Rupen Savoulian writes that modern history is full of examples where, rather than erasing history, tearing down statues of racist conquistadors has been a necessary starting point for illuminating the darkest corners of imperial colonisation.
blackbirding
Jim McIllroy argues the right’s culture wars are taking a hammering as Black Lives Matter-Stop Deaths in Custody movements rise.
Among the first laws passed by the new Australian parliament in 1901 when the Commonwealth of Australia came into being was the Pacific Island Labourers Act, ordering the deportation of black Melanesian workers known as kanakas.
Other aspects of what became known as the White Australia Policy have since been rectified, but this shameful stain on our past has yet to be properly addressed.
When George Sambo was about seven years old, he used a wad of crooked cash to shout all his mates sausage rolls. The Queensland schoolboy couldn't have known then that those fatty rolls would set him rolling on a path to making phat rolling beats. But that's what happened.