Race Matters: A Digest

June 5th 2020

Eight of the podcast’s best episodes, centring First Nations voices, challenging white supremacy & exploring race locally and abroad.

As the world mourns the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black lives lost to police brutality, and Australia reflects on the ongoing violence inflicted on First Nations people, we must take steps to become actively anti-racist.

Below is a compilation of some of the best Race Matters episodes that centre Black and First Nations voices, challenge the systems of white supremacy and explore race at large.

We encourage our listeners to listen, learn, reflect and most importantly, take action.

Click on the episode titles below to listen via Apple Podcasts. You can also find all Race Matters eps on our website or any major podcast app.

1. Episode 59 – I Can’t Breathe

“I can’t breathe” were some of George Floyd’s last words, before his death at the hands of police. This was the same phrase Eric Garner repeated as he was fatally restrained by police in 2014. It’s also the same phrase that Dunghutti man David Dungay repeated in 2015 as he was fatally restrained by prison guards, here in Sydney. As Black Lives Matter protests continue in the States, there are impossible-to-ignore links to the ongoing colonial violence in Australia. We discuss the importance of taking action, paying reparations and constantly challenging white supremacy and anti-Bla(c)kness.

2. Episode 56 – A Man Was Lynched Yesterday

Between 1920 and 1938, a flag bearing the words “A man was lynched yesterday” was flown from the headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in the United States. But as the murder of Ahmaud Arbery shows, lynching is far from a thing of the past. This week, we unpack the ongoing struggle to confront and convince the wider community of systemic racism, and the role white people play in upending or upholding these systems. Warning: this episode contains discussions of racialised violence.

3. Episode 46 – Invasion Day

Ahead of Invasion Day 2020, we talked about the ongoing colonisation of this country, what productive, positive allyship can look like, and shifting the focus from simply changing the date to changing the system.

4. Episode 45 – Just Us (with Nessa Turnbull-Roberts)

On a recent Friday morning, Bundjalung woman Nessa Turnbull-Roberts submitted her Honours thesis, and a few hours later won the Young People’s Human Rights Medal. We spoke to her about how she deals with the colonial oppression of universities, her thoughts on Reconciliation Week, and how she practices self-care after protests.

5. Episode 18 – Reconciliation?

A look into the history and nuance of Reconciliation Week with Sara Khan and Georgia Mokak.

6. Episode 17 – Anger Is Love (with Nayuka Gorrie)

Naarm-based writer and social commentator Nayuka Gorrie on the power of Blak women, self-care and the moment they realised their race was powerful.

7. A Conversation with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Bestselling author of Friday Black, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah on home, his experience as a young Black male writer, and his passionate take on the latest season of Game of Thrones.

8. Episode 13 – The Archival Decolonist (with Nathan Sentance)

Have you ever considered who decides what’s put in a museum? Nathan Sentance, First Nations Project Officer at the Australian Museum, joins Darren and Sara to speak about the importance of Indigenous ownership over the histories and stories told by cultural institutions about First Nations peoples.

Tune in to Race Matters every Monday at 5:30pm, or catch up via your fave podcast app.

Contributor

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