Yes or No, we are still here and we are still Black and deadly

As a Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta person through my mother and a Bindal and Meriam person through my father, both sides of my family and I are devastated. My heart is with Blackfullas around the country as Australia said No to a representative body for First Nations peoples, to our aspirations, to our solutions and to our leadership.

This has been a win for right-wing politics and for misinformation and disinformation.

For referendum night my cousin Nayuka and I organised a Blackfulla end-of-referendum party for mob to come together and have a dance — regardless of the result. On the night people asked how I was feeling about the result and I replied that I had already grieved the No when the last polls came out on Monday, October 9. I had already had a meltdown about the likely result and woke up Wednesday morning and drove back home to Gunditjmara Country in Portland. As I drove, getting closer to country and seeing the landscape change from sun to rain, volcanic rocks and green fields, I felt my ancestors welcoming me back to country. Gunditjmara Country washed away the anguish and replaced it with regeneration for love of my land and people. 

This healing has meant I’m able to hold space for my community in this moment because lots of us are in shock that Australia could say No to a representative body that was very conservative and a powerless request to the country. It was something I only just agreed to support in the months before the vote. 

The Voice to Parliament was tailored for bipartisan support as Noel Pearson clarified on ABC’s 7.30. I’m of the opinion that the Coalition decided to use this opportunity for multiple reasons but one was to build up the profile of its newest member, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, to give leverage to an anti-Voice debate.

The behaviour from Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine has been the most difficult to bear witness to: two Aboriginal people who are rewriting the stories of Blackfullas.

Around the country, First Nations peoples are picking ourselves up after a violent campaign, in which we tried to myth-bust for a Voice to Parliament as misinformation and disinformation spread like wildfire. We were dissected like rats in a Year 7 science class. It’s clear that the racist No campaign won, rolling the red carpet out for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s election campaign to become prime minister.

Blackfullas became the spectacle for the state, capturing the nation’s attention like an AFL grand final match. In the weeks leading up to the referendum, I watched the AFL grand final with my family and friends. I was hoping that Collingwood would win for my late Uncle Richard and hoping Brisbane Lions would win for lesbian Aunty Denise.

In reality, it was a lose-lose for me. In the last six days of the referendum campaign, it felt like the drawn-out AFL grand final match in which Blackfullas were the footballs being kicked around by politicians like Dutton, Price, Mundine and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Dutton kicked the winning goal and the grand final cup was presented by his offsiders Price and Mundine.

Whether it was going to be a Yes or No, our communities were subjected to one of the most racist and white supremacist campaigns this country has ever seen. Neo-Nazis marched in the months leading up and gathered in Melbourne across the weekend.

Price has said that colonialism doesn’t have any negative impact on First Nations peoples today, as if we still aren’t colonised right now — and our invaders aren’t still present on our lands. The dangers of her comments led to it being repeated on ABC’s Q+A last week, with Liberal MP James Stevens saying European colonisation had been an “overwhelmingly good thing”. As the audience booed he continued: “I am a proud Australian. I am proud of our Indigenous culture. I am proud of the English institutions that came to this country.”

As sister Natasha Wanganeen said: “That is disgusting language. You are disgusting, bro.” Words Blackfullas around the country watched while screaming “GO SIS!” because she was right. 

Blackfullas spent months trying to tell the Australian people that we matter enough to write Yes on the ballot paper and commit to a future that we see for ourselves. It is no surprise to Blackfullas that this country is racist and I’m sure the left is wondering how did we get here? 

As a community organiser and campaigner this year I learnt the power of our words through working on the Passing the Message Stick project which focused on how to win campaigns and represent First Nations peoples’ strength and leadership.

Although I was a Yes, I believe the campaign was fatally flawed from the beginning when Yes23 hired political strategist and pollster Mark Textor who co-founded the firm Crosby Textor (now known as C|T Group).

In this moment we mustn’t stay silent. We must channel the anger and hold a mirror to this nation of racism and shame to remind them we are still fucking here, we are still Black and deadly.