Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases the Australian song "Took The Children Away" by Archie Roach
The lyrics of that song are included in this post along with selected comments from that YouTube sound file.
The Addendum to this post presents information about Australia's child removal policies that resulted in what is called "stolen generations" of indigenous Australians.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Archie Roach for composing and performing this song. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
****
LYRICS- TOOK THE CHILDREN AWAY
(Archie Roach)
This story's right, this story's true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep.
Said to us come take our hand
Sent us off to mission land.
Taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away,
Took the children away,
The children away.
Snatched from their mother's breast
Said this is for the best
Took them away.
The welfare and the policeman
Said you've got to understand
We'll give them what you can't give
Teach them how to really live.
Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
Taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice.
You took the children away
The children away
Breaking their mothers heart
Tearing us all apart
Took them away
One dark day on Framingham
Come and didn't give a damn
My mother cried go get their dad
He came running, fighting mad
Mother's tears were falling down
Dad shaped up and stood his ground.
He said 'You touch my kids and you fight me'
And they took us from our family.
Took us away
They took us away
Snatched from our mother's breast
Said this was for the best
Took us away.
Told us what to do and say
Told us all the white man's ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
As we grew up we felt alone
Cause we were acting white
Yet feeling black
One sweet day all the children came back
The children come back
The children come back
Back where their hearts grow strong
Back where they all belong
The children came back
Said the children come back
The children come back
Back where they understand
Back to their mother's land
The children come back
Back to their mother
Back to their father
Back to their sister
Back to their brother
Back to their people
Back to their land
All the children come back
The children come back
The children come back
Yes I came back.
Songwriters: Archibald William Roach
Took The Children Away lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos
From
TheRaaaaw, Published on Apr 27, 2010
Für alle, die es wie ich verzwifelt gesucht haben.. aber nur solche blöden Versionen gefunden haben ;)
Sehr cooles Lied, ich glaube die meisten hier kennen es aus dem Englisch Unterricht :D
-snip-
Google translate from German to English: "For all who desperately wanted it like me .. but only found such stupid versions;)
Very cool song, I think most of you know it from English lessons: D"
-snip-
Here are some comments from this sound file's discussion thread, with numbers added for referencing purposes only:
1. Alissa Xo, 2012
"Such a beautiful song that touch's the soul and such a blessed voice luv he's music =)
**
2. TheMimifur,2014
"This is not just a song. It's Archie's story and his life. The music was used in a film called Rabbit Proof Fence - a story about these children. This happened in our life time. Be outraged."
**
REPLY
3. Glenda Pospisil, 2017
"Yes certainly in my time but I was totally unaware of it and grew up beside an indigenous family. They were very close friends of mine."
**
REPLY
4. Anythya Silvadragon, 2018
"My great grandmother was one of those children stolen, I'm proud to be Koori, but sad that they white washed us."
**
5. Rebecca Jones, 2016
"my kids play this song all the time it makes us cry all the pain that our children have because they took way from there morther and farther this is never go to end"
**
6. Russell Lean, 2016
"I met Archie in 1993 at the last ever Maleny festival. What a beautiful voice, beautiful generous spirited man. Such stories of truth. The history white Australia doesn't want to hear. the stories we need to hear. Blessings Archie."
**
REPLY
7. Erin Redford, 2017
"im an Aussie and we learnt about this song In school!"
**
8. sallie6, 2016
"children (black and white) are still being taken from their families without realising the long term effects when these children become
adults"
**
9. Marche Singleton, 2016
"The sad thing is this is universal. In America it was the American Indian children. Now it is African American and Spanish. Social service will pay an unfit foster parent to raise someone's child, but will not give that same help to the parent. Sex, money and abuse too often falls on the child. You have to wonder about the evil intent of this madness."
**
REPLY
10. Gabby Thommo, 2017
"indigenous baby's got taken away for no reason"
**
11. Michelle Gillam, 2016
"where is the justice for children taken away in the 1970s because mother was single"
**
REPLY
12. TRACEY HANSHAW, 2018
"and in the 60s because their mother was single and their father was white ? Same sh&t* different decade. Nothings changed 50 years on"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this post.
**
REPLY
13. Michelle Gillam, 2016
"i Know what its like they took my baby .White mother.Single 1970 unmarried mother they just took Queen Victoria Hospital She never came back. How about the white children they took away"
**
REPLY
14. Kenneth Kelly, 2018
"Im sorry you lost your child. As an Aboriginal son whose dad was Stolen from his mother I understand your loss. This song is for you as well."
**
15. Meri Rowe, 2017
":'( Deeply damaging to the First Nation. Thanks for the honesty in your music , Archie. I'm sorry my people did such evil to your people :'("
**
16. colin macdonald, 2017
"stumbled upon this, done lots of homework,so sorry to the peoples who were bellonging for 60,000 yrs maybe longer
please do keep singing THE TRUTH."
