REMNANTS OF COLONIALISM

Mickey Skidmore, AMHSW, ACSW, MACSW

I’ve been sitting on this since the passing of the Queen. I suspect (fear) my views on this issue will not be well received, or will be met with defensive resistance and perhaps even degrees of passive or open hostility. Thus, initially I was inclined to keep these thoughts to myself. However, for more than 30 years now, I have engaged in writing (journaling) to reflect on challenging issues that I have encountered in my professional practice. And so, in this month’s “Perspective” I will continue in this tried and true tradition that has served me well.

Recently, as part of a professional meeting, participants were encouraged to “deeply listen” to an acknowledgement of country. The vocabulary and context were carefully and I believe mindfully selected, and several of those in attendance commented on how “powerful” the experience was for them. While I too found this experience to be powerful, I experienced something completely different to most of the others. I found it to be powerfully confronting … powerfully disturbing … and powerfully offensive.

When I came to Australia 10 years ago, I quickly took notice of this custom (which was not commonplace in the US at the time). Initially, I was quite curious about this opening ceremony which at face value appeared to be about respect. However, over time, the more I thought and reflected about this, the more uncomfortable I became with this ritual. It seems to me that such acknowledgements are at best superficial; and at worst blatantly hollow, empty and hypocritical. 

Earlier this year, I regularly experienced a professional colleague emphasising the significance of this custom. This person would droned on and on about how “these lands ALWAYS have been .,.. and ALWAYS will be … Aboriginal land …” And my own internal thinking process was like: “Really? … So is there a plan to return everything that’s been taken from them …?” I suppose it should not be surprising that many entrenched in the Commonwealth cultural bubble might struggle with the tone deafness and/or poor optics of such deceptiveness.

To be clear, I do not think all acknowledgements to country are the same. But many of them struggle with an all-too-familiar similar dance of actually side-stepping the issue — which I believe essentially centres around an apology of how indigenous people were screwed over for hundreds of years — something the Government has struggled to acknowledge or adequately address in its narrative and messaging for some time now. Thus, it seems to me that “acknowledgements” are a constant and perpetual poke in the eye that mostly serves as a reminder of this grave injustice. In my view, the purpose of these customs is more about making white people feel better about themselves rather than the pretence of respectful acknowledgement. In contrast, for me the most (positively) powerful and profound acknowledgements I’ve witnessed were delivered by Aboriginal individuals, as I believe their power and agency is underscored in genuiness rather than posturing.

Bare with me, but broadly speaking I believe this issue is linked to the recent passing of the Queen. In order to make this point, allow me a brief tangent. Disney’s The Lion King was popular around thirty years ago. I remember people asking if I like the film. I recall my response: “well, if you like patriarchy; casteism; racism; genderism and violence then it was great!” These are all features of previous monarchies. And the fact is that the monarchy is a structure that distinguishes the royal family as being separate, superior and different from everyone else in the country simply based on bloodlines. It is about white privilege. They are treated differently while by implication, their subjects are “less than.” There is a separate set of rules and expectations for them compared to everyone else. I find it difficult to condone such a system.

While I can acknowledge the 70 years of service the Queen offered to her crown, and have no issue that a day should be set aside for people to mourn and offer their respects. However, it strikes me as unreasonable that the Australian government would pay people (for a day off) in order to mourn the death of the Queen.

Perhaps it is not shocking that my American cultural background would not align with these views. It is difficult to ignore however, that the custom of “acknowledgement” (intended to appease underlying guilt in my view) and the monarchy are both remnants of colonialism. And while it may not occur in the near future, it is inevitable that eventually there will be a day of reckoning and accountability for the devastation inflicted upon multiple nations resulting from colonialism. Already there have been countries within the commonwealth flirting with the idea of shifting to a republic form of government, including Australia.

The thing is, I am certain there are many who hold similar sentiments. One of my students acknowledged they had long harboured similar beliefs, but were not brave enough to voice her views. More recently there has been reporting of a Greens politician, Mehreen Faruqi who posted the following on her tweeter feed: “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples.” Not surprisingly, the far right Pauline Hanson responded to this with a hate-filled, racist response for which she is well known.

While not a typical custom in the US, I note that this ceremony has begun to emerge in portions of Canada and in some regional areas in America as well. In his 23 Sept 2022 broadcast of Real Time (HBO), Bill Maher noted this as well. He offered the following sentiment: unless or until there is a clear plan for restoration, “we should probably just shut the f*** up about it.”

Alternatively, it is an opportunity to pull back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz …