(Iām writing something every day for #100days. This is post 82/100.)
Itās been a long and strange few weeks in Australia.
Adam Goodes, an Australian of the Year, a two-time Brownlow medallist, and a former captain of one of the countryās iconic sports teamsāāāthe Sydney Swansāāātook indefinite leave from his profession.
Goodesā decision triggered an intense period of national self-reflection.
As with the rise of Pauline Hanson, John Howardās refusal to say āSorryā, and the Cronulla riotsāāāAustralians have once again had to face up to the ugly reality of racism laid bare.
Into the darkness an ultraviolet light was shone, and we couldnāt hide any longer from what we saw.
1: The Slide
In Round 7 of the 2013 AFL Season, Adam Goodes went in for a challenge on Hawks defender Josh Gibson:
In the spectrum of contact in AFL matches, this was a non-incident. The culture of AFL football is built on bravery, on putting your head over the ball and into collisions. When men of the size and speed of professional AFL players put their heads over the ball in its pursuitāāāthe impact is not trivial.
It is for many, at the core of the sportās thrill.
But this particular non-incident would not be forgotten. Though it rated barely a mention at the time, it would resurface, importantly, much later.
2: āApeā
In the opening game of the AFLās 2013 Indigenous Round, after being called an āapeā by a young girl in the crowd, Goodes pointed security towards her, and she was escorted from the stadium.
At the press conference that followed, Goodes said:
āItās not her fault, sheās 13, sheās still so innocent I donāt put any blame on her but thatās the environment sheās grown up in.ā
The two then exchanged letters and phone calls, with the young girl apologising, and Goodes accepting.
3. āKing Kongā
Just days later, Collingwood CEO Eddie McGuire made light of the incident, suggesting that Goodes be brought to Melbourne to promote the new King Kong movie.
McGuire: āGet Adam Goodes down for it do you reckon?ā
Darcy: āNo I wouldnāt have thought so, absolutely not.ā
McGuire: āYou can see them doing that canāt you?ā
Darcy: āWho?ā
McGuire: āGoodsey.ā
Darcy: āWhatās that?ā
McGuire: āYou know with the ape thing, the whole thing, Iām just saying the pumping him up and mucking around and all that sort of stuff.ā
McGuire subsequently apologised for the remarks, saying:
āItās as simple as this. It was said, and I do not resile from that situation. Iāve put my foot in it. Iām happy to stand here in front of everybody, in front of the country, and say we do not stand for racial vilification. I let myself down because I had a slip of the tongue.ā
Goodes was again gracious in accepting the apology, though it is hard to imagine how much more āguttedā McGuireās comments must have made him feel, so soon after being called an āapeā.
Just a few games later, Goodes succumbed to a chronic knee injury that kept him out of the game from until Round 6 in April of 2014.
4. The Australian Of The Year
In January 2014, Goodes accepted the award of Australian of the Year.
In his acceptance speech, he pushed the theme of connectedness:
āI believe we are all connected whether we like it or not. We are all equal and the same in so many ways. My hope is that we as a nation can break down the silos between races, break down those stereotypes of minority populations, indigenous populations and all other minority groups. I hope we can be proud of our heritage regardless of the colour of our skin and be proud to be Australian.
Iām not here to tell you what to think, or how to act to raise your children. All Iām here to do is tell you about my experiences and hope you choose to be aware of your actions and interactions so that together we can eliminate racism.ā
And while the standard narrative arc would end here, a story of hope and unity and courage in the face of injustice, this story was just beginning.
5. āUtopiaā
Five weeks later, after watching John Pilgerās film āUtopiaā, which documents the experiences of Aboriginal Australians in modern Australia, Goodes wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
This time, he shed the theme of connectedness, and opted instead for a raw and honest account of his emotional response:
āImagine watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed over 225 years against your people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit.ā
In the piece, he outlined precisely the challenge Australians face when examining their relationship with race:
āIt takes courage to tell the truth, no matter how unpopular those truths may be. But it also takes courage to face up to our past.ā
American author Shelby Steele notes that in the US, there are two types of African-American public figures: the āāchallengersāā and the āābargainersāā.
