White Australia Has a Black History


Book Description

William Cooper was an Australian Aboriginal activist who lived from 1860-1941 and his biography tells how he set a platform for activists to follow right up to 2019 with recent calls for Voice, Treaty, Truth in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He was the founder of NAIDOC and had the idea for the Day of Mourning for the 150th anniversary of white settlement. He petitioned the King of England for his people only to find that Aborigines were not citizens of Australia. This led to those he mentored like Ps Doug Nicholls taking up the campaign for the 1967 referendum so First Nations People could be counted in the census. He also stood up for persecuted Jews re Kristallnacht in 1938.




Growing Up African in Australia


Book Description

I was born in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. My dad was a freedom fighter, waging war for an independent state: South Sudan. We lived in a small country town, in the deep south of Western Australia. I never knew black people could be Muslim until I met my North African friends. My mum and my dad courted illegally under the Apartheid regime. My first impression of Australia was a housing commission in the north of Tasmania. Somalis use this term, “Dhaqan Celis”. “Dhaqan” means culture and “Celis” means return. Learning to kick a football in a suburban schoolyard. Finding your feet as a young black dancer. Discovering your grandfather’s poetry. Meeting Nelson Mandela at your local church. Facing racism from those who should protect you. Dreading a visit to the hairdresser. House- hopping across the suburbs. Being too black. Not being black enough. Singing to find your soul, and then losing yourself again. Welcome to African Australia. Compiled by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke, with curatorial assistance from writers Ahmed Yussuf and Magan Magan, this anthology brings together voices from the regions of Africa and the African diaspora, including the Caribbean and the Americas. Told with passion, power and poise, these are the stories of African-diaspora Australians. Contributors include Faustina Agolley, Santilla Chingaipe, Carly Findlay, Khalid Warsame, Nyadol Nyuon, Tariro Mavondo and many, many more. ‘A deeply moving and unforgettable read – there is something to learn from each page. FOUR AND A HALF STARS’ —Books+Publishing ‘A complex tapestry of stories specific in every thread and illuminating as a whole ... The wonderful strength of this anthology lies in the easily understood and the never imagined.’ —Readings ‘In the face of structural barriers to health care, education, housing and employment, the narratives in Growing Up African are tempered with stories of deep courage, hope, resilience and endurance.’ —The Conversation ‘Growing Up African in Australia is almost painfully timely. It speaks to the richness of a diaspora that is all too often deprived of its nuances ... Lively, moving, and often deeply affecting, it is an absolute must-read. FOUR AND A HALF STARS’ —The AU Review




The Colonial Fantasy


Book Description

Australia is wreaking devastation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Whatever the policy--from protection to assimilation, self-determination to intervention, reconciliation to recognition--government has done little to improve the quality of life of Indigenous people. In far too many instances, interaction with governments has only made Indigenous lives worse. Despite this, many Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders and commentators still believe that working with the state is the only viable option. The result is constant churn and reinvention in Indigenous affairs, as politicians battle over the 'right' approach to solving Indigenous problems. The Colonial Fantasy considers why Australia persists in the face of such obvious failure. It argues that white Australia can't solve black problems because white Australia is the problem. Australia has resisted the one thing that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want, and the one thing that has made a difference elsewhere: the ability to control and manage their own lives. It calls for a radical restructuring of the relationship between black and white Australia.




Dark Emu


Book Description

Dark Emu puts forward an argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing - behaviors inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag. Gerritsen and Gammage in their latest books support this premise but Pascoe takes this further and challenges the hunter-gatherer tag as a convenient lie. Almost all the evidence comes from the records and diaries of the Australian explorers, impeccable sources.




White Out


Book Description

A controversial call for debate about Australia's failure to improve the lives of Aboriginal people.




Journey Into Dreamtime


Book Description

A book that tells about the magical world of Aboriginal Dreamtime and sharing the world's oldest living culture.







The White Girl


Book Description

A searing new novel from leading Indigenous storyteller Tony Birch that explores the lengths we will go to in order to save the people we love.Odette Brown has lived her whole life on the fringes of a small country town. After her daughter disappeared and left her with her granddaughter Sissy to raise on her own, Odette has managed to stay under the radar of the welfare authorities who are removing fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. When a new policeman arrives in town, determined to enforce the law, Odette must risk everything to save Sissy and protect everything she loves. In The White Girl, Miles-Franklin-shortlisted author Tony Birch shines a spotlight on the 1960s and the devastating government policy of taking Indigenous children from their families.




Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race


Book Description

'Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. This book is an attempt to speak' The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today. THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION NARRATIVE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 FOYLES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE JHALAK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR A BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD




Warren Mundine in Black + White


Book Description

"One of this country's most important writers on the vexed and sensitive issues of black and white Australia, politics and race" – Caroline Overington."Warren's a fighter... He looked at Lionel Rose – our greatest champion – through the eyes of a boy and learnt the greatest lesson of our lives: stay on your feet." – Stan Grant.One of eleven children in a poor Catholic family, Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO has been on a remarkable journey that could have taken a very different turn for a young boy growing up as second-class citizen in the segregated Australia of the 1950s. From his early life in country NSW, with only one pair of shoes and a single bed shared with three of his brothers, to today where he frequents the highest echelons of power and business, In Black+White is a stirring story of an Indigenous life woven into the very fabric of Australia and its politics.In this honest and unflinching memoir, Mundine talks about his personal hardships from growing up in poverty and facing racism, to his personal battle with depression and suicide. One of the most controversial personalities in today's political spectrum, Mundine also includes surprising insights into key political leaders he has worked with including Malcolm Turnbull, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Peta Credlin, Mark Latham, Jenny Macklin, and Sam Dastyari.Included in this updated edition are two new chapters in which Mundine shares his passion for work and empowering those trapped in the welfare cycle. Drawing from personal experience, Mundine believes poverty is not just about money but about deprivation of basic needs like employment, lack of purpose and aspiration, and lack of autonomy and independence.




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