Today’s storyteller is the proud, queer Indigenous youth leader and artist, Aretha Brown.
Through sharing her own stories of going to school in Australia, the 19 year-old Gumbaynggirr woman makes a powerful case for decolonizing the country’s education system. She’s clear - if Australian schools aren’t teaching Bla(c)k history then they're teaching White supremacy, and she links the lack of education about Aboriginal culture and history at her school, to a hate crime she experience two weeks before her year 12 exams.
Aretha’s an amazing storyteller and artist, who made a big impact on all of us who heard her talk at The Weekly Service. She was the first female Prime Minister of the National Indigenous Youth Parliament and has had her artwork shown at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Aretha produced a booklet for this talk called “Decolonizing Yo’Self – Questions for the Thoughtful Ally” with a series of questions to ask of yourself and your institutions. You can read it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kilZJh9mDX8bJwrM6GE_8r7dN0x5zunU/view