Global Courant 2023-05-20 13:12:17
Stan Grant cites “relentless racial filth” he had to endure after addressing Britain’s colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during coverage of the coronation of King Charles III.
One of Australia’s top television journalists has opened a wave of national self-examination by quitting his show over the racist abuse he faces as an Indigenous man in the spotlight.
Stan Grant, an award-winning journalist at the ABC, said the national broadcaster had complained to Twitter about the “relentless racist filth” he had to endure.
But he added that the media itself is “lying and twisting my words” and portrayed him as “hate-filled” after he raised the issue of British colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during the ABC’s coverage of the coronation of king Charles III.
“I have pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of our country,” Grant said in an article published Friday on ABC’s website.
“Police wearing the seal of the crown took children away from their families. Under the crown, our people were slaughtered.”
His commentary on the coronation was heavily criticized by some conservative media outlets as one-sided and inappropriate.
Grant said he spoke out of love for Australia because he had to tell the truth that Indigenous people still have the highest rates of incarceration and poverty.
The 59-year-old announced he would be stepping down as host after the next episode of ABC’s Q+A current affairs discussion program on Monday.
‘Toxicity around race’
Grant held his own employer to account.
“I am writing this because no one at the ABC – whose producers have invited me as a guest for their coronation coverage – has uttered a single word of public support. No ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his support to Grant, telling journalists, “You can respect different views without being guilty of slander.”
Justin Stevens, ABC’s news director, also issued a statement supporting Grant, saying he faced “grotesque racial abuse, including threats to his safety.”
Osman Faruqi, culture news editor for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, who previously worked at the ABC, said the workforce at the national broadcaster was not representative of Australia’s cultural mix.
But the issue went beyond national broadcasting, he said an opinion piece on Saturday.
“It is also bigger than the media. There is a toxicity around race that runs deep in this country and infects all of our institutions – the media, sports, arts, business and politics,” Faruqi said.
In his departure announcement, Grant said Indigenous peoples had learned to “break up with me”.
But the stakes are now higher, he said, as the country prepares for a referendum this year on whether indigenous people should be given the constitutional right to be consulted on laws that affect them.
“There is a referendum on an indigenous vote in parliament and I am not alone in feeling condemned. This is an Australian judgment on us. That’s political,” Grant wrote. “But racism is a crime. Racism is violence. And I’ve had enough.”
(TagsToTranslate)News