**
REPLY
17. Ty, 2018
"Same things that happened in Australia happened in North America, look up ‘My Country Tis Of Thy People You’re Dying’ by Buffy saint Marie, if you change some words it’s similar to Australia’s story. I think y’all should start standing up for aboriginal Australia and raise more awareness about the history, that’s what I’m doing for my tribe, good luck from the Syilx tribe of the Salish Nation of Canada!"
**
REPLY
18. Leonard Carr, 2018
"Tyler 1/32 Ngai Tahu NZ Maori,nearly makes me cry.54 yr old biker looking fella!😢"
**
19. ritenrong jusayen, 2017
"I was taken,so yeah,this,I,do relate to.thanks for sayen&singing how it is.love u brother.still crying.."
**
20. Darren, 2017
"What a disgraceful part of this nations history. Good on you Archie for writing this song."
**
21. David Barker, 2018
"My Dad, and 3 Aunties were stolen. Because they lived the old ways and the government came and said it was child abuse?! Living the way that sustained our people for 1000s of years having strong families, food and shelter since time began was all of a sudden unacceptable for our people?! And the results of their so called actions for the health and well-being of my Dad and Aunties turned out to be the most damaging and abusive things that ever happened to them!
They elders and ancestors had it way harder than we do now... But they would curse us from the dreaming if we didn't continue to stand strong against todays continued injustices! Their lives are fuel for our spirits to continue holding people accountable..."
**
REPLY
22. Angie pangie, 2018
"@David Barker I'm so sorry for what happened to your family. My sons are damaged too.politics in my state told me oneday I'm not of aboriginal decent, when I grew up in the community😞 then they took my boys. I try so hard to remember all that elders taught me as a kid so I can help my boys now they home after being abused in care. I get scared that I will forget all that the elders taught me as I try to keep it alive for my healing sons"
**
23. Delleise Exton, 2018
"love this song always brings me to tears....love my people n love this song."
**
24. Barry Brown, 2018
"Im so sorry for all the hardship u indigenous ppl of australia suffered,even tho im a native of new zealand we had similar experiences maybe not as hard but we still had to fight for wat was originally ours and we still fighting we ended up getting a treaty and are the only indigenous to have so but our land is not as vast as yours and the minerals and treasures god gave australia was incredible so the british just had to have it unfortunately and take the whole lot there"
**
25. Amanda Crocker, 2018
"My kids dad dad is 1 that was taken back in the day I do not know a lot about this but I am getting there as my kids need to know where family come from"
**
26. Anythya Silvadragon, 2018
"My great grandmother was one of those children, stolen from her family and forced into a girls camp to grow up without her mob, so this resonates with me. I'm Proud to be Koori, even if i'm milky. Lol"
**
27. Super Bolt, 2018
"I'm aboriginal like u brother"
**
28. TURN DOG QUICK TV, 2018
"Playing this song on 26th January 2018 when Aboriginal children are still being taken by the Australian Government."
****
ADDENDUM- INFORMATION ABOUT AUSTRALIA'S STOLEN GENERATIONS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations
"The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905[1] and 1967,[2][3] although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.[4][5][6]
Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.
Emergence of the child removal policy
Numerous 19th- and early 20th-century contemporaneous documents indicate that the policy of removing mixed-race Aboriginal children from their mothers related to an assumption that the Aborigines were dying off. Given their catastrophic population decline after white contact[7], whites assumed that the full-blood tribal Aboriginal population would be unable to sustain itself, and was doomed to extinction. The idea expressed by A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines for Western Australia, and others as late as 1930 was that mixed-race children could be trained to work in white society, and over generations would marry white and be assimilated into the society.[8][9][10]
Some European Australians considered any proliferation of mixed-descent children (labelled "half-castes", "crossbreeds", "quadroons", and "octoroons",[9][11]:231, 308 terms now considered derogatory to indigenous Australians) to be a threat to the stability of the prevailing culture, or to a perceived racial or cultural "heritage".[11]:160 The Northern Territory Chief Protector of Aborigines, Dr. Cecil Cook, argued that "everything necessary [must be done] to convert the half-caste into a white citizen".[12]
[...]
Feature film and television drama
The Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), directed by Phillip Noyce, was based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It concerns the author's mother and two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls who ran away from Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, and returned to their Aboriginal families. In a subsequent interview with the ABC, Doris recalled her removal in 1931 from her mother at age three or four, and subsequent rearing at the settlement. She was not reunited with her mother until she was 25; all those years, she believed that her mother had given her away. When the two women were reunited, Doris was no longer able to speak her native language and had been taught to regard Indigenous culture as evil.[79]”...
****
From https://www.australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/stolen-generations The Stolen Generations
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families.
"Between 1910-1970, many Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of various government policies. The generations of children removed under these policies became known as the Stolen Generations. The policies of child removal left a legacy of trauma and loss that continues to affect Indigenous communities, families and individuals.
What happened and why?
