works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia to capture, share stories and create learning material for wider Australia. Its website provides a wealth of online resources for people to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories and lived experiences.

Children’s Ground

Children’s Ground is an Aboriginal community led organisation that aims to end entrenched intersectional disadvantage. Taking a 25 year approach, it advocates for systems change and promotes national reform for policy and practice in the areas of early years learning, health, economic wellbeing, culture and community.

Just Reinvest

Just Reinvest NSW promotes justice reinvestment as an alternative to reduce crime and build communities. Formed in response to the disproportionate number of Aboriginal children and young people being locked up, this framework reallocates taxpayer dollars from prisons and invests them back into communities where it is needed most. As opposed to imprisonment, the focus is placed on early intervention, prevention and diversionary solutions.

Original Power

Original Power is a small, community- focused organisation that aims to build the power of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through collective action. They do this through three key interconnected ways: power our people, power campaigns and power solutions. This ranges from providing training, mentoring and support to people’s capacity and agency to providing research, analysis and resources to ensure that communities can make informed decisions.

Purple House

Purple House is an innovative and Indigenous-owned and run health service operating from its base in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Now operating 18 remote clinics and a mobile dialysis unit called Purple Truck, Purple House gets patients and families back home so that families and cultures can remain strong.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation 

Indigenous Literacy Foundation is a national book industry charity dedicated to lifting literacy levels in remote Indigenous communities, so all children across Australia have the same choices and opportunities.

MORE

• The Welcome to Country website has listed a whole heap of Indigenous charities that need your help. You can find more/updated information there.
• To donate to these organisations and to find more resources and ways to take action, head to www.firstnationsresourcedirectory.com.
• THREAD: First Nations Campaigns you can donate to by Hayden Moon via Twitter @hayden_seek94

petitions / actions

Short Article: Indigenous pain and protest written in the history of signatures

NOTE: the donation button on change.org involves donating to the website, not the cause of the petition that you are signing. If you want to donate towards the BLM cause, it is best to go directly to the source as linked in this document.

deaths in custody/police brutality

JUNE 1st, 2020: NSW Police Officer slammed Indigenous teenager into the ground during an arrest.

• Guardian article on it here.
• Family of the teenager plan private prosecution if officer isn’t charged.

Email template: 

Petition (Action Network): End Aboriginal Deaths In Custody - Abolish the offence of public drunkenness
“Help Tanya Day’s family honour the legacy of their mother. Sign up now to send a message to the Victorian Government to change Victoria’s destructive public drunkenness laws and create genuine community health alternatives to incarceration.”

• Guardian article on Tanya Day’s death
  

Petition (David Dungay Jnr): CHARGES MUST BE LAID FOR THE DEATH OF DAVID DUNGAY JNR
“David Dungay Jr, was a 26 year old Dungatti man, who died on December 29, 2015 in Sydney's Long Bay Prison Hospital. In an attempted cell transfer, Dungay had refused to stop eating a packet of biscuits. As a result, six guards held him down in a prone position, administering a sedative while nursing staff and four other guards looked on. He called out twelve times that he couldn't breathe before losing consciousness and entering irreversible cardiac arrest.”

• To financially support the family and lawyers of David Dungay Junior - click here for the GoFundMe page.
  

Petition (Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT): Clean out prisons, free our people - before it's too late
“To prevent more deaths in custody, governments must immediately release all First Nations people and all Parole and bail authorities must show mercy. This is the only way we can protect the community and imprisoned people from COVID-19. My family has been joined by First Nations families across Australia mourning the loss of loved ones who died in custody. Strong and united, we have a list of urgent demands for governments to prevent COVID-19 black deaths in custody. We are calling on Governments to #CleanOutPrisons by releasing First Nations people before it's too late.  Join us, please sign and share our petition.”

Petition (Human Rights for All): PREVENT ANOTHER ABORIGINAL DEATH IN CUSTODY
“FREE JOHN, A TERMINALLY ILL INDIGENOUS MAN, FROM IMMIGRATION DETENTION BEFORE HE DIES, Receiving palliative care should be an experience of comfort, with family in attendance and every care offered as a life draws towards a close.  For one elderly First Nations man, however, this section of his life’s journey is encompassed by stress, legal wrangling and separation from his loved ones, including his partner who is a member of the Stolen Generation.”

Petition (Change the Record): Change the Record - Free our future!
“Add your name to the petition demanding that our government stops punishing people who can't make ends meet. We call on all sides of politics to commit to strong and self-determined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, by providing:

• Vital Aboriginal-run support services across legal, family violence, disability, family supports, youth and women
• Robust social safety net & income support with fair conditions
• Safe & well maintained public housing
• No offences that target people who are living in poverty

We know addressing poverty will help to free Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and end mass-incarceration.”

