Award-winning indigenous actor, musician and activist Uncle Jack Charles has accused the Advisory Committee of Stolen Generations of racism after he was asked to prove his Aboriginal origins.
Key points:
- Uncle Jack Charles was asked to prove that he is Aboriginal to receive the second installment of a Stolen Generations repair payment
- The Stolen Generations Advisory Committee says it has received requests from people who are not entitled to a payment
- Meanwhile, the Victorian government website does not indicate that an applicant must provide proof of aboriginality.
Uncle Jack says he was surprised to receive a recent phone call from a committee staff member asking for proof of his aboriginality to receive a second installment of $ 80,000 under the stolen generations repair plan.
The man Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta said he and other people have already received the first payment of $ 20,000 without any problems.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne’s Drive program that the worker told him there were too many people falsely claiming to be Indigenous.
“But the fact here is that it’s me they’re talking to, a known Aboriginal person,” he said.
“It strikes me that they can’t differentiate between people [who] I’m taking advantage of the system and people like myself. “
Uncle Jack was the first Indigenous to receive a lifetime award from the Victoria’s Green Room Awards, received a Red Ocher Award from the Australian Arts Council for Outstanding Indigenous Artist and was the first Elder to spoke at the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria.
Uncle Jack Charles says he felt distressed when his aboriginality was questioned in relation to a plan to repair the stolen generations. (ABC: Lisa Tomasetti)
The 2015 Victorian Senior of the Year was recently the focus of an episode of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS, who used his DNA to identify his father.
“It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am Aboriginal,” Uncle Jack said.
“It makes me feel like a man who can sit on a panel to choose the winners of the Victorian NAIDOC award and here you see me in the promotions of the national NAIDOC award winners between Uncle Archie Roach and others.”
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The Victoria government’s stolen generations repair package website makes no mention of having to demonstrate aboriginality to receive compensation under a scheme that it said was designed to address trauma and the suffering caused by the forced expulsion of Aboriginal children from their families and communities.
It also stipulates that applicants must not provide evidence of their removal and that searches may be made in government records and others on their behalf, if given permission.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice and Community Security said: “We fully understand that the process of requesting repairs and repairs can be a problem and re-traumatize members of the Stolen Generation. That is why we worked closely with the community to design Victoria’s program to be culturally sensitive and that the responsibility lies with the government rather than the applicants doing the work to check if someone is a member of the stolen generation ”.
Uncle Jack told ABC Radio Melbourne that questioning his identity was distressing.
“I think it’s peculiar and particularly racist against First Nations peoples,” he said.
He said the incident made him question why someone would pretend to be a native.
“It’s too hard to be Aboriginal. Take a look at what I’m struggling with right now, reaching 79 in September and I’m still baffled and perplexed,” Uncle Jack said.
“I’ve been traumatized by this very questioning of who I am.”
It is not the first time that the renowned artist has questioned his aboriginality.
In 2012, the federal government’s arts funding body, the Council of Australia, demanded that he prove his eligibility to be considered for a scholarship to write a book.
Posted 29 minutes ago, 29 minutes ago, Friday, July 1, 2022 at 4:46 AM, updated 28 minutes ago, 28 minutes ago, Friday, July 1, 2022 at 4:47 AM