Over cups of tea I listened to nan talk about being stolen as a little girl from Yalanji country, from her family to Yarrabah.

Over cups of tea I listened to the activism of mum, aunty Nannette and Aunty Marie. Their fight for services, Niku Jowan, Aboriginal Legal Aid in Gimuy (Cairns), Aboriginal Women's Group and alongside Aunty Rose who created Mookai Rosie supporting pregnant mums from the Cape who came to have their babies in Cairns.

Over cups of tea I listened to mum and aunty Paula talk about their lives growing up in Yarrabah and Cairns. I was angry at all they endured. I was inspired by their determination. I was resolved to continue their legacy.

Over cups of tea I sit with my sisters as we help each other heal through the trauma of the colony, daily racism and discrimination. We hold space for each other in our rage against those titles thrown at us 'angry black women, shouty' for we dare to speak out. We gossip. We laugh so loud the neighbours complain (brrrrrtttt).

Over cups of tea my children learn the brutality of what I and those around me endure in the colony, the brutality of our family and community histories. Over cups of tea, we keep those stories alive, we never forget.

Over cups of tea I feel black love, laughter, sovereignty and connections, and the tea is ALWAYS proppa strong!!!

DNA ANCESTRY

In the 1990s an analogy became popular ‘doesn’t matter how much milk you add to tea, it’s still tea’ used by fair skinned people like myself to explain that I am Aboriginal and my skin colour does not change this.

Recently I saw a Malcolm X quote “If you pour too much cream in, you won’t even know you ever had coffee.”

Discovering through research that you have an Aboriginal great grandparent does not make you Aboriginal. You have no lived experience of being Aboriginal. You have no community connections. 

Until you do, you have no place taking up spaces that belong to us, like identified roles in workplaces. You have no place speaking for us.

Until you make those connections and live as an Aboriginal person, then you are simply milk with tea, with dna Aboriginal ancestry.

 FLASHBLAKS

Who are the real Aboriginal people? The media would tell you they live in remote communities, or in the Northern Territory. Any where but in the city.

Well us 'latte sipping urban bla[c]kfullas' connect to our community and country, we face racism and discrimination. We battle the colony daily. We speak out and create change through social media, we create spaces and places for mob to be safe, to survive and thrive. 

Black with or without a c?! That's a matter of choice. However our mob want to identify, that's for them.

lactose free - Every blackfulla I know can't tolerate dairy, a result of introduced milk into our diets. (my theory anyway)

infused honey - Because we're flashblaks of course.

STARVATION DIET

Colonisers stole our land, food source & medicines. In return they gave us rations that barely kept us alive. The rations became known as the Starvation Diet. Refined food, flour & sugar impacts our health today. Aboriginal people have the highest rates of diabetes and kidney disease.

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