On a scale of 1 to 10 how Blak are you?

Unfortunately, this is a question many First Nations people unconsciously judge each other on...

I was exactly the same, I simply did not understand what it was to be light skinned, to lose my culture and my country, I have come up with a name for this: Blak Privilege. The answer to the question above is 10 of course. As the saying goes, doesn’t matter how much milk you add, its still a cup of tea.

Growing up in Broome in the northwest, I was privileged to grow up practicing traditional hunting and regularly camping on my country. Even though Broome has the most beautiful swimming beaches, I never just went to the beach just to swim, I always had a spear or a fishing line in my hand. As young adults, my friends and I would get up to crazy adventures, exploring our country, down all the beaten bush tracks, across wide open beaches and many miles on the dinghy, I know my country like the back of my hand.

The thing that assisted me to move from my country was that I was comfortable of who I am and where I come from. I knew that I could always go home at anytime and pick right back up where I left off. This month will mark almost 2 years since I have been home, almost 5 years since I have been hunting on my country, I am starting to get a sense of what it might feel like to lose connection with my country and it deeply saddens me, I hate to think of what it is like growing up Aboriginal with no country. The main reason that keeps me away is the busy western lifestyle that I have created, from working fly in, fly out to a mine site in the Pilbara to running our business Kaarli. I am now looking for ways to incorporate my business into giving back to my community, which in turn will assist me in visiting home more regularly.

When I met my wife at the age of 20, I began to see a different side of being Aboriginal. My wife is a Noongar woman from south of Perth, she could pass as a white woman, if you don’t know how to look for Aboriginal features. She grew up in Blak household, knowing who she is and where she comes from. Her grandmother and aunties and uncles ran a cultural centre in the Swan Valley, where they shared their cultural knowledge. I seen her struggles and I see them to this day, most vile comments coming from other Aboriginal people, trying to prove that she is not Aboriginal. At the end of the day, it’s none of their business and their opinions shouldn’t matter but it still hurts to not be accepted in her own community.

My wife loves to represent, always wearing her Aboriginal flag T shirt and also a tattoo representing, she always tried to get me to wear something, but my reply was always ‘people know I’m Blak, they can see the colour of my skin, I don’t need to wear anything’. I can now see how insensitive and demeaning that could sound. Many of my friends and family are also very light skinned and have heard many disgusting stories of discrimination from other Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. Being stuck in the middle of not being Blak enough to be Aboriginal and not being white enough to be white, a real internal battle that goes on in the minds of Aboriginal people daily.

As an adult I have read many books about the Australian history, about where the first fleet landed, the many massacres that occurred throughout continent, obliterating many First Nations Countries. I have read all of Stan Grant’s books, and truly love his story and way of explaining the battle and daily struggles of Aboriginal people, that go unseen, of living in 2 worlds’. I did this research to be able to understand the struggles from both sides, from being light skinned and dark and everything in between, even finding your Aboriginality late in life and knowing there is another part of you that is very unknown. I wanted to open my perspective and see the world for what it is and to stand by my Blak brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles and old people. As my brother Scott Wilson loves to say ‘To go fast is to go alone, to go further is to go together. If we want to build a strong First Nations culture, we must embrace our differences and come together to support each other and invest in each other.

Now having kids of my own, they are growing up knowing that they are Aboriginal. My daughter said to me ‘dad, I wish I was as black as you’, I didn’t know how to answer that. As you may or may not know, Aboriginal people have recessive genes, which isn’t a dominant gene. Meaning that Aboriginal skin colour, when mixed will more often then not, get lighter. One thing I do know, is that my kids will grow up knowing who they are and where they come from and be proud to say that they are Aboriginal, they are Blak and proud!!

Through Kaarli we stand for Knowledge Sharing and Culture Preservation. We want to connect the people with the knowledge with the people searching for cultural connections, by creating spaces and clothing pieces where we can come together and ‘Keep the Fire Burning, Blak, Loud and Proud!!