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families was part of the policy of Assimilation. Assimilation was based on the assumption of black inferiority and white superiority, which proposed that Indigenous people should be allowed to “die out” through a process of natural elimination, or, where possible, should be assimilated into the white community.[1]
Children taken from their parents as part of the Stolen Generation were taught to reject their Indigenous heritage, and forced to adopt white culture. Their names were often changed, and they were forbidden to speak their traditional languages. Some children were adopted by white families, and many were placed in institutions where abuse and neglect were common.[2]
Assimilation policies focused on children, who were considered more adaptable to white society than Indigenous adults. “Half-caste” children (a term now considered derogatory for people of Aboriginal and white parentage), were particularly vulnerable to removal, because authorities thought these children could be assimilated more easily into the white community due to their lighter skin colour.[3]
Assimilation, including child removal policies, failed its aim of improving the lives of Indigenous Australians by absorbing them into white society. This was primarily because white society refused to accept Indigenous people as equals, regardless of their efforts to live like white people.
[...]
What has been done about this?
In 1995, the Australian government launched an inquiry into the policy of forced child removal. The report was delivered to Parliament on the 26th May 1997. It estimated that between 10 per cent and 33 per cent of all Indigenous children were separated from their families between 1910-1970.
The report, Bringing Them Home, acknowledged the social values and standards of the time, but concluded that the policies of child removal breached fundamental human rights. The Keating government commissioned the inquiry into the Stolen Generations, but the Howard government received the report. Howard’s government was skeptical of the report’s findings, and largely ignored its recommendations.”...
****
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label Koori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Koori. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2018
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Coloured Stone - "Black Boy" (1984 Australian music video, lyrics, & information about this music group, & selected comments )
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information about the Australian music group "Coloured Stone" and showcases their 1984 hit song "Black Boy".
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Coloured Stones for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the producer of this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
This post replaces a pancocojams post on this subject that I published in 2012.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT COLOURED STONE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured_Stone
Coloured Stone is a band from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. Their sound has been described as having a unique feel and Aboriginal (Indigenous Australian) qualities. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada (gong stone) and clap sticks – to play traditional music such as the haunting "Mouydjengara", a whale-dreaming song of the Mirning people.
Background and members
Bunna Lawrie (Feb 2012)
The original Coloured Stone band members were three brothers, Bunna Lawrie (drums & lead vocals), and Neil Coaby (rhythm guitar & backing vocals) and Mackie Coaby (bass & backing vocals), and their nephew, Bruce (aka Bunny) Mundy (lead guitar & backing vocals). All are from the mission settlement of Koonibba, South Australia. Bunna Lawrie is the leader and singer of the band and he was also their original drummer.
Bunna Lawrie is also a member and respected elder of the Mirning Aboriginal tribe from the Coastal Nullabor, South Australia. He is a Mirning whaledreamer and songman, medicine man and story teller of his tribe. He is Coloured Stone's founding member and chief songwriter.
The band's single, "Black Boy" was a success when first released in 1984 -it became the number one song in Fiji and it sold 120,000 copies. It was followed by "When You Gonna Learn" and "Dancin' in the Moonlight". The lyrics of "Black Boy" included the line "Black boy, black boy, the colour of your skin is your pride and joy," which was a somewhat revolutionary sentiment for Aboriginals of Australia in the 1980s. It moved black audiences to increase their dancing each time it was played at an early gig in Alice Springs."...
****
LYRICS: BLACK BOY
(Bunna Lawrie)
Verse 1 :
A shy Black boy you came to the city.
To learn about life and how its people are .
He's very stubborn. He's just a child.
And now his life is mystified.
Chorus :
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
The color of your skin is your pride & joy.
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
Your life is not destroyed.
Verse 2 :
He didn't know school but they called him Black boy.
He hardly talked to the girls and boys.
Don't be a fool. Just obey the rules.
Cause you'll just learn the truth.
CHORUS
Verse 3 :
And one day you'll grow up to be a man,
To learn and live and understand
Sticks and stones may break your bones
But names will never hurt you.
You'll be the one who's having fun.
So you just keep learning on.
CHORUS
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/coloured-stone-black-boy-lyrics.html
Submitted by Thunderoad on Sat, 10/09/2016
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"
Yuggera Thompson, Published on Jan 28, 2012
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are given in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first, except for replies. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
1. James Stephens, 2014
"Rocked out to this song last night in Maningrida with the community! Coloured Stone were deadly."
**
2. Gum Nut, 2016
"I remember when if first heard this on the radio in '84, I was hooked, and bought the single. One of Australia's best songs for sure. But I like "I'm Going Back to Alice Springs" even more."
**
3. Captain Morgan, 2017
"the colour of your skin is your pride and joy, teach that to your kids, don't let them feel bad because of their skin colour like i did growing up, one of 3 black kids in my class"
**
4. SketchIs Boss, 2017
"Chor my uncle used to sing this to us all, reminding us to never forget were we come from! Kuku Djugan, Tagalaka, Mamu, Narrabulan, Wakawin."
**
5. John Que Noy, 2017
"I wads the Only black boy in my class reminds me when I was a little black boy in room full of white kids"
**
6. grace rigney, 2017
"proud Aboriginal"
**
7. Phillip John Oppermann, 2018
"the classics."
