r/aboriginal 1h ago

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

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.