X-Factor winner, and indigenous person, Isaiah Firebrace has said that he plans on celebrating Australia Day today in an effort to rub “it in their faces that we’re still here”.
Australia Day is often referred to as Invasion Day and marks the anniversary of the British colonization of Australia which took place on January 26th, 1788.
In some parts of the nation, the day is seen as a celebration of Australia‘s national identity, however, for many Indigenous Australians, it is a day of mourning that symbolizes the start of a long history of dispossession, oppression, and racism.
During an appearance on Brooke Blurton and Matty Mills podcast, Not So PG, Isiah Firebrace said that he’d never celebrated Australia Day before, but that would change today.
“I have never celebrated Australia Day before. I’ve never thought of that as a day where I should be celebrating this country, like, I’ve always been opposed to Australia Day, I’ve always been opposed to the date,” he explained.
The singer added, “Growing up I never really cared about Australia Day, I and the reason why we should be celebrating the country. So I mean, like my involvement in the Australian Day concert is to, is to represent and not to really to celebrate. I think on the 26th, you know is a day they tried to get rid of us and stop First Nations people from ever existing.
“And me personally, me being there for me, it’s kind of like putting it in their faces that we’re still here. And I can get up on this day in front of white Australians, stand proud and represent, you know, the very thing that they tried to take away from us. Yeah, I’ve never celebrated it at all.”
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When Matty asked Isiah how he’d feel if fellow indigenous people found him celebrating the controversial day disrespectful, he said that he will make a concious effort to be respectful of other people’s feelings.
“My intention going into something like this, I know I’m not ignorant towards anyone. I mean, I am a Black fella and I know what this day represents for me, and it’s hard, it’s hard to get up with a lot of these different opinions and, you know, people from community that would say why are you doing it?
“But then there’s also a whole bunch of people from community that’s encouraged it, you know, and then there’s like, a whole bunch of white fellas that would probably think, Oh, why is the up there doing that? And then there’s a whole bunch of white fellas that say, Hey, that’s awesome. So you can’t win them all.
“And I guess just me personally as Isaiah, like just going into it knowing my intentions that I’m just there to represent being black and proud in this country. Yeah. And it’s like rubbing it in their face that we’re still here and I have the privilege now stand up and show off my culture on a national level.”
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