**
8. bradley lane, 2018
"too good coloured stone true 1 still today they the best"
**
9. Jordan Anderson, 2018
"this song has great beat , rhythm and beauty"
**
10. Will Purdie, 2018
"old school love it"
****
RELATED LINKS
Here are three links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"
http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."
**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post presents information about the Australian music group "Coloured Stone" and showcases their 1984 hit song "Black Boy".
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Coloured Stones for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the producer of this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
This post replaces a pancocojams post on this subject that I published in 2012.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT COLOURED STONE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured_Stone
Coloured Stone is a band from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. Their sound has been described as having a unique feel and Aboriginal (Indigenous Australian) qualities. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada (gong stone) and clap sticks – to play traditional music such as the haunting "Mouydjengara", a whale-dreaming song of the Mirning people.
Background and members
Bunna Lawrie (Feb 2012)
The original Coloured Stone band members were three brothers, Bunna Lawrie (drums & lead vocals), and Neil Coaby (rhythm guitar & backing vocals) and Mackie Coaby (bass & backing vocals), and their nephew, Bruce (aka Bunny) Mundy (lead guitar & backing vocals). All are from the mission settlement of Koonibba, South Australia. Bunna Lawrie is the leader and singer of the band and he was also their original drummer.
Bunna Lawrie is also a member and respected elder of the Mirning Aboriginal tribe from the Coastal Nullabor, South Australia. He is a Mirning whaledreamer and songman, medicine man and story teller of his tribe. He is Coloured Stone's founding member and chief songwriter.
The band's single, "Black Boy" was a success when first released in 1984 -it became the number one song in Fiji and it sold 120,000 copies. It was followed by "When You Gonna Learn" and "Dancin' in the Moonlight". The lyrics of "Black Boy" included the line "Black boy, black boy, the colour of your skin is your pride and joy," which was a somewhat revolutionary sentiment for Aboriginals of Australia in the 1980s. It moved black audiences to increase their dancing each time it was played at an early gig in Alice Springs."...
****
LYRICS: BLACK BOY
(Bunna Lawrie)
Verse 1 :
A shy Black boy you came to the city.
To learn about life and how its people are .
He's very stubborn. He's just a child.
And now his life is mystified.
Chorus :
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
The color of your skin is your pride & joy.
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
Your life is not destroyed.
Verse 2 :
He didn't know school but they called him Black boy.
He hardly talked to the girls and boys.
Don't be a fool. Just obey the rules.
Cause you'll just learn the truth.
CHORUS
Verse 3 :
And one day you'll grow up to be a man,
To learn and live and understand
Sticks and stones may break your bones
But names will never hurt you.
You'll be the one who's having fun.
So you just keep learning on.
CHORUS
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/coloured-stone-black-boy-lyrics.html
Submitted by Thunderoad on Sat, 10/09/2016
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"
Yuggera Thompson, Published on Jan 28, 2012
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are given in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first, except for replies. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
1. James Stephens, 2014
"Rocked out to this song last night in Maningrida with the community! Coloured Stone were deadly."
**
2. Gum Nut, 2016
"I remember when if first heard this on the radio in '84, I was hooked, and bought the single. One of Australia's best songs for sure. But I like "I'm Going Back to Alice Springs" even more."
**
3. Captain Morgan, 2017
"the colour of your skin is your pride and joy, teach that to your kids, don't let them feel bad because of their skin colour like i did growing up, one of 3 black kids in my class"
**
4. SketchIs Boss, 2017
"Chor my uncle used to sing this to us all, reminding us to never forget were we come from! Kuku Djugan, Tagalaka, Mamu, Narrabulan, Wakawin."
**
5. John Que Noy, 2017
"I wads the Only black boy in my class reminds me when I was a little black boy in room full of white kids"
**
6. grace rigney, 2017
"proud Aboriginal"
**
7. Phillip John Oppermann, 2018
"the classics."
**
8. bradley lane, 2018
"too good coloured stone true 1 still today they the best"
**
9. Jordan Anderson, 2018
"this song has great beat , rhythm and beauty"
**
10. Will Purdie, 2018
"old school love it"
****
RELATED LINKS
Here are three links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"
http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."
**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story: A Korrie Shares A Story About Her Encounter With Racists In Australia
Written by Hilda Fish (February 6, 2006), Edited by Azizi Powell
[This pancocojams post was originally published on this blog on September 21, 2011. I've changed its title to clarify what the post is about and embedded another video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as the other video I used was no longer available. I've also added an Update on September 11, 2018.]
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This post was written by "Hilda Fish" on a Mudcat discussion thread entitled "Responses To Racism" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88950. Hilda Fish" is the screen name for an indigenous female from Australia who also used to post on Mudcat, an international online Blues & Folk music discussion forum.
I consider Mudcat to be a rich resource for lyrics and information about many songs from those genres & some other genres including my primary interest "children's playground rhymes". Members & guests routinely discuss other subjects besides music in that forum's BS section. I was an active poster on Mudcat Discussion Forum from August 2004-December 2009, but I rarely post there now.
