Artwork by Charlotte Allingham @coffinbirth
This blog is titled âreflectionsâ meaning, there is no agenda, though always a purpose. Stemming from pure emotion and honest thoughts...
 As of right now, I feel drained.
 Drained from stupidity, drained from hate, drained from sheer incompetence.
 Any Indigenous person who has been online or present for any discussion baring any relevance to Indigenous Australia whether the context is negative or positive understands this feeling. It's insidious, and it makes you ask yourself what is the point?
More so for any Indigenous person who has made significant strides to be proactive and break down systems so that they can then be rebuilt into something of benefit to our kids, rather than systemically diminishing their worth as it has over generations, and across the world for many marginalised people.
We all deal with these feelings differently, me?
I try to take negative energy and channel it into something positive by way of learning. Thinking about what I know, what I've experienced and how I can turn ideas into a practical strategy, that when applied can really contribute toward solving problems that affect our people.
Generally, I like to learn from people who have been around longer than me and have tried and tested methods. So I turn to a Ted talk, I want to try and see who's doing what and how I can apply that to what I'm doing. I stumble across this woman.
 Dr Monique W. Morris | Award-winning author | Social Justice Scholar | Deadly Woman.
 Her, talk: âWhy black girls are targeted for punishment - and how to change thatâ.
 This is something important to me as I am trying to gradually introduce education for students around respect and relationships. Given that I am not a girl nor woman, I feel it is a necessity to first, understand these perspectives when developing programs. Second, that I can find the right women to support the needs of our girls where it is not appropriate for me.
I need to listen and learn from people like Dr Morris, and every female if I am to be serious about the outcomes I aim to achieve.
She goes on to eloquently contrast the positive outcomes for her personally as a result of a school system that knew how to adequately respond to her needs. By contrast, many girls of colour, unfortunately, experience the opposite. (This can be exemplified to a shameful extent in Australia, hence the work that needs to be done.)
She speaks to the structural inequities and the individual misconceptions that make up many educational institutions. The result is that schools are generally not a pleasant place for many girls of colour. However, as a point of difference, Dr Morris goes on to highlight strategies and foundation points that can make an attempt towards valued change. I'm not going to be a spoiler. But as an educator my key take away from her presentation was this:
âIt might seem like a tall order in a world so deeply entrenched by the politics of fear to radicalize schools as places where girls can heal and thrive, but we have to be bold enough to set this as our intention.â
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Dr Monique W.Morris
 I felt that there was a lot to take away from conversations like this, both thought-provoking and thoughtful at the same time. Identifying issues, followed by strategy.
Unfortunately for naĂŻve Bryce, I made the mistake of thinking that an internet comments section in 2019 might have more thoughtful, productive input (its YouTube bra pull ya head in.)
In short. I was wrong. The comments ranged from âthe divisiveness of identity politicsâ to comments questioning the girls in questionâs actions rather than paying attention to the cause for the frustration a point I try to highlight as frequently as possible.
But thatâs just the real world, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, right? Yep, they are. But opinions are like movies, some are a lot better than others and actually follow a coherent plot.
It is this, that is the main issue with the way society treats women today, and especially women of colour.
Because in this instance we can all observe an accomplished doctor, yearsâ worth of achievement in a specified discipline, speaking of her experiences as a black woman, presenting her findings as an academic, and elaborating on her outcomes as an active participant of social justice.
From A to Z she has covered every conceivable standpoint to be considered somebody who knows what sheâs talking aboutâŚ.. I mean to me? A black woman talking about being a black woman seems like a valid qualification on its own without mentioning years of study and research to go with itâŚ.. But this wasnât enough, hence the problem.
When boys and men of all backgrounds, all ages and all walks of life feel entitled to question an accomplished doctor speaking about her own self, her own experience, and her own professional field, what is it exactly that would legitimize anything that she has to say?
Any time a woman speaks about being a woman.
Any time a woman of colour speaks about being a woman of colour
âMight even know hard it is being a woman, and a black woman at that (shit) in this white manâs worldâ
Objectively, speaking that is all a man should say when a woman of colour speaks of her experience⌠âShitâ.
Because as men of any background none of us know what thatâs like, but when you listen to the experiences and thoughts shared, they are all consistent. African girls, Indian girls, Asian girls, Middle Eastern girls, Island girls and of course my beloved Indigenous sisters.
We donât know. We donât know what its like to have your aptitude weighed against your physical aesthetic, what its like to make a valued point in a work, office or educational setting and have it almost instantaneously undermined because it challenges the safety of righteousness that many of us as men confide in. âI'm a good guy I'm not a misogynist I should be held to high regard.â - No, the reality is that you are purely a functioning member of society and that standing idly while vulnerable girls and women are undermined makes you complicit, and ultimately accepted as a standard.  Â
Women donât expect us to agree with them, they donât expect us to put them on a pedestal. They want one thing, Respect. Thatâs the bare minimum, yet most crucial thing we can offer. Iâve taught grade 6s and grade 7s who understand that.
We know the consequences ⌠Of what happens ⌠When we neglect girls and boys who are vulnerable. Yet, by contrast very few are willing to change the systems that allow this to happen. But this is perhaps the most important point I can make. Social systems are not automated robots, they are made up of individuals. This means that the more individual people who object to the comfortabilities of âbusiness as usual,â and apply their independent values of equity and respect to all aspects of life from personal to professional, then real change will push through the cracks.
âThere has been a revolution, the pavement has been crackedâŚ. Now is an evolution, our job is to push roses through those cracks so that only beauty can flourish.â