Petition (Edmund Rice Centre): Demand action on Indigenous Incarceration
“In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody released its report. The Commission had been established in 1987 to examine 99 Indigenous deaths in custody between 1980 and 31 May 1989. The Commission’s key finding was that the deaths were due to the combination of police and prisons failing their duty of care, and the high numbers of Indigenous people being arrested and incarcerated. About 40% of the report’s 339 recommendations relate to social factors that now form the basis for the Close the Gap reports, including youth policy, education, alcohol, health, employment, housing, land rights, self-determination and reconciliation. However, the majority of the 339 recommendations have not been implemented and many of the recommendations have only been implemented on a piecemeal and ad-hoc basis. In 1991, Indigenous people constituted 14% of the prison population. Today they make up 27%. Urgent action must be taken now[.]”

Petition (GetUp!): Take a Stand Against Deaths in Custody
“We need broad sweeping change, but first we need to hold all State governments to account with an independent audit of the Royal Commission's recommendations. Sign the petition calling for action to prevent further deaths in custody.”

invasion day

Petition (Tell the Truth): Invasion Day 2020
“As Australians, we all want a day on which we can come together as a community. January 26 is not that day. It’s time to acknowledge the truth about our shared history, listen to First Nations people when they tell this truth and be part of addressing the contemporary consequences of invasion and the intergenerational trauma, the resulting dispossession and marginalisation that is part of our unfinished business.”

Petition (ANTaR): Sea of Hands Pledge not to celebrate Australia Day on January 26th
“ANTaR is joining with others to campaign for change, and momentum is starting to build. In August 2017, Yarra Council in Melbourne voted to no longer recognise January 26 as Australia Day. Darebin Council followed a few weeks later. A few weeks after that, Chief Minister for the Northern Territory Michael Gunner called for significant changes to Australia Day, rightly noting that it was a date of mourning for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Rather than simply accept the holiday, you could take the opportunity to attend and participate in one of the Invasion or Survival Day events around the country. For example, each year, ANTaR supports and participates in the Yabun Festival in Sydney. It is a great opportunity to celebrate Survival and to acknowledge the truth of our shared history.”

uluru statement from the heart

Petition (ANTaR): Joint Statement in Support of a First People Voice in Parliament

“Giving First Nations peoples a say in the decisions that affect their lives will provide an opportunity for doing things differently and more productively, by simply listening to the advice of people who are affected, and by allowing First Nations peoples to claim their rightful place in the nation. We support First Nations peoples' Uluru Statement from the Heart. We call on the Australian Parliament to make this a national priority.”

land rights

Petition (Kate Gane):Protect sacred Djab Wurrung birthing trees from expansion of the Western Hwy by Vicroads
“Sacred Djab Wurrung birthing trees are due to be cut down by VicRoads any time now. Some of these trees are over 800 years old and have birthed more than 10,000 Djab Wurrung babies. A blockade and embassy to protect this sacred cultural heritage has been set up to stop the planned removal of 3000 trees, including 260 large old growth trees.”

Petition (Lloyd Diggins) Hold Rio Tinto accountable for the destruction of Juukan Gorge cave

• Guardian article: ‘Rio Tinto apologises to traditional owners after blasting 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site’
• Ask Rio Tinto to leave the Minerals Council of Australia

health inequality

Petition (First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing): Victorian Aboriginal lives matter - demand funding for First Peoples' Health and Wellbeing

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria deserve the highest quality healthcare. Sign the petition to show that Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health matters too.”

aboriginal flag

Petition (Clothing the Gap): Change the licensing agreement around the Aboriginal Flag #PrideNotProfit

“Should WAM Clothing, a non-indigenous business, hold the monopoly in a market to profit off Aboriginal peoples' Identity and love for 'their' flag? We believe that this control of the market by a non-indigenous business has to stop.

Viable channels for new licensing agreements, especially those for Aboriginal organisations and businesses, must be created. Unite with us to see the Aboriginal Flag celebrated, shared and worn for #PrideNotProfit as we lobby government and relevant bodies for action.”

Link to further action that can be taken for this cause, including letter template

american blm petitions

Black Lives Matter Petitions to Sign

This list of petitions related to black lives matter in the United States includes postcodes that people can fill in if they live outside the United States. Also contains a link to google document if links to petitions no longer work and more petition links available once you’re done with the first page.

reading list

For access to a GoogleDrive folder with free PDFs on Black Revolutionary Texts, compiled by (IG) @alijahwebb, click here.

