Thankfully connections to country and kin resound in this anthology, offering tools for survival. Sadly, Alice took her life during the compilation of this book and it is her family's hope that her story will continue as a legacy for others who are struggling. Maningrida woman Alice Eather's exquisite and heartbreaking poetry most poignantly sums up this dilemma as a feeling of: "A Split Life/ Split Skin/ Split Tongue/ Split Kin/ Everyday these worlds collide …" She describes her identity as both, "my centre and my division". There is, she says, a constant dilemma for many Aboriginal Australians whose historical dislocation makes us feel both "away from country, but still in country". Young Yorta Yorta man Zachary Penrith-Puchalski confesses to wearing sunscreen so that he wouldn't "black up" and was secretly thankful for being told he didn't have an "Abo nose" by his school friends.Įvelyn Araluen, a Dharug woman from Sydney, painfully recounts being called "shit-skin" and "Abo" at school on the one hand, while enduring the double standard of "not being black enough" on the other. Many contributors describe having to deliberately play down their Aboriginality to avoid scrutiny and endure casual racism. School grounds and classrooms were often described as cultural battlegrounds, but the testimonials in this anthology are living proof of Aboriginal survival, adaptability and resilience. Growing up Aboriginal in Australia editor Anita Heiss explored identity issues in her 2012 book Am I Black Enough For You? Credit: Amanda James These amusing and heartbreaking accounts of having their Aboriginality questioned, maligned and silenced is an all-too-common feature of the childhoods represented here. Some of the contributors describe themselves as "beige", "caramel" and (using the logic of their non-Aboriginal playmates) "grey" (because that's what happens when you mix black and white together, right?).
The yarns here are arranged in alphabetical order, to allow core issues and themes to arise and dissipate giving individual voice to form a solid and powerful collective that looks to challenge racist stereotypes and embolden "Blak" People.Īnita Heiss stamped herself onto Australia's psyche when she wrote Am I Black Enough For You? in 2012, and it is not surprising that identity issues stand at the core of these life stories. The struggle for an Aboriginal voice and true representation is as alive and potent today as it ever was.
Since the publication of Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert in 1977, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and yet, some would say, not a lot has changed. Miranda Tapsell contributes a hilarious account of dressing up as Baby Spice, rather than the expected Scary Spice, for a blue light disco.
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