Harmony Day

Don't hold your breath.

In March last year, the Human Rights Commission warned schools that celebrating multiculturalism under the banner of Harmony Day only served to hide racism.

They preferred that schools rename Harmony Day International Day for the elimination of racial discrimination, which I'm sure all the primary school kiddies would take to, like ducks to a tax audit.

Only the Human Rights Commission could find the harm in harmony.

But there you go.

But the HRC report wasn't published until three and a half years after the last of Victoria's lockdowns, which made it about as helpful as a mask on a Dan Andrews statue.

Now, with all of that in mind, you can't imagine my excitement when I learned this morning the Australian Human Rights Commission had come up with a brand new idea.

Having solved the problems of climate misinformation, the paucity of disabled people on construction sites, the existential threat of Harmony Day and nosy politicians asking questions about Aboriginal funding, the HRC has now turned its gaze to terrorism.

It's

funny when you mention Harmony Day or your multicultural event at school.

I was thinking at the Harmony Day we had at our school and how every child was so proud of their cultural heritage.

You don't realise how much worth and identity is connected to culture.

That's right.

Among her listed community achievements were as a committee member for the South Grampians Shire Council's Reconciliation Action Plan.

Her volunteer work as a support person at the Western District Health Service was also acknowledged, as was her contribution to Harmony Day celebrations.

Another Southwest resident was also a part of the ceremony at the Government House.

Warrnambool community champion John McInnes was also named a Council on the Aging Victoria Senior Achiever Award winner.

And then they have words for colonizers.

Like they use words like Pakeha and like, We brought over cultural safety in a way to use it like we use Harmony Day for the International Day of the Elimination of Racism, right? But, you know, like we don't have the words and we don't have the language.

Anyway, I could talk about this forever.

So yeah, I just like have become like almost a little bit like hyper-focused with this because I'm just like, let's talk about all the systems that are harming black indigenous people of color you know let's talk about first nations justice before we can talk about anything else and like the fact that we're doing this work but then like a lot of these experts that are doing this work won't talk about specific things that this is all related to i don't know it's all so systematic and like if mental health professionals are telling you close your eyes let's work on self-care instead of looking at how the system is harming It just, to me, seems like such a divide and a disconnect.