“Our safety shouldn’t be threatened because of our skin colour”
From moving speeches made by the victims families and community elders to empowering chants echoing through the crowd, June 6th was a day to remember. Led by the Aboriginal community, thousands of Melbournians flouted the Covid warnings and flooded the steps of parliament house, united as one, to voice their outrage against the death of African American, George Floyd along with the countless Indigenous lives who died in custody.
As protestors lined Spring Street with cardboard signs in the air ready to march through the city, Police stood on the sidelines with completely black faces and showed no regard for anything said.
Despite the Covid 19 warnings and backlash towards the protest organisers, with rumours circulating the media about neo nazi and white supremacists presence, when the day came, law enforcement quickly realised they had no need to be there. The peaceful protest was just that, peaceful. Volunteers distributed hand sanitisers, gloves and face masks to those who didn’t have it and most importantly, everyone was trying their hardest to social distance.
Speaking to many Attendees, there seems to be a general consensus that the biggest highlight of the day were the chants and speeches made by victims families, something that for many Australians acted as a wake up call- discrimination against people of colour is not an imported issue, it has existed here for generations. The only difference is that it remained mostly unacknowledged. Although everyone there knew what they were protesting for and why they were doing it, most did not have a personal connection to this type of discrimination and so the speeches showed them the real reality of losing someone in such a tragic and preventable way.
When asked about their experience and what they found most moving about the movement, come participants responded;
“The unity in it? All sorts of people coming out to support the plight of a marginalised group. Despite the pain and the horror, there’s hope in the fact that people care. That’s what I wanna take away from humanity, that we’d support one another even in the midst of a global pandemic, rather than tear one another apart.”
“The speeches were amazing and it was great that traditional owners of the land were leading the protest. The protest was inclusive of the family members of those who have died in custody and traditional language and songs were used.”
“[…] There were so many people like tens of thousands. It was so liberating to be chanting. Also hearing Aboriginal people talk about the issues was so sad. There was a music performance which was amazing. There were mainly youth which is pretty cool bc it gives me hope for the future."
“Coming together like that the energy was so powerful. It was so good to yell and scream along with people who feel just as angry. It was so powerful”
The unity. A common denominator in what these individuals found to be moving.
The protest was not only significant because of what they were fighting for, It was also important because of what it symbolised; People from different ethnicities, race and background coming together to fight for one cause to say that this is not an American problem, It’s a Universal problem that we must combat together.
Written by: Linh Dang
Comments