Thread by @IndigenousX

My own opinion about #Colourism is that skin colour is not the predominant issue. It does have an impact yes, in different ways. And white supremacy context matters

But w/ my PhD research, I think of the kids growing up in care. Whose parents & grandparents had also been removed

Because these successive genocidal policies, of the Stolen Gens, the missions, the dog tags, they are alive in the stories of our kids right now.

In my PhD research I spoke to 10 young people aged 15-25. 5 young ppl had parents who were removed. 3 didn’t know their parents much.

It’s research that can’t be generalised coz it’s a handful of lived experiences. But the pain & trauma of genocidal policies absolutely influenced the reasons why these ppl came into care.

Identity issues came up a lot. I asked about cultural connection & what it means to mob.

Bottom line, cultural connection means something different to all of us because it’s a personal journey, taken over a lifetime, influenced by our experiences of Indigeneity.

#BlackfullaTwitter #CulturalConnection

I think of the Black kids, whose skin is fair through no fault of their own. For them to be told that they’re privileged because of fair skin is fair when they live in poverty, when they don’t see their parents, when they move from house to house to house coz the system is broken

And in this situation, the privilege isn’t there. In fact, their fair skin is the product of the Stolen Gens policies or rape.

Coz just by being a care kid, they are discriminated against regardless of skin colour.

There is so much nuance around privilege. It’s multi-layered.

And I need to add that I’m specifically speaking about my opinions, based on my experiences and my field of study, in the Aboriginal Australian context here.

This opinion doesn’t cross over into other contexts.