Content warning: Please be aware that this episode contains descriptions or discussions of state violence, queerphobia, mental health, suicide, and the effects of structural racism. If this is a trigger for you, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au, Switchboard Victoria on 1800 184 527 or switchboard.org.au, or contact your state-based service.
Michele presents a series of commentaries and audio in relation to the global #BLM movement, Indigenous deaths in custody, and the erasure or silencing of black, brown, indigenous, and/or POC queer voices from the mainstream media landscape, and why the BLM political and social movement is important in terms of centering black queer activism and voices.
The commentaries are provided by Niveen Abelatty (HipHopHoe), an Arabic Muslim woman of colour and a politically charged DJ and musician; Diimpa (William Cooper) a mixed Kabi Kabi autistic queer man and an avant composer and soundscape weaver; and Anonymous, a genderqueer person of colour of Sudanese background.
The Melbourne Black Lives Matter and Stop Indigenous Deaths in Custody protest audio features an opening speech by Meriki Onus, a Gunai and Gunditjmara woman from Bung Yarnda and a co-founder of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance. Listen to and download the full rally coverage here.
Resources:
Aboriginal Legal rights movement
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency
Victorian Aboriginal Funeral Fund
First Peoples Disability Network Australia
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance
Why we organised Melbourne’s Black Lives Matter rally
Hearing the Queer Roots of Black Lives Matter
What Happened at the Stonewall Riots? A Timeline of the 1969 Uprising
Tracklisting: 'One' by Diimpa, 'A Deeper Love' by Aretha Franklin.
Queering the Air collective