The bargainerās position is perhaps best articulated by Noel Pearson:
āI will not use [your] history of racism against you, if you promise not to use my race against me.āā
The challenger, on the other hand, does not let racism slide.
Goodes subsequently called for the constitution to be amended to fix its inherent discrimination, asserting it was the next step in reconciliation:
āIāve never said Australia was a racist country but there are things in the constitution, right now as it stands, that leave room for people to discriminate against race.ā
Goodes the connector, was now becoming the challenger.
6. The Bombers Game
Almost a year to the day from being called an ape, and in just his 4th game back from a knee injury, Goodes was again racially vilified during a match against the Essendon Bombers. Though he was not made aware of it until after the match, Goodes was understandably subdued in his response:
āWhile it is disappointing that these incidents still arise, there is a positive to come out of this, and that is the willingness of people in the crowd, regardless of the colours of their scarf and jumper, to draw a line in the sand and say that this is not acceptable.ā
The game was also notable for Goodes continued booing every time he received the ball. Despite that, he was unbowed and committed to continuing to confront racism in a public way despite the personal cost:
āUnfortunately, for some of those people, silence makes their environment a little bit more comfortable. Itās not a comfortable thing to talk about; definitely itās not a comfortable thing to go through.
Itās going to cause a stir and itās going to cause people to have conversations, but letās talk about it. Once we talk about it, see what itās like, then we can self-regulate and say thatās not right.
Unfortunately, some people donāt want to have those conversationsāāāthey might not be ready. But Iām definitely ready.ā
In his claim that he was ādefinitely readyā Goodes may have under-estimated the weight of what was still to come.
7. Who Do You Think You Are
Late into the 2014 season, Goodes appeared on Who Do You Think You Are, a show dedicated to helping well-known Australians track down their family history.
Little has been spoken of this, but in the context of everything that was transpiring, for his appearance on the show to have happened when it did, itās clear that Goodesā eyes were being opened to his own history, the history of Aboriginal people in Australia and his unique position as a popular and influential indigenous football player.
8. Warnie
If someoneās holding a lit match in this whole debacle, its Australian cricketing hero Shane Warne.
On August 30, in two tweets directed at Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke, he summed up succinctly the sentiment of those who still insist thereās nothing racist in the booing.
Goodes replied:
And in the brief flash of Twitter outrage that followed, you can see the entirety of the national debate that has followed.
From punters feeling like Warne had finally said what they had always wanted to:
To Goodes supporters firing back:
When you look through the thousands of responses to Warneās tweet, you see the enormous divide that exists between the two groups in this debate.
And if youāre human, as Adam Goodes is, you can imagine the psychological toll of seeing so many people railing against you.
Interestingly, just a week before Warneās tweet, Goodesā indigenous team-mate and superstar Buddy Franklin had also been called āan apeā by a rival supporter.
Many people were arguing that the booing was not racist.
But clearly many fans still were. Blatantly.
Just days after the Warne tweet, Goodes was recognised internationally by CNN for his fight against racism.
For some, Goodesā views had made him unpopular. For those at a distance, Goodesā historic stance was truly admirable.
For the record, Warneās āstaging for free kicksā argument seems to centre around incidents like this:
But there is no actual evidence that backs up the allegation that Goodes gets more free kicks than other players.
9. Game 350
As Goodes approached his 350th game, the booing was now a constant every time he played. Still unperturbed, he attributed the booing to ārespectā:
āSometimes itās a mark of respect, that the opposition fans donāt want you to play well, and every time you get the football.ā
10. A History Built On Lies
Two months later, after helping the Swans to make it all the way to the AFL Grand Final, only to lose to to the Hawks, Goodes spoke up again:
āThe history of our country is built on so much lies and racial policies, and things that have suppressed my people and lots of minorities in this country, so you canāt blame people for having the views that they have.ā
Goodes went on:
āI can use my position to help educate people to see through the things that theyāve been taught growing up. Open their minds and realise thatās not true: Captain Cook didnāt found Australia as I was taught in high school.ā
With just two months left as Australian of the Year, Goodes was not backing away from the role of challenger.