educational resources

• The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has an extensive list of reading materials. “AIATSIS is a research institute that houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of books, moving images, sound recordings and photographs relating to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
• ‘Indigenous deaths in custody: comparing indigenous and non-indigeous deaths’ analyses the current situation regarding Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples likelihood of dying in prison. The report also has links to other chapters regarding indigenous incarceration. The Human Rights Commission also posts various articles and reports on indigenous concerns.
• ‘Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory’ offers various reports and recommendations relating to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait teenagers in the prison system.
• ‘The Power of Education: From Surviving to Thriving Educational Opportunities for Aboringal and Torres Strait Islander Students’ Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs inquiry on how improving education outcomes is critical to improving quality of life for a community. Focuses on how important it was to parents that their children maintain a strong connection to their culture and tradition whilst also gaining an understanding of their place in the wider world, something that is not acknowledged in the euro-centric education system in Australia. (Would read in conjunction with the documentary In My Blood.)
• The Foley Collection
  The Foley Collection (of Victoria University) is a selection of digital works from a major historic archive collected over the past 45 years by Aboriginal activist/academic Gary Foley. It is part of a large scale archive of print, audio visual and digital material currently housed at the Victoria University Moondani Balluk Academic Unit.

academic journal articles
Unfortunately we are unable to provide links to these academic articles, but please use google scholar or friends with access to university resources to give you access to these resources.

• ‘Contemporary tools of dispossession: the cashless debit card trial in the east Kimberely’ by Elise Klein and Sarouche Razi found in the Journal of Australian Political Science analyses the federal government's cashless welfare experiment in Indigenous communities and the possible ramifications we can expect from the expansion of such policy.
• ‘First Peoples: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation in Higher Education’ by Celeste Liddle provides an insight into the casual racism within schools and how Indigenous students are isolated. The journal also investigates the ways in which ABoriginal and Torres Strait Islander students could receive increased access to education.
• ‘From Touissant to Tupac: The Black International since the Age of Revolution’ - multiple authors, edited by Michael O. West, William G. Martin and Fanon Che Wilkins, University of North Carolina Press
• Mcintosh, P. (2020). Chapter 2 - White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (1989) 1. In On Privilege, Fraudulence, and Teaching As Learning: Selected Essays 1981–2019 (1st ed., pp. 40-45). Routledge.
• ‘Beyond Black and White: Aborigines, Asian-Australians and the National Imaginary’ (Peta Stephenson- Thesis)
• ‘Incarcerated Aboriginal women’s experiences of accessing healthcare and the limitations of the ‘equal treatment’ principle’ -  S. Kendall, S. Lighton, J. Sherwood, E. Baldry and E. A. Sullivan1
  Book PDF here.

anti-racist/anti-colonial books

• ‘Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asia Americans’ - ed. Fred Ho
• ‘Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism’ - Safiya Noble
• ‘Antagonists, Advocates & Allies’ - Catrice M. Jackson
• ‘Because a White Man’ll Never Do It- Kevin Gilbert
• ‘Black Feminist Thought’ - Patricia Hill Collins
• ‘The Colonial Fantasy: Why White Australia Can’t Solve Black Problems’ -Sarah Maddison
• ‘Dark Emu’- Bruce Pascoe
• ‘How to Be an Antiracist’ - Ibram X. Kendi
• ‘I Am Not Your Baby Mother’ - Candice Brathwaite
• ‘I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made for Whiteness’ - Austin Channing Brown
• ‘In the Wake: On Blackness and Being’ - Christina Sharpe
• ‘Me and White Supremacy’ - Layla F Saad
• Reflections on Exile and Other Essays- Edward Said
• ‘Sister Outsider’ - Audre Lorde
• ‘So You Want to Talk About Race’ - Ijeoma Oluo
• ‘Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias’ - Dr Pragya Agarwal
• ‘Talkin up to the White Woman: Aboriginal Women and Feminism”- Dr Aileen Moreton-Robinson
• ‘The Becky Code: Don’t Waste Your Magic’ - Catrice M. Jackson
• ‘The Fire Next Time’ - James Baldwin
• ‘The Warmth of Other Suns’ - Isabel Wilkerson
• ‘Think Like a White Man: Conquering the World… While Black’ - Dr Boule Whytelaw III and Nels Abbey
• ‘This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Colour’ - Cherrie Moraga
• ‘Transnational Activism: Afro-Asian Solidarity in Twentieth Century Black American, Japan and Okinawa’ - Yuichiro Onishi (only available on Amazon - we recc. borrowing from a library instead of supporting Amazon)
• ‘Unf*ckable With: Rising From the Ashes Into Your Black Woman Badassery’ - Catrice M. Jackson
• ‘Whitening Race’ - Aileen Moreton Robinson
• ‘White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism’ - Robin DiAngelo
• ‘White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society’ - Ghassan Hage
• ‘White Spaces Missing Faces: Why Women of Colour Don’t Trust White Women’ - Catrice M. Jackson 
  (only available on Amazon - we recc. borrowing from a library instead of supporting Amazon)
• ‘White Tears/Brown Scars’ - Ruby Hamad

• ‘White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour’ (preorder)

• ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ - Reni Eddo-Lodge
• ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ - Frantz Fano

fiction books

• ‘Americanah’ - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ - James Baldwin

• (film)

• ‘Stolen Girl’ -  Trina Saffioti
• ‘The Bluest Eye’ - Toni Morrison
• ‘The Water Dancer’- Ta Nehisi Coates
• ‘The Hate U Give’ - Angie Thomas

