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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Melissa Davey

#IndigenousDads and their children take to Twitter over Bill Leak cartoon

Dameyon Bonson’s photo of “three generations of #IndigenousDads” that he posted to Twitter in response to a cartoon by Bill Leak published in the Australian.
Black Rainbow activist Dameyon Bonson’s photo of “three generations of #IndigenousDads” that he posted to Twitter in response to a cartoon by Bill Leak published in the Australian. Photograph: Twitter

Indigenous Australians have responded to a recent cartoon by News Corp’s Bill Leak by sharing photos of themselves with their dads, sons and father-figures on Twitter.

Leak attracted widespread condemnation last week for his cartoon, which appeared in the Australian, depicting an Aboriginal boy being returned by a police officer to his father, who is holding a beer can and asks “yeah righto, what’s his name then?”.

Indigenous Australians have responded by sharing family photographs on Twitter under the hashtag #IndigenousDads and sharing fond memories of their sons, fathers and father-figures.

The creator of the Aborginial sci-fi series Cleverman, Ryan Griffin, was among those to share a tweet.

In a piece written for Guardian Australia in May, Griffen wrote; “I wanted to create an Aboriginal superhero that [my son] could connect with, no matter what others said. I wanted a character that would empower him to stand and fight when presented with racism.

“Just like the old dreaming stories, Cleverman would be able to teach moral lessons; not only for my son, not just for Aboriginal people, but for many more out there as well.”

Quandamooka woman and Queensland MP, Leeanne Enoch, tweeted that her father was a “hardworking, supportive, generous man”.

The Australian rugby league commissioner, Chris Sarra, also weighed in with a photograph of himself and his son fishing.

When it was published last week the cartoon left advertisers reconsidering their relationship with the broadsheet, and the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, slammed the cartoon as “tasteless”. Leak was guilty of “depicting racist stereotypes,” Scullion said.

Dameyon Bonson, the founder of Black Rainbow, an advocacy group for LGBTQI Indigenous youth, told Guardian Australia that when he saw the cartoon, he felt “gut punched”.

“I felt crippled by it,” he said. “This was in the national broadsheet, and published on national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s day.

“It was arrogance that they could do that and think they could get away with it and that mirrors quite a bit what happens in this country to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people every day.

Bonson posted several of his own photos under the #IndigenousDads hashtag, saying that he felt “completely uplifted” when he saw the movement was trending on Twitter on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“My father passed away more than 10 years ago but last night was a fantastic opportunity to remember him,” he said.

“He used to take me camping at Danger Point in Arnhem Land, we did that a lot during my teenage years. We would catch the best black-lip oysters, so huge they were like mini steaks. Going to Arnhem land with my brothers and my dad was just special.”

In a statement, the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council praised Indigenous Australians for having the “final say”.

The council’s chair, Roy Ah-See, said: “While caring and devoted Aboriginal fathers don’t feature prominently in our mainstream media, they are real and they are having the final say in response to the racist cartoon published by the Australian last week”.

“It is disappointing the Australian fails to recognise the hurt and humiliation the cartoon has caused – on this issue they are on the wrong side of history.

“But Aboriginal people throughout Australia can take some comfort that from such an ugly and negative episode, we have such a positive expression of Aboriginal culture and identity.”

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