After being challenged to confirm his ancestry, a well-known Indigenous elder claimed that he had been “re-traumatized” and accused an Australian government committee of racism.
When a staff member of the Stolen Generations Advisory Committee (SGAC) called him and wanted documentation of his First Nations heritage in order to obtain a second $80,000 compensation payment, Uncle Jack Charles said he was astonished.
Without having to provide documentation of his ancestry, the award-winning Aboriginal actor, activist, and singer earned the first $20,000 payment under the Stolen Generations Reparation program.
A committee worker reportedly told Mr. Charles that he needed to provide proof of his “Aboriginality” since so many individuals were making bogus claims to be Indigenous, according to an interview he gave on Friday’s ABC Radio Drive program in Melbourne.
The fact of the matter is that they are speaking to me, Mr. Charles said to host Mary Gearin.
I’m a prominent Aboriginal person. It has been established beyond a reasonable question that I am an Aboriginal person.
I am a guy of many nations.
They seem unable to distinguish between those abusing the system and folks like me, I think.
The Wiradjuri, Boon Warrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung, and Yorta Yorta man can trace his ancestry back to Mannalargenna, who is considered to be five times great-grandfather.
The First Nations activist was the first indigenous person to receive a Lifetime Achievement award from Victoria’s Green Room Awards and the first elder to speak at the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
He was also recognized as the most outstanding Indigenous artist by the Australian Council of the Arts in 2019 and was named the Victorian Senior of the Year in 2015.
Mr. Charles claimed that in addition to appearing with Archie Roach and other well-known Indigenous personalities in the national NAIDOC award promotions, he also served on a panel that selected the winners of the state’s NAIDOC awards.
It has been established beyond a reasonable question that I am an Aboriginal person, Mr. Charles stated.
In an effort to lessen the trauma and suffering brought on by the forcible separation of Aboriginal children from their families, communities, cultures, identities, and languages, the Victorian government opened the reparations package on March 31.
The requirement to demonstrate Indigenous ancestry in order to collect compensation is not mentioned on the Stolen Generations Reparations Package website.
In the event that authorization is granted, a search of government records may be conducted on behalf of applicants without their having to produce evidence of their deportation.
The onus is on the government, not the applicants, according to the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
A representative for the Department of Justice and Community Safety stated, “We fully appreciate that the process of seeking reparations and redress may be confronting and re-traumatizing for members of the Stolen Generation.”
That is why we collaborated extensively with Community to create Victoria’s program to be culturally sensitive and to lay the responsibility of determining whether an applicant is a member of the Stolen Generation on the government rather than the applicant.
According to the rules of the program, “The Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme must ascertain if any applicant is an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.”
The committee’s requirement that Mr. Charles establish his ancestry infuriated Australians because it could have been avoided with a quick internet search.
Marcus Stewart, a proud Nira illim bulluk man of the Taungurung Nation, expressed his disgust at the demand on Twitter, writing, “I have no words for how genuinely horrible this is.”
It baffles me that people don’t know who Uncle Jack is, much less if you work at SGAC, said another user.
It demonstrates how many people lack curiosity and interest in their surroundings.
Additionally, it was a really poor administrative choice to skip a quick internet search.
When the Australia Council, the federal government’s agency for funding the arts, required the 78-year-old to demonstrate his eligibility for a grant to publish a book, his ethnicity was previously called into doubt.
Mr. Charles said he was perplexed by the most recent event and asked why somebody would pretend to be an Australian native.
I believe that to be incredibly racist toward First Nations people, he declared.
“What white person would want to be an Aboriginal? Being Aboriginal is too challenging.
Look at what I’m going through right now.
I turned 79 in September, and I’m still confused and plagued by this.
“This very questioning of who I am has re-traumatized me,” the victim said.