• (film)

• ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ - Zora Neale Hurston
• ‘White Tears’ - Hari Kunzru

books on the histories of policing, prisons + punishment

• ‘Are Prisons Obsolete?’ - Angela Davis
• ‘As Black as Resistance’ - Zoe Samudzi and Willian C. Anderson
• ‘Digitize and Punish: Racial Criminalization in the Digital Age’ - Brian Jefferson
• ‘End of Policing’ - Alex Vitale
• ‘In Defense of Looting’ - Vicky Osterweil
• ‘Our Enemies in Blue’ - Kristian Williams
• ‘Policing the Crisis’ - Stuart Hall
• ‘Policing Black Lives’ - Robyn Maynard
• ‘The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Labourers and African Slaves in Cuba’ - Lisa Yun
• ‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness’ - Michelle Alexander
• ‘The Inspection House’ - Emily Horne and Tim Maly
• ‘The White Possessive’ - Aileen Moreton Robinson

memoirs + autobiographies

• ‘Australia Day’- Stan Grant
• ‘Between the World and Me’ - Ta Nehisi Coates
• ‘Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower’ - Dr. Britney Cooper
• ‘Heavy: An American Memoir’ - Kiese Laymon
• ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ - Maya Angelou
• ‘Just Mercy: A Story of Justice & Redemption’ - Bryan Stevenson

• (film)

• ‘My Place’ - Sally Morgan
• ‘Redefining Realness’ - Janet Mock
• ‘Saltwater Fella’ - John Moriarty
• ‘Talking to My Country’- Stan Grant
• ‘The Hate Race’ - Maxine Beneba Clarke
• ‘Top End Girl’ - Miranda Tapsell

books on resistance

• ‘Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination’ - Robin D.G. Kelly
• ‘Freedom: Medicine Words for Your Brave Revolution’ - Jaiya John
• ‘Killing Rage: Ending Racism’- Bell Hooks
• ‘The Next Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century’ - Grace Lee Boggs
• ‘Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest - Zeynep Tufekci
  (More at transformharm.org, usprisonculture.com and restorativeresponse.org)

short-reads

• ‘Police “Reforms” You Should Always Oppose’ - Mariama Kaba
• ‘You Are Already an Abolitionist’ - Benji Hart
• ‘Protection Without Police’ - Victoria Law
• ‘We must bear witness to black deaths in our own country’ - Amy McQuire
• “You Need To Watch Nakkiah Lui Talk About Indigenous Deaths In Custody on ‘The Project’ - Jared Richards for Junkee

Don’t share images/videos of bla(c)k pain, here’s why

• ‘Don’t share videos of George Floyd’s death, do this instead’

Acknowledge the ongoing genocide of bla(c)k people in this country (AUS)

• Black Deaths in Custody

• ‘We must bear witness to black deaths in our own country’ - Amy McQuire
  Australia is outraged at police brutality in the US, but apathetic to the lives of black people in their own country.
• The Guardian ‘Indigenous Deaths Inside Custody 2019’
• Stop COVID Aboriginal Deaths in Custody: An Interview With the ALS’s Makayla Reynolds
• Indigenous Femicide and the Killing State - A case study on the violence of the settler state is enacted through diverse practices that render Indigenous women’s lives unsafe and produce their deaths. (includes US and Canada references/cases too)

• The Frontier Wars

• SBS: ‘Lest We Forget: why we need to remember the Frontier Wars’
• The Guardian: ‘Australia’s frontier war killings still conveniently escape official memory’ - Paul Daley
• SBS Video: ‘The Frontier Wars: Australia’s forgotten conflicts’

The Stolen Generation (AUS)

• Bringing them Home Fact Sheet

A two page fact sheet on the Bringing Them Home report. The circumstances that led to it and the outcomes by a government-funded body that supports Stolen Generations and their communities.

• Bringing Them Home Report: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (1995 - 1997) 

Content warning: sexual assault, sexual violence, rape, intergenerational trauma, institutional betrayal, institutional abuse, displacement, suicide

• Bringing them Home Website

A website dedicated to educating Australians on the Bringing them Home report created in association with The Australian Government and The Australian Human Rights Commission. Created for the twenty year anniversary in 2017.

• Bringing them Home 20 years on  

How much has changed since the report was commissioned? How much has changed?

• Sorry: the unfinished business of the Bringing Them Home report by Coral Dow

APH social research policy paper on the unfinished work by States and Territories on reparations, an apology and compensation. A major unfinished business of the Bringing Them Home Report.  

The Case for Reparations (USA)

“Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” Click on the link to access the audio version of this article.