Hilda Fish gave me permission to include this post in a book concept that I've since put aside. Unfortunately, I've lost touch with Hilda, but I don't think that she would be opposed to my publishing this post on this blog. Also, the owner of Mudcat (and my facebook friend) Max Spiegel, has given me permission to repost forum members' comments as long as I have prior written permission from them.
“Freda” is a White Australia woman who is a Mudcat member, Hilda Fish’s close friend, and also is my online friend. “Strange Fruit” is a Billie Holliday song about lynching.
I started that "Responses To Racism" thread in the hopes that members of that forum would discuss others ways to respond to racist posts except ignoring them. In one of my posts to that thread I wrote that it’s important for Black people and other People of Color to know that “someone's got our back”. What that saying means is that when people find themselves in a difficult situation, it helps for them to know that they can count on support from other people regardless of those persons' race/s or ethnicity/s.
****
Hilda's Story
I just can't see that there is a problem saying THAT IS OFFENSIVE - THAT IS RACIST - IT DEMEANS ME - IT DEMEANS YOU - IT DEMEANS WHAT IS HUMAN IN US ALL. IT IS NOT RIGHT. IT IS NOT SOMETHING I'M PREPARED TO LET GO BY UNCHALLENGED. IT IS CRUEL, DANGEROUS AND MURDEROUS AND IF I WAS IN YOUR FACE YOU'D CERTAINLY FEEL HOW I FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING. GET THIS INTO YOUR HEAD - RACISM IS AN INSULT. I AM CALLING YOU A RACIST. GO AWAY!!!!! To name it and attack it is a good start I think.
A story - I was once at a pub with a friend. It was a social meeting between a big group of people of like mind. Various people were getting up to talk about things. It was all pretty progressive and 'good'. Then this guy got up and in response to an article in a newspaper stated that Aboriginal people were more aligned with animals than human - that white people were superior and it was time that Indigenous (Black) people got the picture. And so on. Everyone listened politely while I started steaming. Oh dear I thought, waiting for my 'friends' to rip him to shreds one way or another. They didn't. There was a lot of polite discussion about how what he said was unacceptable. Un...f...acceptable! I was dying there by what he said and I was dying there because no-one (here you are Azizi) was watching my back. Here we go again I thought. I have to stand up and name this crap and condemn it because no-one else is gonna. They don't even see it. Or they believe in 'freedom of speech', 'politeness'. I thought for a minute and realised no-one was going to listen so I launched myself out of my chair and gave him a mighty smack in the mouth. Everyone grabbed me but I did get a good kick in. I was hauled out of the pub and banned. Well. I was shaking and in a shocking way but I felt good - not belittled or victimised - but good.
Now those who know me know that I am pretty mouthy sometimes but not violent. The worst I mostly do is getting into a swearing frenzy and walk away but truly, mostly I am polite, ladylike, blah blah blah. Some Koories* in the front bar came out and sat with me. We sat together and then various people including my friends came out and condemned me at first for being 'violent'. We talked and basically I said they were gutless for not naming and challenging it - they said they had left that to me. Why me? They saw it too. Why always us to deal with this stuff? Everyone knows about the lynchings and the shootings and all the terrible stuff that is given permission through racist words and racist deeds. Sometimes I am beyond words as my people are sometimes so beyond words that all we can do is scream, go mad, and yes, smack someone in the mouth. The guy said he'd never speak like that again in front of me if that is the result. What did I care what the racist creep thought. He hadn't cared about me or my blood. All I can say is name it, challenge it, reject it in all its forms. Its not a polite discussion you know. Good phrase Azizi - "need to know and see is that somebody's got our back". I'd like to rely on that as one human being to another. Life has shown that I can't - yet.
And yeah, come to Sydney Azizi and stay with me or Freda. You can see how Australia practises its racism!! There are many forms (just joking heh heh). Oh, the first time I heard "Strange Fruit" was in Melbourne at a folk club such a long time ago. Everyone thought it was a terrific song - I was the only Aboriginal there and I cried and cried and cried once I got what it was about. Everyone thought I was drunk!! How awful and sad is that song? What can I say?
Rest in peace all my brothers and sisters on this planet who no longer walk the earth because someone did not like your skin. I honor your short lives and your suffering and will not forgive so easily and well not let racism have a healthy life wherever I meet it. Rest in peace. That's the bottom line isn't it?
* "Koori" is a self-referent for certain populations of Australian indigenous people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koori
****
UPDATE: Australian Cartoonist's Racist Cartoon Of Tennis Champions Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka
From https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/11/repugnant-racist-news-corp-cartoon-serena-williams-mark-knight Helen Davidson,
Mon 10 Sep 2018 22.33 EDT
"News Corp has come under global condemnation for publishing a racist, sexist cartoon depicting Serena Williams in its Melbourne paper.
