GOMEROI man Marc Sutherland says there is still much to be fought for in Aboriginal communities.
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As the nation commemorates two milestones in Aboriginal rights, with 2017 marking 50 years since the 1967 referendum and 25 years since the Mabo decision, Mr Sutherland said the celebration was also a call to action for struggles still facing Indigenous communities.
“At the moment, in Australia, Aboriginal people have the highest rate of youth suicide,” Mr Sutherland said.
“All of these things, which are heavily impacting on our people, which is starting to create a situation where we’re not going to be able to thrive in the future.”
Mr Sutherland – who leads the Gomeroi Dance Company – said work needs to be done to get a united push behind the Aboriginal community to say “this isn’t right”.
“We’re not a bunch of criminals, so why are we the highest incarcerated,” he said.
“How come our statistics aren’t representing us as people.
“We are over-represented in a lot of negative statistics.
“We need to work hard and break through these walls that have been broken down before so we can keep creating these positive changes.”
Mr Sutherland said the key to success was establishing and supporting cultural identity.
“Our culture is on thing that has been heavily impacted over the last 200 years and the without a culture, we’re struggling because we’re asking who we are and what that means,” he said.
“What does it mean to be Aboriginal? All of these things which culture provides.
“It’s that knowing that being Aboriginal means that I’m strong, I’m resilient, I’m courageous, I’m determined, I’m passionate, all of these things.
“Without culture, we struggle.”
To mark National Reconciliation Week, Tamworth Local Aboriginal Land Council hosted an event at the Binaalbaa centre at TAFE.
Gomeroi elder Aunty Yvonne Kent said she remembered in the ‘67 referendum well which was “a very important occasion for the Aboriginal people”.
While she has seen a lot of change in her time, Aunty Kent said the way forward was through unity.
“Black and white working together, we can achieve a lot but we have got achieve that unity,” she said.
“We’ve got to work with each other because that way we can get things done and they also get to know our culture as well.”
Aunty Kent said it was also time more Aboriginal history was shared in education.
“We’re already two-up in history because we have our own history plus we’ve learnt European history,” she said.
“So it’s about time we flipped and had the Europeans learn our history because it’s rich, it’s living, it’s the oldest living culture in the world and its still going.”