Anti-Bla(c)kness in Asian Communities (AUS)

• ‘Why Asian Australians should call out racism beyond their own culture’
  Open letter from Freedom Inc.’s Southeast Asian Team on COVID-19 and Black Solidarity
• ‘Chinese and Indigenous Australians share a long, 'untold history' that's been captured through art’

Australian Indigenous voices in parliament

• Enshrined Voice to parliament ruled out as referendum option
• Uluru Statement from the Heart: First Nations National Constitutional Convention Uluru 2017 (referendum Council)
• Uluru Statement from the Heart

Incarceration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples

• FactCheck Q&A: are Indigenous Australians the most incarcerated people on Earth? Reveals how BIPOC communities are disproportionately imprisoned
• ‘Pathways to Justice–Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples summary’ provides some quick info and the case for reform.
• ‘Aboriginal prison rates’ breaks down indigenous incarceration rates with visual aids
• ‘Don Dale detainees entitled to compensation after being tear-gassed, high court rules’ the High Court has recognised that deliberate use of tear gas by prison officers on youth was unlawful

Individual Stories from Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples

• ‘Sydney police officer under investigation after slamming Indigenous boy face-first on to pavement’ A few days after George Floyd’s death, an Australian teen was violently assaulted by a policeman
• ‘Death of David Dungay Jr’ regarding David Dungay Junior’s death, whose situation to floyd was uncanny
• ‘Family's plea for answers as Aboriginal woman dies alone in Melbourne jail’ article on when veronica walker passed away, yet nothing was said - placed in a high security prison for alleged shoplifting after she was refused bail
• Intersectionality and Indigenous Feminism: An Aboriginal Woman’s Perspective by Celeste Liddle 

‘Australia still turns a blind eye to Aboriginal people dying in custody’- Celeste Liddle

Prisons

• We need to abolish prisons to disrupt a society built on inequality (Nayuka Gorrie and Witt Church)
• Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind (Ruth Wilson Gilmore)
• Imagining abolition - thinking outside the prison bars (Debbie Kilroy)
• Jackie Huggins AO: This NAIDOC Week, I want to acknowledge my sisters in jail. (Daniel James)
• ‘What Abolitionists Do’ - Mariame Kaba, David Stein and Dan Berger

internet / other resources

websites, maps + apps

First Nations Telegraph

“Your Free Online Daily News - 100% Owned & Operated by Our Mob”

First Nations Deaths in Custody Watch

“Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee is an Indigenous community organisation monitoring the treatment of Aboriginal people in police and justice custody.”

Copwatch (AUS)

“Copwatch is an education program and app for the Australian Aboriginal Community to help improve engagement, trust and accountability between police and Aboriginal people. The Copwatch app lets you record interactions with police - safely and legally.”

Deathscapes: Mapping Race and State Violence in Settler States (Digital Map)
With the ultimate aim of ending deaths in custody, the Deathscapes project maps the sites and distributions of custodial deaths in locations such as police cells, prisons and immigration detention centres, working across the settler states of Australia,  the US and Canada, as well as the UK/EU as historical sites of origin for these settler colonial states.

helplines

National Helplines

• Lifeline | 13 11 14  
  Crisis support and suicide prevention services
• Beyond Blue |  1300 22 4636
  Anxiety, depression and suicide prevention
• 1800RESPECT | 1800 737 732
  Support for people impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence and abuse
• Kids Helpline | 1800 55 1800
  Counselling service for young people aged 5 - 25

audio: podcasts, radio, etc

AUSTRALIA

Pretty for an Aboriginal
You can listen to ‘Pretty for an Aboriginal’ where you get your podcasts!

‘Let's Talk’ - Boe Spearim
Let’s Talk is a National Indigenous talk show focussing on current affairs and issues of importance to Indigenous people.  This program is 98.9fm’s flagship program and is listened to by a large Indigenous audience in Brisbane and around the country via the National Indigenous Radio Service.
MON-THU 9-10AM

• Let’s Talk episode on Chinese/Aboriginal History

Still Here - Triple R Radio Show (naarm - so called ‘melbourne’) - Presented by Neil Morris and Paul Gorrie
Indigenous peoples have been subject to a torrent of attempted eradication in extensive ways over the course of history since colonisation on this land.
SUN 1-2PM.

The Wheeler Centre

• ‘Black Lives Matter: In Conversation’
• ‘Not Racist, But ...: Racism and the Criminal Justice System’
• ‘25 Years … and Counting: The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’
• 'So What If ... We Didn't Have Prisons?"

Word Up - ABC, presented by Daniel Browning
The diverse languages of black Australia from Anmatyerre to Arrernte, from Bidjara to Bundjalung, from Nyungar to Ngaanyatjarra, from Yankunytjatjara to Yorta Yorta — one word at a time.
Podcast available at link, the ABC Listen app or on the Apple Podcasts app.

A Cuppa and a Yarn - Presented by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council
Each week, NSWALC sits down for a Cuppa and a Yarn with members of the Land Rights network, its supporters and contributors to Australia’s rich cultural history. You’ll laugh, cry and be inspired by each individual tale as we delve into the big issues, history and the personal journeys of our incredible guests.