The cartoon by Mark Knight, published in Rupert Murdoch’s Herald Sun tabloid on Tuesday, depicted the tennis star having a tantrum on the court at the US Open after she lost to Naomi Osaka on Saturday. The depiction of Osaka has also been criticised as making her appear as a “white woman”.
The way Knight drew Williams has been compared to the racist illustrations ubiquitous during the US Jim Crow era and Sambo cartoons.
Condemnation of the cartoon has come from American civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson, British author JK Rowling and numerous sports broadcasters, journalists and activists.
Speaking on ABC, Knight said he had “no knowledge of those cartoons or that period” and he thought the said people were “making stuff up”.
“I’m upset that people are offended, but I’m not going to take the cartoon down,” he said.
[...]
The National Association of Black Journalists said the cartoon was “repugnant” on many levels.
“The Sept 10 cartoon not only exudes racist, sexist caricatures of both women, but Williams’ depiction is unnecessarily sambo-like,” the association said.
“The art of editorial cartooning is a visual dialogue on the issues of the day, yet this cartoon grossly inaccurately depicts two women of colour at the US Open, one of the grandest stages of professional sports.”
Bernice King, the chief executive of the King Center and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, said the Herald Sun’s stance was “unfortunate”.
It was “without consideration for the painful historical context of such imagery and how it can support biases and racism today”, she said. “Why wouldn’t a human being care about that?”
[...]
The Washington Post noted Knight drew Williams with facial features that reflected caricatures common in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“Knight’s cartoon conjures up a range of such caricatures that were branded on memorabilia and popularized on stage and screen of the era, including the minstrel-show character Topsy born out of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, as well as the title character in 1899’s ‘Little Black Sambo’,” the article said.
In an article published by the Herald Sun, Knight said he was “amazed” at the reaction, and said his cartoon was “not about race”.
“The world has gone crazy,” he said. Knight said reaction on social media was “unfair”."...
-snip-
Mark King's cartoon is included in that article.
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ1cGn69YnY for a YouTube video about this drawing which allegedly was prompted by Serena Williams protesting the Work Cup umpire's comment that she was cheating, and other calls by that umpire. Serena was competing against Naomi Osaka and eventually lost. For the record, Serena Williams is an African American and Naomi Osaka is a Japanese/ Haitian Haitian woman who has lived in the United States since she was three years old.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome!
[This pancocojams post was originally published on this blog on September 21, 2011. I've changed its title to clarify what the post is about and embedded another video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as the other video I used was no longer available. I've also added an Update on September 11, 2018.]
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This post was written by "Hilda Fish" on a Mudcat discussion thread entitled "Responses To Racism" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88950. Hilda Fish" is the screen name for an indigenous female from Australia who also used to post on Mudcat, an international online Blues & Folk music discussion forum.
I consider Mudcat to be a rich resource for lyrics and information about many songs from those genres & some other genres including my primary interest "children's playground rhymes". Members & guests routinely discuss other subjects besides music in that forum's BS section. I was an active poster on Mudcat Discussion Forum from August 2004-December 2009, but I rarely post there now.
Hilda Fish gave me permission to include this post in a book concept that I've since put aside. Unfortunately, I've lost touch with Hilda, but I don't think that she would be opposed to my publishing this post on this blog. Also, the owner of Mudcat (and my facebook friend) Max Spiegel, has given me permission to repost forum members' comments as long as I have prior written permission from them.
“Freda” is a White Australia woman who is a Mudcat member, Hilda Fish’s close friend, and also is my online friend. “Strange Fruit” is a Billie Holliday song about lynching.
I started that "Responses To Racism" thread in the hopes that members of that forum would discuss others ways to respond to racist posts except ignoring them. In one of my posts to that thread I wrote that it’s important for Black people and other People of Color to know that “someone's got our back”. What that saying means is that when people find themselves in a difficult situation, it helps for them to know that they can count on support from other people regardless of those persons' race/s or ethnicity/s.
****
Hilda's Story
I just can't see that there is a problem saying THAT IS OFFENSIVE - THAT IS RACIST - IT DEMEANS ME - IT DEMEANS YOU - IT DEMEANS WHAT IS HUMAN IN US ALL. IT IS NOT RIGHT. IT IS NOT SOMETHING I'M PREPARED TO LET GO BY UNCHALLENGED. IT IS CRUEL, DANGEROUS AND MURDEROUS AND IF I WAS IN YOUR FACE YOU'D CERTAINLY FEEL HOW I FEEL ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING. GET THIS INTO YOUR HEAD - RACISM IS AN INSULT. I AM CALLING YOU A RACIST. GO AWAY!!!!! To name it and attack it is a good start I think.
