So, “Australia Day” is impending and I can see the excitement already – beers, BBQs, a Triple J countdown and no worries at all. Here’s the thing though, January 26th has a much darker history than most of us would like to admit. January 26th should not be a day where we celebrate the “beginning” of Australia but a day where we mourn the loss and recognise the continued oppression of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and their culture. Why are we celebrating the day that the British established a penal colony in Australia and then systematically annihilated most of its original citizens? To add insult to injury, we have even declared this day a public holiday! This is by no means a piece of history that we should be proud of, let alone something that we should raise our glasses to. Most people cannot properly articulate the significance of Australia Day or why they even celebrate it, it is just another day in the year where they can be wilfully blind to our disturbing past.

It is no longer good enough to simply shrug our privileged shoulders and claim that we can’t possibly be held responsible for something our ancestors did years before we graced this earth. The ATSI community does not have the luxury of being able to shrug off their history, so why should anybody else? They are still suffering from the aftermath of the arrival of the British on the First Fleet, who falsely declared the land “Terra Nullius” (nobody’s land) and then proceeded to settle there. So how about we use January 26th instead to recognise how the forced disadvantages of these people, have been used as stepping-stones for the rest of Australia’s success.

Likewise, many people find it hard to comprehend why a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people opt to partake in Invasion Day or Survival Day marches on January 26th, instead of the popular Australia Day celebrations. Some even go as far as to insultingly suggest that these people should simply “get over the past and move on”. Ask yourself this; would you question those attending ANZAC Day or Dawn Service commemorations? Would you tell people that they are holding onto the past because we pay respects to those who fought and suffered for their country with a minute silence on Remembrance Day? Of course you wouldn’t because that would be obviously offensive. So why can’t we afford this same respect and memory to the ATSI community? Better yet, why can’t we support them and walk alongside them on January 26th? Why do they not have the same right to spend this day remembering it for what it truly represents, a day where many courageous people survived but many more lost their lives fighting for their country.

We never hesitate to pat ourselves on the back for being such an inclusive, “multicultural” country but that inclusiveness apparently doesn’t stretch far enough to include the history of the original and rightful owners of this land. Australia Day should not be a cause for thoughtless celebration. Weddings, birthdays and graduations, these types of things can be celebrated… not rapes, massacres and stolen children. Let that digest for a moment – it’s pretty fucked up isn’t it? We’re essentially celebrating the genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Still in denial? As recently as December 2015, a game was released to the Google and Apple app stores, whereby players could earn points for killing ATSI people. This game, that dehumanises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and promotes common negative stereotypes, illustrates the gap between how inclusive we think we are as a nation, versus how inclusive we actually are. In this game, among other things, players are told to beware of “Aborigines” and are rewarded for bludgeoning them to death. And to think, I was under the impression that the year was 2016… it seems a lot of people still think we’re living in 1788 and that self-affirmed racial superiority complexes are the way to go. It is confronting yes, but this is what we are promoting when we celebrate Australia Day as it stands now.

This piece is by no means directed at the ATSI community in an attempt to explain their own oppression to them, rather it is meant to provoke some introspective thought amongst non-ATSI people. So, before you crack open a beer this Tuesday, maybe give a little thought to the atrocities and bloodshed that gave birth to Australia and Australia Day in the first place.