Musos Rally Behind Adam Goodes With Actually Informed Opinions About Racism

Perhaps the most unsettling cultural statistic to have been revealed over the past week in light of Adam Goodes' newest battle with fans of the AFL is the sheer number of white people who seem to think that they, and they alone, are authorities on when something should be considered racist or not.

As a chorus of voices continues to shout about how disproportionate booing angled towards Goodes on-field has absolutely nothing to do with the colour of his skin, more experienced and measured minds are cutting through with salient streams of reason, with two such examples coming from the music industry in the form of indigenous hip hop stars Briggs and Jimblah.

Both men have stepped up in recent days to lend their public support to Goodes in an unfortunate saga, with Jimblah taking to social media to compare the dual Brownlow medallist and Australian Of The Year to US civil rights identity Rosa Parks and discuss the tragedy of indigenous erasure as far as our social institutions are concerned, while Briggs offered up a lengthy and thoughtful missive for The Sydney Morning Herald.

"This whole ordeal is sad as fuck," Jimblah explained in his post. "You wonder how so many people can be that warped and blind to the reality? Look at the laws of this institution. Look at the education systems. Look at the powerful media propaganda machines in full effect.

"They're all perpetuating the same myth regarding White society and its superiority.

"All of a sudden it becomes less about the individual, but rather about the structure as a whole: Australia IS racist."

Jimblah notes in his post that First Nations Australians "managed not only to survive but rather thrive here for well over 60,000 years", expressing astonishment that his people can still implicitly be viewed as "inferior to our White counterparts who are struggling to make [it] to 300".

Although his comments are fairly wide-ranging, at the crux of his impassioned thoughts is the controversy surrounding Goodes and "the fact that he has the courage to take a stand where Australia expects him to shut the fuck up and sit".

"I really feel I need to reiterate how courageous his actions have been on and off the field, despite what many are claiming of him," Jimblah wrote. "If anyone needs to 'harden the fuck up' and face this problem head on, that would be Australia."

Meanwhile, in his op-ed for Fairfax, Briggs expresses his concern "for my whole community" in the wake of Goodes' treatment and consequent indefinite hiatus.

"For us, and for most other Australians, Goodes embodies all the great things about this country's rich history, a history that spans at least 60,000 years," Briggs wrote. "His leadership, sportsmanship and perseverance are an inspiration to me personally, a source of comfort and confidence.

"I was proud when he stood up against racism, I was proud when he won two Brownlow medals, I was proud when he won two premierships, and I was proud when he was named Australian of the Year."

Although Briggs says that he accepts heckling as "part of the football atmosphere" and describes it as "fun", he nonetheless believes the treatment of Goodes goes beyond good-natured joking around.

"Does this feel fun to you?" he asked pointedly in his piece.

"As a football fan, maybe even a loyal member, if you're jeering Goodes in the spirit of the game, and you're aware other spectators are doing so in the name of racism, how do you reconcile that with yourself?" he continued.

"How do you cheer the Indigenous players on your team, knowing they're also feeling for Goodes? … every Indigenous player on the field is feeling those jibes. Every player who identifies with Goodes and who calls him a teammate and friend feels those jibes … how we are here, in 2015, is beyond me."

In addition, fellow hip-hop identity Urthboy, aka Tim Levinson, has been a constant source of support for Goodes on social media, actively calling out "spineless" apologists for those booing the player since late last week. You can see a selection of his tweets below.

Crowds week in week out project a hostile racism onto Adam Goodes. It was widely condemned at 1st but time passes and now it's ignored..

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 26, 2015

Brush it under the table, make light of it. But it is what it is, an overtly racist display against 1 of our greatest athletes

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 26, 2015

Hey @AFL it's all too hard to confront the rampant racism directed at Goodes isn't it. Best just to hose it down and pretend it's not there

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 26, 2015

Jonathan Brown says the @afl has its "head in the sand" about the booing of Goodes. Yep, that's about right. Spineless.

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 27, 2015

What a headline that'll be for international media - racist Australian crowds boo one of their greatest AFL players into retirement

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 28, 2015

I forgot how draining it is engaging with the facebook mess about issues of race. So much hate but apparently no racism so I'm told

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 29, 2015

But I can walk away and choose to only engage fans on dumb shit as per status quo. I don't have to live it every day.

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 29, 2015

After all the outrage, one thing is certain, more Indigenous voices need to be amplified. You can help: http://t.co/ntmEdss9XT

— Urthboy (@urthboy) July 30, 2015

Being an ally: Urthboy's doing it right. Find out more about IndigenousX here.