Hey Aunty! - Presented by Shantel Wetherall
Hey Aunty! gives voice to black women, fems and non-binary siblings in Australia. Connecting Sisters across cultures and generations and showing that there are millions of ways to be magical.

Bittersweet Podcast - Presented by Wintana Kidane and Rahel Davies
Bittersweet Podcast is a podcast where two Afro-Australian millennials candidly share their opinions and experiences. Hosted by Wintana Kidane and Rahel Davies, the podcast covers topics from personal growth, to identity, race, culture and the experiences of women in culture in the arts.

Always Was, Always Will Be Our Stories - Presented by Marlee Silva
Inspiring conversations with Indigenous role models and trailblazers! Listen to Always Was, Always Will Be Our Stories wherever you get your podcasts!

Tiddas 4 Tiddas - Presented by Marlee Silva
Tiddas 4 Tiddas was started as an initiative designed to empower young black women to know their worth and what they’re capable of. Tidda means sister and in this podcast series, we’ll bring to life stories of some of the country's deadliest Indigenous sisters. This show is about raising awareness and inspiring Indigenous excellence in the hopes that one day, we’ll all stand together

INTERNATIONAL

• Therapy for Black Girls : The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly chat about all things mental health, personal development.
• 1619 - The New York Times: A project by The New York Times with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States.
• About Race: From the author behind the bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race,comes a podcast that takes the conversation a step further. Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, this podcast looks at the recent history that lead to the politics of today.
• Code Switch: is a race and culture outlet and a weekly podcast from American public radio network NPR
• Diversity Gap: Join Bethaney Wilkinson as she explores the gap between good intentions and good impact as it relates to diversity, inclusion and equity. On The Diversity Gap podcast, we'll be learning from thought leaders, authors, creatives and more about the diversity gaps in society and culture.
• Intersectionality Matters!:Hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw and featuring on the ground interviews with some of the world's most innovative activists, artists, and scholars, each episode will explore a different topic through an intersectional lens, ranging from the Supreme Court to grassroots activism in Brazil!
• Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast: Features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice. Co-hosts Chevon and Hiba give their unique takes on race and pop culture, and uplift narratives of hope, struggle, and joy, as we continue to build the momentum needed to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture.
• Pod For The Cause - Created by The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, this podcast was created for those of you wanting to effect change, who understand the importance of restoring our democracy and want to engage in deep conversation around the issues.
• Fare of the free child: Fare of the Free Child is a weekly-published podcast community centering Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in liberatory living and learning practices. With a particular interest in unschooling and the Self-Directed Education movement, Akilah S. Richards and guests discuss the fears and the fares (costs) of raising free black and brown children in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.
• Sibling Rivalry: A podcast from Bob the Drag Queen, winner of season 8 of RuPaul's Drag Race & Monét X Change, winner of Miss Congeniality on Season 10 and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 4, who are not actually related to each other but you'd never know when you hear their hilarious sister-like banter.
• Bobo and Flex: Bobo and Flex are on a quest to decolonize our minds, intersect our feminism, but most importantly, give us all the tools necessary to stay-away from problematic boys!

visual: tv series, films, media etc

AUSTRALIAN:

In My Blood It Runs
“Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self.”

RedFern Now

Redfern Now is a TV show written by Australian Indigenous writers starring Australian first nations people. The show follows various families within the Sydney suburb of Redfern.

• Available on Stan
• Available to rent on Youtube 

Lost in a flawed system: Australia's 'stolen' children

This aljazeera documentary follows the ongoing trauma of First Nations people as the state continues to take children away from their families and thus their identity. The government does not have to give the children to other family members and does not have to give a reason why. In what is known as a subtle extension of the stolen generation, 40% of indigenous children are placed with non-indigenous families.

‘You can't ask that’ episode on Indigenous Australians

The episode provides first nations peoples the opportunity to express what it is like to be Indigenous in Australia. This is the information that they shouldn't have to always answer. The show generally is a great way to educate yourself from the perspective of everyday groups.

After the Apology

This documentary highlights the long way to go before the targets of Bringing them Home are met.

Bringing them home: separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families

The Australian Human Rights Commission filmed this documentary as a visual aid for the ‘bringing them home report’ which explains how Aboriginal and Torres Strait children were forced to reject their aboriginality for a life of abuse at the hands of the state.

Kanyini

Bob Randall explains the principles of Australian Indigenous identity. His story shares in the struggles of indigenous people in the model world while also suggesting what should be done in moving forward.

Dr Jackie Huggins speech at 3rd Annual Kep Enderby Memorial Lecture

Dr Jackie Huggins delivers a comprehensive speech which considers diverse legal and representatives issues that the First Nations community currently faces.  

