A University of Melbourne dance performance segregates white audience members from people of colour and makes white patrons sign a declaration that states, ‘I acknowledge where I stand’ before they’re allowed to enter the theatre.
According to The Australian, the performance titled Where I Stand, aims to highlight the systemic racism indigenous people and people of colour have experienced in society and throughout history.
Creator and student Isabella Mason said, “The (white) audience in the foyer are invited to go through a process of accepting/transitioning/cleansing similar to a right of passage. I do not consider the ritual in the foyer to be any ‘lesser’ a part of the performance…”
In a post on Facebook promoting the event, Mason acknowledged that the event will take place “on the unceded lands of the Eastern Kulin Nation. That the Boon Wurrung and Woiwurrung peoples are the traditional and rightful custodians of this land.”
“I would like to pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. I would like to recognise sovereignty has never been ceded and treaties have not been signed,” she went on to say. Nevertheless, the show must go on!
Mark Latham rightly said on Twitter, “Australia badly needs a government willing to defund universities unless they practice freedom of speech, freedom of academic inquiry and freedom from segregation. When they created segregationist safe spaces it gave a green light to other forms of segregation…”
Can somebody tell the loony left that racism is not the solution to racism?
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