A story - I was once at a pub with a friend. It was a social meeting between a big group of people of like mind. Various people were getting up to talk about things. It was all pretty progressive and 'good'. Then this guy got up and in response to an article in a newspaper stated that Aboriginal people were more aligned with animals than human - that white people were superior and it was time that Indigenous (Black) people got the picture. And so on. Everyone listened politely while I started steaming. Oh dear I thought, waiting for my 'friends' to rip him to shreds one way or another. They didn't. There was a lot of polite discussion about how what he said was unacceptable. Un...f...acceptable! I was dying there by what he said and I was dying there because no-one (here you are Azizi) was watching my back. Here we go again I thought. I have to stand up and name this crap and condemn it because no-one else is gonna. They don't even see it. Or they believe in 'freedom of speech', 'politeness'. I thought for a minute and realised no-one was going to listen so I launched myself out of my chair and gave him a mighty smack in the mouth. Everyone grabbed me but I did get a good kick in. I was hauled out of the pub and banned. Well. I was shaking and in a shocking way but I felt good - not belittled or victimised - but good.
Now those who know me know that I am pretty mouthy sometimes but not violent. The worst I mostly do is getting into a swearing frenzy and walk away but truly, mostly I am polite, ladylike, blah blah blah. Some Koories* in the front bar came out and sat with me. We sat together and then various people including my friends came out and condemned me at first for being 'violent'. We talked and basically I said they were gutless for not naming and challenging it - they said they had left that to me. Why me? They saw it too. Why always us to deal with this stuff? Everyone knows about the lynchings and the shootings and all the terrible stuff that is given permission through racist words and racist deeds. Sometimes I am beyond words as my people are sometimes so beyond words that all we can do is scream, go mad, and yes, smack someone in the mouth. The guy said he'd never speak like that again in front of me if that is the result. What did I care what the racist creep thought. He hadn't cared about me or my blood. All I can say is name it, challenge it, reject it in all its forms. Its not a polite discussion you know. Good phrase Azizi - "need to know and see is that somebody's got our back". I'd like to rely on that as one human being to another. Life has shown that I can't - yet.
And yeah, come to Sydney Azizi and stay with me or Freda. You can see how Australia practises its racism!! There are many forms (just joking heh heh). Oh, the first time I heard "Strange Fruit" was in Melbourne at a folk club such a long time ago. Everyone thought it was a terrific song - I was the only Aboriginal there and I cried and cried and cried once I got what it was about. Everyone thought I was drunk!! How awful and sad is that song? What can I say?
Rest in peace all my brothers and sisters on this planet who no longer walk the earth because someone did not like your skin. I honor your short lives and your suffering and will not forgive so easily and well not let racism have a healthy life wherever I meet it. Rest in peace. That's the bottom line isn't it?
* "Koori" is a self-referent for certain populations of Australian indigenous people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koori
****
UPDATE: Australian Cartoonist's Racist Cartoon Of Tennis Champions Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka
From https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/11/repugnant-racist-news-corp-cartoon-serena-williams-mark-knight Helen Davidson,
Mon 10 Sep 2018 22.33 EDT
"News Corp has come under global condemnation for publishing a racist, sexist cartoon depicting Serena Williams in its Melbourne paper.
The cartoon by Mark Knight, published in Rupert Murdoch’s Herald Sun tabloid on Tuesday, depicted the tennis star having a tantrum on the court at the US Open after she lost to Naomi Osaka on Saturday. The depiction of Osaka has also been criticised as making her appear as a “white woman”.
The way Knight drew Williams has been compared to the racist illustrations ubiquitous during the US Jim Crow era and Sambo cartoons.
Condemnation of the cartoon has come from American civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson, British author JK Rowling and numerous sports broadcasters, journalists and activists.
Speaking on ABC, Knight said he had “no knowledge of those cartoons or that period” and he thought the said people were “making stuff up”.
“I’m upset that people are offended, but I’m not going to take the cartoon down,” he said.
[...]
The National Association of Black Journalists said the cartoon was “repugnant” on many levels.
“The Sept 10 cartoon not only exudes racist, sexist caricatures of both women, but Williams’ depiction is unnecessarily sambo-like,” the association said.
“The art of editorial cartooning is a visual dialogue on the issues of the day, yet this cartoon grossly inaccurately depicts two women of colour at the US Open, one of the grandest stages of professional sports.”
Bernice King, the chief executive of the King Center and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, said the Herald Sun’s stance was “unfortunate”.
It was “without consideration for the painful historical context of such imagery and how it can support biases and racism today”, she said. “Why wouldn’t a human being care about that?”
[...]
The Washington Post noted Knight drew Williams with facial features that reflected caricatures common in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“Knight’s cartoon conjures up a range of such caricatures that were branded on memorabilia and popularized on stage and screen of the era, including the minstrel-show character Topsy born out of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, as well as the title character in 1899’s ‘Little Black Sambo’,” the article said.
In an article published by the Herald Sun, Knight said he was “amazed” at the reaction, and said his cartoon was “not about race”.
“The world has gone crazy,” he said. Knight said reaction on social media was “unfair”."...
-snip-
Mark King's cartoon is included in that article.
