Image – www.npywc.org.au

Hope is not strategy; it is not a plan. Hope is not a bad thing. It can be helpful. But is an intangible. Hope does not resolve the constant state of powerlessness, forsakenness and oppression that many Indigenous Australians experience. Using hope as a solution to Indigenous suicides is a surface level response to tragedies that are the result of a more entrenched and systemic problem. Much like resilience, hope is not strategy, it is not a plan. I have witnessed attempts at hope and resilience as tools against Indigenous suicides, and more often than not in a self-congratulating exercise of’ ‘at least we are doing something’. Sometimes doing something and doing nothing are the same thing. The former has higher levels of output, however, both provide no outcome. Hope does not create tangible realities. Resilience used as a protective factor is like telling someone who is bullied to toughen up, or be strong. Resilience does not eradicate what people are being asked to be tougher or stronger against. In essence it is victim blaming, when really the focus needs to be on what’s causing the powerlessness, forsakenness and oppression.

In my life and my career, I have also witnessed adults and parents with young people, when they are at their most vulnerable, congratulating them on their strength and resilience. The message being conveyed is wrong. I remember as a child sitting around the campfire up at Danger Point in Arnhem Land and one of the Aboriginal Elders telling my father, ‘Johnny, don’t tell that boy to be strong just yet, he is too young. It is our job to protect these kids when they are this age. Leave him be. You do your job, look after him.’ It is a message I carry with me today, as it is up to us as adults to protect our youth. That is our job. Working in remote areas is a tough gig against the ebb and flow of lives lost to suicide and those left behind can be heartbreaking. I too have seen the look of helplessness on many a workers face tasked to provide a solution to a problem within a system that allows only for maintenance, not actual solutions. I too have felt that helplessness. We know all too well that the system is created to at best maintain survival, not improve living.

That’s why the concepts of hope and resilience are so enticing to use. They are seen as an outcome. But they are Darwinist ideologies, creating false consciousness in themselves that everything is going to be ok. Relying on resilience is much like tanning the hide of a cow or bullock. It does not change the elements of the weather; it simply toughens the hide against it. Do we really want that for our children? If this kind of living was enough, that’s what people would choose. But they don’t, suicide is seen as the solution. Hope does not create ongoing employment. Hope does not create affordable housing. Hope does not eradicate poverty. Hope does not lower the incarceration rate. Hope does not train teachers to teach bilingually or understand Aboriginal English so they can do their job properly. Hope does not return the $500 million ripped from Indigenous health. Money later parlayed into another stream of income that national NGOs already receive as core funding for but refuse to use on Indigenous people; treating us like we are not citizens or of worth. Hope does not put an end to racism.

Solutions need to be about creating more than hope. Autonomy, self-determination and economic sustainability are achievable. But to get to that point we need to cut through the bias, prejudice and racism that has metastasised in agencies, departments, organisations and governments; perpetuating powerlessness, forsakenness and oppression. These cancerous behaviours have manifested into behaviours that isolate, marginalise and bully Indigenous people; tenements to mental health illnesses, depression, anxiety and the ilk. As Indigenous people we are not born predisposed to mental health illnesses. But we are born into environments that cause them; triggered by bias, prejudice and racism. Racism that we must face with every waking hour.

To outsiders of our community spaces and lives, racism is simply name calling. This is far from truth. The idea that is a sticks and stones child nursery rhyme relies on the ideology of toughen up, and get over it. Thus perpetuating the narrative of false equivalency. It enforces a skew on the reality of impenetrable access to housing, a good education and health services. In Broome where I currently live the median price for renting a house is $500, four years ago it was closer to $700. The median average income of Broome is $852. That’s if you have a job, but with $500 going on rent, it doesn’t leave much for food and other necessities. However, it is simply not a matter of ‘getting a job’, because that too is difficult. Unemployment has risen to 7.9% per cent, and for the Kimberly it is 12.2%; double the State’s unemployment rate. Yet, every day there 100’s of fly-in-fly-out workers in both the resource and health sectors coming in and out of Broome. A second freeze on external employment has been imposed by the State government, making fly-in-fly-out short term contracts the norm. The difficulty in finding a job is real. I have experienced this. For six months I was without work, relying on savings and the the income of my partner. Having garage sales to to help cover rent, and put food on the table.

Everyday Australians make judgment calls on the basis of the word Aboriginal. This bias, prejudice and racism becomes imbedded in their work practices. There are three government departments that are on constant fly-in-fly-out/short term rotation; they are health, justice and child protection. There is no nuanced understanding of the issues faced up here. The ‘Aboriginal experience’ is sold like it is some kind of excursion. It is not. It takes a good two-three years (the length of an Arts degree) before you can really understand the complexities of the environment to truly make a difference. There is nothing in your University degree or urban living that can qualify that. I’ve learnt that as well. And I am Aboriginal.

Distressing news from Canada, with more heartbreaking numbers of suicides and attempts of First Nations peoples, including youth. Frustratingly the messages coming out speak of ‘fragmented mental-health services and the ‘overlapping’ of other services. This town could be any one of the towns across Australia where hopelessness reigns. Hope won’t fix that.

Using hope to prevent Indigenous suicides is like sitting in a house that is on fire, praying that you won’t get burnt. We need to create more than hope, more than prayer.

Dameyon Bonson is an independent researcher and advocate in the field of preventing Indigenous suicides. He advises to the federally funded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSTISPEP) and is the Founder of Black Rainbow Living Well for the Prevention of Indigenous LGBTI Suicide.

You can follow him on Twitter @DameyonBonson