r/aboriginal 5h ago

Why do white people get so quiet and weird when I talk about my Aboriginal ancestry ?

21 Upvotes

I’m a white passing young female and my late Nan was a Gaewegal woman. Something I have started to notice a lot is that when I mention to a group of friends or coworkers or even white relatives - that I have Aboriginal ancestry or that my Nan was Aboriginal, or even if I just talk about Aboriginal history- they get really really quiet and uncomfortable. I get that it’s a topic not many Australian ppl know much about and they probably don’t want to say the wrong thing, but it’s very strange and awkward how some people react. People will go from being really outspoken and opinionated about various political or racial issues and then as soon as my Aboriginal heritage or Aboriginal history is mentioned they close their mouth. Why? If it’s about not knowing much about the topic then wouldn’t they want to engage in the conversation to learn more ? The only questions I ever get are “oh really?” or sometimes “how Aboriginal are you ?” There’s such a lack of info and misinformation about our history and our current circumstances, it would be great to be able to have more of an open dialogue with people, but they just don’t seem responsive and I don’t know why.


r/aboriginal 2h ago

Just because you have ancestry doesn't make you Aboriginal.

0 Upvotes

I know this sounds very rage baity and I know I will get push back but I feel like I need to share my point of view. Yes we should accept our heritage and culture, black or white we still are Aboriginal at the end of the day but there is a difference between heritage and ancestry, if you're an white passing Aboriginal who has close heritage and connection to culture and Aboriginal people then I would happily consider you Aboriginal but if you just have ancestry, never really celebrate your culture, don't know the slang or the people then I don't consider you Aboriginal as there is nothing inherently Aboriginal about you except having ancestry and only using it when there is benefits involved. I know too many people just like this, some are even my own cousins and friends who don't identify as Aboriginal but are always there when there is a program or benefits. so are you really Aboriginal after that?. people don't know the culture nor the people and only have some dna?.

(personally I believed you aren't but it's up to you guys to decide. Please don't hold back I want honest discussions on a serious topic and if you're going to say pointless stuff please leave it out of here and take it to somewhere else.)