With more and more momentum, he was living the Isaiah Thomas quote heād held dear since the age of 19:
āIf all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done a bad job with the rest of my life.ā
11. The Hawks (Again)
Two years on from the Josh Gibson sliding incident, in May 2015, Goodes faced the Hawks again, and the booing continued, louder than ever.
This Hawks match represents an escalation point, with the Swans chairman raising the issue of the constant booing with the AFL leadership and complaining publicly via Twitter.
Much like the Twitter war that raged after Warneās tweets, there remained a division about the motivation for the booing.
There was a strong insistence that it was not racist. There was an view put forward that it was as simple as fans remembering his slide into their beloved defender Josh Gibson.
But two years on, the boos were louder than ever. And still, remarkably, it was Goodes himself who asked for there to be no official request for it to stop.
12. The War Dance
The very next week, in the AFLās 2015 Indigenous Round, after scoring a goal in the second quarter, Goodes finally responded. Whether it was in response to the booing, an outlet for the two years of pressure build-up, or just an exuberant post-goal celebration, it was an iconic moment.
When all the steam from this current moment evaporates, this is the Nicky Winmar moment, the one weāll remember, and the one that will make its way into history books.
Goodes may have asked for his Swans chairman not to request the booing to stop. But he was not shying away from it. This was Adam Goodes, consciously or not, taking it head on.
The two months that followed the war dance were furious.
Everyone in Australia has an opinion on this.
No-one is neutral on the war dance. No-one is neutral on the booing.
No-one can claim not to be involved now.
But this isnāt about the war dance. Itās about all the steps that lead up to that point. Everything from Australiaās colonial history, to the decisions Adam Goodesā made in split-second, high speed collisions.
In the furore of discussion that has followed, five disconnected positions have emerged:
People are booing Adam Goodes because they do not like him (non-specific).
People are booing Adam Goodes because he stages for free kicks.
People are booing Adam Goodes because they have a right as paying ticket-holders to do so.
People are booing Adam Goodes because they didnāt like the things he said as Australian of the Year.
People are booing Adam Goodes because they are racist.
At the end of Julia Gillardās Prime Ministership, she talked about being the first woman to serve in the role:
āThe reaction to being the first female prime minister does not explain everything about my prime ministership, nor does it explain nothing about my prime ministership.
What gets left out of that quote is its final phrase:
āIt explains some things, and it is for the nation to think in a sophisticated way about those shades of grey.ā
Racism does not explain everything about the public reaction to Adam Goodes, nor does it explain nothing about it.
It explains some things and it is for Australia to think in a sophisticated way about those shades of grey.
What is polarising about the debate surrounding the Adam Goodes situation is that people do not take lightly the accusation of racism.
The ferocity in defending the booing, masks its true source.
People want the right to dislike Adam Goodes.
They want the right not to agree with him saying Australia is ābuilt on liesā.
They want the right to boo him at the footy when he stages for a free kick.
And they want to be able to do all that, without being labelled a racist.
The problem with all this, of course, is that Goodes is right.
Goodes is not speaking from the extremes. He is merely speaking the truth about a history that many of us still cannot comfortably reconcile.
There is no denying the lies of the past. There is no denying Australiaās history of racial oppression.
We can be simultaneously proud of our nation, and ashamed and sorry for the atrocities of the past.
Advanced societies like Australia can hold complex pictures of themselves up, and still feel pride and hope for the future.
And the problem with booing Adam Goodes is that when Australians hold up that complex picture, we all point to the āfair goā. We all hold that dear.
So when the booing goes on for 2 years, totally out of proportion to any act that preceded it, the Australian thing to do is to say stop.
Whether you harbour racist views or not, you cannot ignore the fact that the booing has gone on for far too long.
Goodesā tolerance of it should be admired. His strength in the face of it should be revered.
When Jobe Watson was booed in a single game against West Coast, his coach James Hird called it āuncalled forā and āunnecessaryā.
