Isobel Wilkerson a New York Times journalist spent many years following the lives of three African American people Ida Mae Galdney, George Starling and Robert Foster as they travelled from the south of the US to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Her research is so detailed and open and very kind. There is a sensitivity in the writing and a deep pride in the resilience of her interviewees. The people really come to life and their stories have remained with me.
The tragic treatment of the black people in the south of the US has clear parallels with Australia. All through the reading I kept thinking there is a place for such a story here in my own home town Mildura. How many indigenous people have left for Redfern or Fitzroy over the years in search of opportunity after enduring the racism in country towns?
It is true that we have never had sperate water fountains or seats on buses but all the indigenous people I know have examples of the more subtle but just as cruel expectations. Indigenous young people will tell you how they are always expected to be great at footy and able to dot paintings but never expected to be very bright.
I have experienced the movement of security people into a supermarket as I arrived as a teacher with a group of young black kids and the angry looks on shop assistants as young black teenagers look through clothes.
I would love to do a compilation of stories just like Isobel and I am interested to hear from other writers or indigenous people who would like to share their stories of travel and of racism in Australia.
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