10 Social Media Accounts to Follow for Self-Education on Australia’s Own Black Lives Matter Movement

Cities across the United States have descended into chaos as protesters and militarised police clash in Black Lives Matter demonstrations following George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.


For Australians watching thousands of kilometres away, it may come as a shock. But the notion that we are far removed from the same systematic racism that’s spurring BLM demonstrations in the U.S. is a complete falsehood.

Channel Nine demonstrated this best in one of its live crosses on the ground in Los Angeles when an Australian reporter asked a black man about the history of violence in the United States.

“I really appreciate you giving your perspective mate, because people in Australia don’t have the understanding of the history of police killings and things here,” the reporter said finishing the interview.

Despite criticism over the whole report, this final comment set off a storm of angry responses on social media calling the reporter ignorant and embarrassing because Australia does, in fact, have a history of police killings and violence against Indigenous Australians. It’s what the whole country was founded on, as highlighted in The Guardian’s special report, The Killing Times and has continued right up until modern day Australia as shown in The Guardian’s Deaths Inside series.

If this is news to you, you haven’t been listening to years of protests and calls by those in the Indigenous community for justice on wrongful detention and deaths.

For white people as well as non-black or non-Indigenous people of colour, the best thing to do is listen to what’s happening locally in order to understand how you can best help. So here are 10 social media pages to follow to help you self-educate and stay on top of information regarding Australia’s own BLM movement.

10 social media accounts to follow to keep up to date Australia’s own Black Lives Matter movement

First Nations Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (@FNDICWC Inc.)‘s mission is simple. It was set up to “to monitor and work to ensure the effective implementation of the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody” and its Twitter page is a good resource of developments in this space.

Amy McQuire is a Darumbal and South Sea journalist who covers wrongful convictions and deaths in custody. of You can follow her on Twitter.

Briggs is one half of Aussie rap duo A.B. Original and is outspoken on the injustices faced by Australia’s Indigenous community. You can follow Briggs on Twitter.

SBS’s NITV is an invaluable resource for news and programming by and for Indigenous Australians. You can follow it on Twitter or Instagram.

Wrong Kind Of Black is run by Dr Chelsea Bond, a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland, who co-hosts Wild Black Women. Follow her on Twitter.

IndigenousX Pty Ltd is an organisation aimed at showcasing voices and perspectives from Australia’s Indigenous community. It can be found on Instagram and Twitter.

NATSILS is the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, operating as a peak body to assist the community. It posts the latest developments across Australia on its Twitter page.

ABC Indigenous is a dedicated vertical to covering news as well as entertainment relating to Australia’s Indigenous community. Follow it on Instagram and Twitter.

First Nations Tgraph is an news aggregator for stories related to Australia’s Indigenous community. Follow them on Twitter for the latest.

Celeste Liddle is an Arrernte activist who speaks out about racism. Follow Celeste on Twitter.

Additionally, there are numerous campaigns for the wrongful deaths of David Dungay, Kumanjayi Walker, Ms Dhu and Aunty Tanya Day to name a few.


Getting and staying educated regarding what’s happening in Australia is a good start but it’s not where it should end. You can donate to community causes, show up to support demonstrations and inform friends and family.

At the end of the day, the most important point is to listen to the needs of the Indigenous community and to respond meaningfully and respectfully.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2020/06/how-to-donate-support-black-lives-matter-movement-australia/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/BLM-410×231.jpg” title=”How to Donate to and Support the Black Lives Matter Movement From Australia” excerpt=”George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minnesota police has caused a massive uproar in the US and led to smaller scale protests in other parts of the world — Aussies too have taken their anger out to the streets. While it’s great to raise your voice against systematic racism, you can also use the same energy to donate to organisations in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.”]

Comments


Leave a Reply