Australian History 101 - Darah (Australian Aboriginal Hip-Hop)
It's important and also interesting to see how music and alternative forms of media help become a voice for people who are oppressed and belong to minority groups.
The music and lyrics help to engage individuals from generations now and help them to become interested and ideas and information that is rarely spoken about in today's society.
Lyrics from the verses
Watch as I unfold for those that don't know,
This is a true story, history untold,
For every individual, the old and the young,
This is Australian History 101,
Welcome to Australia's darkside,
People don't know Australian law inspired apartheid,
Separation legalised in the so called "Protection Era"
Black communities living in terror,
From government departments who stole our children,
While our men were at work, exploited by real life villians,
No cash, surviving on government rations,
On the frontier frontline cultures clashing,
Aint nobody want to pay the Black man for his labor,
Stolen lands, by the beast we got ate up,
Rounded up like cattle on missions and reserves,
Where we was broken down and forced to serve,
Our women disrespected, and life so hectic,
They place our children in White homes to get molested,
Our brothers in jail cells with long sentences,
With no translators, wondering where justice is.
We needed certificates given to us from White mans,
Just to travel across the land and see our own fam,
Who resided on different missions from us,
We was pushed through the dirt, and dragged through the dust,
And they wonder why now we don't trust them White folk,
We talk about the struggle and they thinkin it's a joke,
When we raise up our flag they thinkin that we playin,
When we talk about freedom they say all we do is complain,
Cause they don't understand that they was raised to hate us,
Taught from history books written by old racist,
Who tried to erase us and our experience,
Attempted genocide many times, plenty crimes,
We too Black too strong to thorough to die,
We gonna stay unified as one till we rise,
Forver we strong, never shall we divide,
My people stand tall and keep your heads up high,
We used to walk across the land barefoot in times before,
We had our own ways, culture, language and laws,
1788 them White folk came on boats,
Never be the same again so much pain that they brought,
Through the 1800s, theft murder and genocide,
Alcoholism and religion enslaving the mind,
1900s on missions had us living like prison,
In the 20s we studied Garvey's Black Nationalism,
In the beginning getting organised to overcome the hate,
After the Day of Mourning, in January 38,
We walked of the reserves tryna do for ourselves,
Not allowed inside town so on the fringes they dwelled,
In the 60s Charlie Perkins organised freedom rides,
67 referendum citizenship arrived,
In the 70s the Tent Embassy strived to make a change,
But it seems the more things change the more they stay the same,
In the 80s protests in the streets fell on deaf ears,
We screamed for land rights but it aint come through the years,
Eddie Mabo won his case so they changed the laws,
From Land Rights to Native Title, all is unfair in war,
So now here we are as we continue to fight on,
Through the dark night, until the bright dawn,
Never backin down never givin up never to be defeated,
We gon keep on until we all free.
Hey thanks for posting this! I love hearing new music and didn't expect to stumble across this on the blog. I agree, music is great for giving a voice and message to the oppressed and disadvantaged. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteThis is just awesome Ashley. Music is definitely one of the strongest forms of decolonialist practice. From personal experience I can tell you that Australia is one of the strongest examples of colonialist power. I lived there from 2000 through to 2004 and I can say with confidence how bad the treatment of Aboriginal people is. My family and I used to go to public swimming pools and Aboriginal families would genuinely be asked to leave because other people would complain that they were "intimidating them." And business owners and managers would somehow understand and comply with such requests.
ReplyDeleteThis song is incendiary in the context of how piercingly accurate it is. I don't say that from a point of experience because I am far from oppressed or Aboriginal but in terms of the treatment that takes place in Australia both historically and in a contemporary sense it is very much like this.
That treatment and this song highlight the depth of colonial damage in Australia and the often un-explicit danger of the Commonwealth in modern history. Thank you for bringing this text to this blog =)