IQ2 Debate: Stan Grant arguing that ‘Racism is Destroying the Australian Dream’

Stan Grant’s viral speech moves through the contours of Australia’s historical landscape to draw attention to our glorification and ignorance of an oppressive history. This is a history Australia is clearly unwilling to face and a history that is still a reality. ‘A war of extermination’ has taken new forms in a failed Australian dream.

Q&A: Shareena Clanton says Indigenous people want to be "the author of our own destinies"

Shareena Clanton delivered a powerful argument for Indiegnous political representation. She explains the current stakeholders in Indigenous policy and how white voices continue to hijack discourse. It becomes obvious why she is so exhausted by current power structures and those who exclude indigenous people.

Understanding Systematic Oppression and Institutionalised Racism TEDxYouth@Sydney

Kyol Blakeney takes his audience through a step by step process of Australian Indigenous oppression through stereotypes and force of the law.

My stolen childhood, and a life to rebuild | TEDxPerth

Sheila Humphries is a part of the stolen generation. In this TedTalk she shares her truly heartbreaking experiences so that hopefully people can understand the effects of being taken.

Ask us anything: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

This University of Sydney video contains more lighthearted content as to what is appropriate to ask first nations people as well as some other helpful discussions.

Reconciliation Week: Bruce Pascoe in Conversation
UTS invited author Professor Bruce Pascoe to speak with Verity Firth about his award-winning book Dark Emu, the politics of food, and pathways to justice for Indigenous peoples in modern Australia. Link includes a recording and a full transcript of the discussion.

Australia’s Shame

This four corners episode deconstructs the juvenile system in the Northern Territory, exposing the use of physical force and tear gas on children as young as ten.

Babakiueria 
Babakiueria is a 1986 Australian satirical film on relations between Aboriginal Australians and Australians of European descent. Imagine what it would be like if black settlers arrived to settle a continent inhabited by white natives?

Our Stories: Too Pretty to be Aboriginal

This ground-breaking short documentary initiative shares the history, culture and language of Indigenous Australia through stories of elders, youth and communities. In this episode Sasha Sarago embarks on a quest to examine Australia's relationship to Aboriginal beauty through the phrase: you're too pretty to be Aboriginal.

First Australians

This seven-part series chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of Indigenous Australians. It covers the brutal and tragic history of Australia from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 to Mabo’s battle for native land title. It features commentary from Indigenous historians such as Bruce Pascoe and Marcia Langton and was produced in consultation with the descendants of the documentary’s subjects, who were given the opportunity to check the contents of the scripts and view various cuts of the episodes before they aired.

Four Corners: Australia’s Shame

This episode is an investigation into the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in the Northern Territory where 10 year olds are locked up and children as young as 13 are placed into solitary confinement.

Youtube channels: The Healing Foundation, ABC Indigenous, Reconciliation Aus,

INTERNATIONAL:

Dear White People
Based on the acclaimed film of the same name, this Netflix-original series follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics. Through an absurdist lens, the series uses irony, self-deprecation, brutal honesty and humor to highlight issues that still plague today's"post-racial" society.

• TV series: find on Netflix
• Film: rent on YouTube for AU$1.99

13th

This expose on racial inequality focuses specifically on the industrial prison complex. It can be found on Netflix.

American Son (USA)

This movie follows a family attempting to find their missing son. “For Washington, the subject matter is vital and she hopes the film will serve as an eye-opener to those who don’t fully understand the racial biases that exist in even the subtlest of ways.” Available on Netflix.

See You Yesterday

“See You Yesterday marries a novel sci-fi premise with urgent social relevance and forges something excitedly new from the union—providing an impressive showcase for star Eden Duncan-Smith and debut writer-director Stefon Bristol." Follows a sister who travels through time to stop a policeman from taking her brother's life. Available on Netflix.

When They See Us

With only one season, When They See Us is a relatively quick watch. The show depicts the unjust trial of the Central Park Five - five bla(c)k men found guilty for the rape of a white woman in the late 90s. Available on Netflix.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Follows a 1970’s Harlem family as a man is wrongfully arrested for a crime he did not commit.

• Rent for 3.99 on Amazon

The Hate U Give

Starr Carter is an African-American teen who witnesses the police shooting her best friend.

• Available on Foxtel
• Can buy from youtube for $6

Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975

This documentary spands the movement from 1967 to 1976 from the perspective swedish filmmakers.

• Buy on youtube 

Fruitvale Station

About a man who “became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. Based on a true story.”

• Watch on Stan
• Buy on youtube

I Am Not Your Negro

A fantastic documentary on James Baldwin and his revolutionary book "Remember This House."

• On stan or buy from youtube

Just Mercy

A Harvaard graduate makes his way to Alambama to defend those who can not afford legal representation. The movie focuses specifically on his defense of “Walter McMillian, who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence.”

• Buy on youtube
• For the month of june, the movie is free to rent on Amazon and Apple TV

Selma

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”

• Available on youtube

A playlist featuring various BLM relevant videos

The particular video linked is about whitesplaining as it might be better to watch from an audience perspective to realise what you're doing.

