It’s Shit to Be White single work   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 It’s Shit to Be White
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'I didn’t invent the White Australia Policy. White people invented it. And they invented it to distinguish themselves from Aboriginals, Africans, Asians, Arabs and Pasifikas. And they didn’t invent it to distinguish themselves in the negative; only in the positive, with greater rights to the stolen land on which they gathered than the rest of us. And while White people knew that they were not literally the colour white—most of their kind were somewhere between pink and beige—they did not seem confused about the term, fully aware that it referred to them and taking great pride in their sense of superiority over anyone that was ‘not quite White’. White people took no offence in White’s metaphorical nature, no offence in White’s overgeneralisation, and they did not seek out any of their dictionaries to double-check White’s definition.' (Introduction)

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    When you’re used to one hundred percent, ninety-eight feels oppressive. —Robin DiAngelo

     

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Meanjin The Next 80 Years vol. 79 no. 4 Summer 2020 21111248 2020 periodical issue

    'In December's 80th birthday edition of Meanjin, writers address the edition's theme: The Next 80 Years.

    'The issue opens with reflective contributions from all of Meanjin's living past editors. Tara June Winch and Behrouz Boochani offer a conversational meditation on time and the very notion of a future. Bruce Pascoe writes on the strange relationship non-Indigenous Australians have with trees, and wonders when we will realise that the forest is a friend. Jennifer Mills encounters ... herselves ... in a future archive. Peter Doherty sees a future world of worries-many of them viral-but settles on hope and the necessity of individual responsibility. Jess Hill wonders whether existing models of policing are fit for purpose in countering domestic abuse. Michael Mohammed Ahmad writes on whiteness and the idea of 'real Australians'. Jane Rawson looks at dramatic changes in Australian nature and wonders 'who belongs here?' And Raimond Gaita writes on the moral challenges that have been presented by Covid19 and the challenge to our future presented by Black Lives Matter and the quest for Indigenous sovereignty.' (Edition summary)

    2020
Last amended 25 Feb 2021 09:05:36
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