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ1cGn69YnY for a YouTube video about this drawing which allegedly was prompted by Serena Williams protesting the Work Cup umpire's comment that she was cheating, and other calls by that umpire. Serena was competing against Naomi Osaka and eventually lost. For the record, Serena Williams is an African American and Naomi Osaka is a Japanese/ Haitian Haitian woman who has lived in the United States since she was three years old.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Five Indigenous Australian Music Videos (Featuring Yothu Yindi, Coloured Stone, Warumpi Band, Gurrumul Yunupingu, & A Didgeridoo Dance Track)
Edited by Azizi Powell
Yothu Yindi - Treaty
Uploaded by ValorOfSoul on Mar 29, 2007
****
This post features five selected videos of music that is performed by indigenous Australian artists or groups that include indigenous Australian artists.
My thanks to all featured artists, and to the featured videos' producers & publishers.
Enjoy & be inspired!
VIDEOS
[These videos are presented in no particular order.]
Video #1: Yothu Yindi - Treaty
This video is posted at the top of this page.
Here's some background information about that song:
"1988 marked the bi-centennary of British settlement in Australia, and it was in this year that Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended the Barunga Festival in a small Indigenous community south of Katherine. There, the Chairmen of both the Northern and Central Land Councils, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Wenten Rubuntja, presented the Prime Minister with the Barunga Statement.
The Barunga Statement called on the Australian Government to recognise the rights of Indigenous land owners and to formalise a Treaty with them. It was bordered with Yol\u and central Australian designs, and was modelled on the Yirrkala Petition (1963) which the previous generation of Yolngu leaders had sent to the House of Representatives in protest against mining on the Gove Peninsula. Galarrwuy and Mandawuy’s own father was a signatory to this petition. On receiving the Barunga Statement (1988) at the Barunga Festival, Prime Minister Hawke vowed that his government would enter into a Treaty with Indigenous Australians by 1990. However, this promise would never be realised."
http://www.yothuyindi.com/music/treaty.html
-snip-
Click that link for more information about that song.
****
Video #2: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"
Uploaded by nzoz1984 on Aug 17, 2007
Coloured Stone's promo-video for the hit single 'Black Boy'. (1984)
****
Video #3: Warumpi Band - My Island Home
Uploaded by nzoz1988 on Jan 4, 2008
Warumpi Band's promo-video for the single 'My Island Home' taken from the 1988 album 'Go Bush'.
Christine Anu made this song a hit when she did a cover of it in 1995.
-snip-
Editor: Here's the link to a video of Christine Anu's cover of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSFGK9HlEto&feature=related
****
Video #4: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Baru
Uploaded by xxHideoutxx on Aug 8, 2011
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language
[Editor: From the video viewer comment thread, I gathered that this song was included in Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu's 2011 Rrakala album.]
****
Video #5: Didgeridoo Dance Track
****
RELATED LINKS
Here are threeo links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"
http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."
**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"
****
Thanks for reading this post.
Viewer comments are welcome.
Yothu Yindi - Treaty
Uploaded by ValorOfSoul on Mar 29, 2007
****
This post features five selected videos of music that is performed by indigenous Australian artists or groups that include indigenous Australian artists.
My thanks to all featured artists, and to the featured videos' producers & publishers.
Enjoy & be inspired!
VIDEOS
[These videos are presented in no particular order.]
Video #1: Yothu Yindi - Treaty
This video is posted at the top of this page.
Here's some background information about that song:
"1988 marked the bi-centennary of British settlement in Australia, and it was in this year that Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended the Barunga Festival in a small Indigenous community south of Katherine. There, the Chairmen of both the Northern and Central Land Councils, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Wenten Rubuntja, presented the Prime Minister with the Barunga Statement.
The Barunga Statement called on the Australian Government to recognise the rights of Indigenous land owners and to formalise a Treaty with them. It was bordered with Yol\u and central Australian designs, and was modelled on the Yirrkala Petition (1963) which the previous generation of Yolngu leaders had sent to the House of Representatives in protest against mining on the Gove Peninsula. Galarrwuy and Mandawuy’s own father was a signatory to this petition. On receiving the Barunga Statement (1988) at the Barunga Festival, Prime Minister Hawke vowed that his government would enter into a Treaty with Indigenous Australians by 1990. However, this promise would never be realised."
http://www.yothuyindi.com/music/treaty.html
-snip-
Click that link for more information about that song.
****
Video #2: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"
Uploaded by nzoz1984 on Aug 17, 2007
Coloured Stone's promo-video for the hit single 'Black Boy'. (1984)
****
Video #3: Warumpi Band - My Island Home
Uploaded by nzoz1988 on Jan 4, 2008
Warumpi Band's promo-video for the single 'My Island Home' taken from the 1988 album 'Go Bush'.
Christine Anu made this song a hit when she did a cover of it in 1995.
-snip-
Editor: Here's the link to a video of Christine Anu's cover of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSFGK9HlEto&feature=related
****
Video #4: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Baru
Uploaded by xxHideoutxx on Aug 8, 2011
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language
[Editor: From the video viewer comment thread, I gathered that this song was included in Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu's 2011 Rrakala album.]
****
Video #5: Didgeridoo Dance Track
****
RELATED LINKS
Here are threeo links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"
http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."
**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"
****
Thanks for reading this post.
Viewer comments are welcome.
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