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Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
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Sep 7 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
This week I won't be writing about employment, unions, voting for our rights (or something), or how thankful we are to settlers. Instead, I will be reminding anyone following this account that the best way you can show support to Indigenous people is to give #LandBack.
I do want to point to people who've spoken or written about how we can bust out of colonial mindsets. I know it can seem like a list and I hate lists cos who is missing, who is left off? It's often people getting on and doing this 'work', so I'm going to try to mention some.
But I'm also going to talk about IndigiQueerness. Because of course I am.
Look... also, mostly what I do on Twitter is retweet good people because I love them, or bad people with the occasional snark attached!

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More from @IndigenousX

Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Sep 8
For those saying we should be magnanimous about the passing of the queen, a reminder that the queen inserted herself into the lives of Indigenous people here multiple times. She wasn't a bystander to the effects of colonisation and colonialism, she was an architect of it.
Demanding Indigenous people be respectful about the passing of someone who intentionally made our lives worse is outrageous. It's worth considering what she *could* have done - and didn't - to effect change.
At so many times across the 20th century, she could have intervened and reset the relationship between Indigenous people and 'the crown', because she had more than ceremonial power to do so. She did nothing.
Read 13 tweets
Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Sep 8
Yesterday when I took over @IndigenousX I was nervous about whether I'd manage today. It would have been my brother David's 63rd birthday, and I was worried I'd be too upset or too many things. The reason RUOK day is so annoying is that there's often no solution if you're not.
Talking to one of my older sisters just now, was the checkin you do not in a calendar format, but because god, it's David's birthday and we miss him. We know our other sister will be with him soon, and we're sad about that too, and mapping what we can do now, for her, now.
I'm mentioning this cos that's relationality, and maybe I'll never be 'ok' again by a reset measure. Asking me if I'm okay won't change it. I wish my sister would make 60, but wishing or checking in to see how I'm going won't make it happen. Talking from inside the grief is 'ok'.
Read 9 tweets
Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Sep 8
Ever worked with someone who sees you as facilitating their success? You know what I mean, they like what you do because it makes them look better or helps their cause. This is a conversation that we need to have about the convergence of #BlackCladding and #MyBlackFriend.
Decades ago in academic conferences (and also today) it was bringing an Aboriginal person onto a panel speaking about research, where they clearly had no real investment or interest OR they weren't allowed to speak about their experience - acting as props. #IndigenousProps
In govt, in business, in unis, in schools, in medical services, when this happens, they're buying authority and authenticity, but with no real cost and without meaning. It really is window dressing, but there's actually a cost to people doing it. And everyone else.
Read 4 tweets
Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Sep 7
(SOS) When my brother, who died recently, wrote his book Bold (stories of older queer ppl), he featured his and other Black voices. He knew how rare it is to have older queer Black voices cos the stats aren't great. But we aren't stats, and for those of us still here we need...
...to be made to feel that we belong, that we are cherished, that we have a place and a right to all of the things the rest of our community has.
I often write (and think and rant) about stats being important. But Indigenous people aren't statistics. Our role as community is central, we should be central because we're connected. Tacking on letters at the end of LGBTIQ+ to feel like you've included us isn't it.
Read 4 tweets
Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Sep 7
There's an overdue conversation about terms that queer Indigenous people use to describe ourselves. LGBTIQ+SB is good but the SB (Sistergirl/Brotherboy) is not magically inclusive of all outside of the binary. The # of times I've had to correct when I'm called one or the other.
The colonial project of gender is desperate for terms and terminologies that it can comprehend and that define us. It wants special words, so words that some might use (Brotherboy/Sistergirl, that some use because they want to) are reapplied to the rest of us that don't.
Like, genuinely, what part of me saying I'm not a man or a woman makes others gleefully want to apply a double-binary-gendered term to me? This is no attack on people who use those terms, but assuming that we do cos we're all Aboriginal is it's own problem.
Read 10 tweets
Prof Sandy O'Sullivan (Wiradjuri - they/them) Profile picture
Mar 21
After a big day of teaching on gorgeous Darug nura I head back to my semi-regional home up on Awabakal country ❤️ it takes a lot out of me facilitating back to back classes, an important part of countering burn out as an academic working in this space is intentional downtime 💪🏽
For me this means a walk by the water, time out listening to bird kin singing, and spending time reading & listening to mob creators. Our cultures are alive & living, music is one manifestation of this

There’s a ‘Blak Australia’ playlist on Spotify 🎶

open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9d…
If you’re looking for an introduction to Indigenous histories, fights and futures, then check out this list of TEDx talks that Luke put together a while back.

indigenousx.com.au/inspirational-…
Read 6 tweets

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