Claire G. Coleman
Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’
Lynda Ng observes: 'It's a sad indictment of our society that Claire G. Coleman felt the need to outline why her mixed-race heritage does not preclude her from being Aboriginal. But doing so performs an important service for those who continue to regard race as a fixed category. She explains here why she identifies as Aboriginal instead of with her colonial ancestry, and this piece provides a taste of the acerbic insights into Australian settler society to be found in her book Lies, Damned Lies.'
'It was the racist, settler colonialism that created whiteness, that created blackness, half-caste, quarter-caste, octoroon, that saw mixed-race people as a third race. Now those same wadjelas, who defined us as black, now want to call us white if we are not black enough for their liking.'