And then it stopped.
When Brendon Goddard came up against his old side St. Kilda, and the game broke into a melee, it was too much for him, and he broke down post-match:
When we hear from Indigenous leaders, about the weight of race and racism, we begin to more fully appreciate what Goodes must be feeling right now.
And yet somehow, there are people, who still canāt connect that two years of booing, of being called an ape, of being racially vilified, of being joked about as King Kong, of being called out in the media, of having your character brought into question, would all be too much for a single man to take.
Knowing all this, there are people who still feel that in light of all that, booing is the fair and good thing to do.
I canāt think of a single Australian value that would reinforce that view.
Indigenous war dances, far from dividing, should unite us.
In fact, Goodesā war dance was taught to him by the AFLās indigenous development team, the Flying Boomerangs whoād created it themselves in 2009 for a game theyād played against Papua New Guinea.
We need only look across the Tasman Seaāāāto the Haka, to New Zealandās Maori/English national anthemāāāto understand how different cultures can unify around a diverse heritage.
And itās not just the AFL thatās embracing power of this tradition.
Two weeks ago, in anger, and in support of his teammate, Lewis Jetta did his own version of the war dance.
This weekend though, we saw a different version of Jettaās dance in front of a loving home crowd, rapturous at the gameās perfect start.
Maybe this is the turning point. Maybe Goodes taking leave was the nadir. Maybe the space between the two Jetta celebrations is the space in which we switch from anger to celebration.
Hopefully, hopefully, the booing will now stop.
Sean Kelly wrote this week:
PoliticsĀ ā¦ at its best it is about seizing opportunity, acting at those unexpected moments when the nation converges on a topic, when by virtue of your position as a national leader and the point in history at which you have assumed that role you have an opportunity to change the way the nation looks at itself and its place in the world.
This week, the Prime Minister looked into the middle distance and saw such an opportunity approaching. He bowed his head, lowered his eyes, and waved it on by.
Adam Goodes needed a leader this week.
Australia needed a leader.
Australia needed more than it got.
We are the country that said:
It begins, I think, with that act of recognition.
Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing.
We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol.
We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers.
We practised discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us. With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds.
We failed to askāāāhow would I feel if this were done to me? As a consequence, we failed to see that what we were doing degraded all of us.
We are the country that said:
āThe time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australiaās history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.ā
We can say those things. And so can Adam Goodes.
We can admit those wrongs. We can be sorry and feel shame.
And we can be immensely proud too. We can still believe we are the best country on earth.
Those two feelingsāāāpride and shameāāācan coexist in all of us.
And still, we can go on as a nation, and be better, and get better, and make things better for people who are not OK.
People who need help. People, Australians, who need a hand up.
We can do all that, and still be united.
In his Australian of the Year acceptance speech, Goodes might have foretold what his receiving the award would mean.
āIām so grateful for this award and this honour, however the real reward is when everyone is talking to their mates, to their families and their children, having those conversations and educating others about racism.
This week, as a nation, we had those conversations.
Not all of it was comfortable.
But in Goodesā absence this weekend, in Jettaās dance, in Lindsey Thomasā kiss, in the 7th minute of the Swans 3rd quarter, in the Richmond Jerseys, in the captainsā joint statement calling for the booing to stop, in the Footy Showās unanimous disagreement with Sam Newmanās diatribe, in the Swansā CEOās speech, in the 37 on Robert Murphyās back, in Nathan Jonesā goal celebration, we saw a true appreciation for the man.
We saw a country regain its grip on an ugly conversation.
We saw a clarion call for Adam Goodes to come back into the fold again.
We saw a better nation.
Australia has a long road to travel. This week showed us that we cannot travel it divided.
There will be people who will wake up tomorrow and still dislike Adam Goodes for whatever reason they did before.
But no fair Australian could still say he deserved to be booed.
No fair Australian could do that.
The booing must end.
Adam Goodes now, and in history, must take his rightful, heroic place.
And as a nation, as a country, as an Australia full of proud Australians, we must take another step in the right direction.
Towards a Better Australia.