‘STREAM TO DONATE: how to help with no money or leaving your house’

This video project is a bit more accessible for those with no money. It’s a YouTube video featuring bla(c)k artists with all revenue raised from the video being sent ‘to the associations that offer protester bail funds, help pay for family funerals, and advocacy that are listed in the beginning of the video.’ If you intend to watch this video make sure your ad block is off.

‘Handsworth Songs’ - the Black Audio Film Collective

Dear White People - IGTV video by @themanacho on Instagram.

other ways to support rn

businesses

For a directory, head to Supply Nation.
“Supply Nation provides Australia’s leading database of verified Indigenous businesses: search by business name, product, service, area, or category. Supply Nation works to connect over 2,100 verified Indigenous businesses on Indigenous Business Direct with more than 450 paid corporate, government and not-for-profit members in every state and territory. Supplier diversity is a growing movement in Australia as we work to create a more inclusive economy.”

Clothing the Gap
“Clothing The Gap is a Victorian Aboriginal owned and led social enterprise. We are a fresh and dynamic fashion label managed by health professionals that celebrates Aboriginal people and culture. Clothing The Gap is a play on the words "Closing the Gap", which is an Australian Government health initiative to help close the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous Australians.”

the arts

Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
Yirra Yaakin, meaning “Stand Tall” in Noongar language, is a not-for-profit theatre company based in the heart of the Noongar nation in south-west of Western Australia.

Ilbijiri Theatre Company

“Ilbijiri Theatre Company creates, presents and tours powerful and engaging theatre, creatively controlled by Indigenous artists. Our stories are provocative and affecting and give voice to our unique and diverse cultures. Iljibiri is an advocate and leader for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community in Australia. In this role we delivera broad program of artist development for new and emerging Indigenous writers, directors, actors and creatives.

Indigenous Art Centre Alliance

"IACA is the peak body supporting Indigenous art centres across far north Queensland and the Torres Strait. We support culturally strong best practice Indigenous art enterprises. IACA provides service delivery and training for members and delivers advocacy and promotion."

Indigenous Art Centres - support Indigenous artists and their cultural centres!

• Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia
• APY Art Centre Collective
• Arlpwe Art Cultural Centre
• Arnhem Northern and Kimberley Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Badu Art Centre
• Desart
• Gab Titui Cultural Centre
• Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre
• Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation
• Hopevale Arts and Cultural Centre
• Indigenous Art Centre Alliance
• Injalak Arts 
• Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency Aboriginal Corporation
• Maningrida Arts & Culture
• Martumili Artists
• Maruku Arts
• Merrepen Arts Centre
• Mimili Maku Arts
• Moa Arts
• Mornington Island Arts 
• Mowanjum Art and Cultural Centre
• Nagula Jarndu Women’s’ Art and Resource Centre 
• Spinifex Hill Artists
• Tangentyere Artists
• Tjala Arts 
• Tjanpi Desert Weavers
• UMI Arts Ltd
• Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi
• Warakurna Artists
• Warmun Art Centre
• Warnayaka Art and Cultural Aboriginal Corporation
• Yarrabah Arts & Cultural Precinct

Please remember that the proliferation of inauthentic Indigenous art affects the communities and artists that produce them. More information on its impacts in this report on the impact of inauthentic art

social media pages
What does your social media feed look like? In order to unlearn/learn and grow, diversify your feed - it’s free!

AUSTRALIA

Stop Black Deaths in Custody Australia

WAR - The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance
Anti-Colonial Asian Alliance

Police Accountability Project (Victoria)

Aretha Brown Artist/Activist

First Nations Australia Writers Network

ABCIndigenous

Black Business 

Bush Heritage Australia on Instagram and facebook

Meissa - Activist, on Youtube, on TikTok, on Instagram 

Emily - Activist, on TikTok

Aamer Rahman- Stand-up comic with very good racial commentary, on Twitter

Justice for Tanya Day on Instagram on Facebook 

Justice for Walker on Instagram on Facebook

INTERNATIONAL

@BlackVisionsCollective (IG) - Art

@shishi.rose (IG) - Writer, Educator

@rachel.cargle (IG) - Writer

@thegreatunlearn

@laylafsaad (IG) - Author of ‘Me and White Supremacy’

@kendrick38 (IG) - Storyteller

@malaikajabali (Twitter)- Writer, Attorney, Activist

@nowhitesaviours (IG) - Education (https://nowhitesaviors.org/)

@blklivesmatter (IG) - Official IG for the #BlackLivesMatter Global Network

@indyamoore (IG)

@bldpwr (IG) - NFP Organisation

@audrelorde (Twitter) and @audrelordeproject (IG) - Community organizing center for LGBTSTGNC people of color communities

@theslowfactory (IG)

@shityoushouldcareabout (IG)

The Equality Institute - (IG: @theequalityinstitute)