Black is back

I am not one to write on potentially contentious topics however this one struck a chord with me...

A chance to write about some ‘black’ or indigenous innovators that have inspired you. Hmmm okay well there are a few ways to look at this question and my story about this is going to be an abstract one. Follow along and see how you go...

So I grew up in a small coastal community on the east coast of Australia and was fortunate enough to grow up and mingle with a fairly substantial indigenous population at school and beyond.

And this is a story about this journey and who inspired me and what that lead to...

So for starters I was a runner. A track and field athlete if you will. With many accomplishments that lasted throughout my schooling years. I competed in long and short distance events, hurdles, long, high and triple jump as well as 4x100 mtr relay races and it is here where this journey begins.

As we all know indigenous persons are fast and they can run. Whether they come from here or there as definitive social and cultural groups they are known for the athleticism and can run. So with this being said we ended up with a mixed race relay team, consisting of two white Caucasian ladies and two indigenous ladies/sisters if you will.

We did quite well, we competed at many levels and blitzed the regional competitions before competing at state and national level. And it was here we learned that not everybody was as inclusive of indigenous Australians as we were. This was in the 1990’s around 1996-1998 when this happened and whilst cultures were changing there was still the stigma that exists today.

These girls could run like the wind and to watch them run was such a blessing and just made you want to give it you best. We made it to a state relays event held in Sydney which was an event just for relay teams, and I am a bit fuzzy on the details on how we did but we were up there and held our own. I don’t know if we medaled at the end but definitely made it to the finals and might have even come third against some of the elite sports high schools which was a pretty good achievement coming from ‘the bush’ lol 😂.

We weren’t however made to feel welcome there as some people took offence to our mixed race team and wouldn’t let us train along side them and would come up with silly rules why we couldn’t race etc. It was an example of judgement and bias at its best and I think there was even a protest to our third placing which was not upheld but there was definitely an air of contempt around us being there.

That was then and it taught me a lot about respect and why should people be punished for who they are???

Like I said I am not one to write on such subjects normally but from this era to now you can watch and see that some change has happened but what I wanted to highlight was some key indigenous sportswomen who had setbacks but paved the way amd became national ambassadors for who they were.

- 1stly Evonne Goolagong Cawley

- 2nd Nova Peris

And lastly Cathy Freeman who won the 400mtrs at Sydney 2000 olympics but at a meet in 1994 was criticised for carrying the Australian and Aboriginal flag around Track with her.

See below.

So whilst this might not be a conventional take in the idea of black innovators I think it is fair and valid to include this as they paved the way by being themselves and inspiring others including myself and others to be their best no matter what and I hope the girls in our relay team realise how inspirational they were and how much of a privilege it was to race with them and stand beside them at the end showing the world solidarity rather than discord.

And lastly just to show that indigenous people out there are killing it out there in other areas here’s a clip that highlights some black innovators for their business prowess. Enjoy 😊❤️