Club Online Zoom Lunch Event – Black Lives Matter Down Under: Racism in Modern Australia with Stan Grant

For decades, award-winning journalist, author and professor Stan Grant has been at the forefront of the fight for equality for indigenous Australians. Now, the debate down under is being reignited by the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. A former senior international correspondent for CNN in Beijing, Hong Kong and the Middle East, Grant recently became the first indigenous host in the 59-year history of the ABC Four Corners documentary program. It focused on how the death of George Floyd sparked resonance among indigenous Australians, who have long felt that their painful history has never been reconciled. Protests have been held in cities across the country, and there have been increasing calls to drop the colonial names given to geographical landmarks on indigenous lands.

This moment of reflection has been a long time coming. In 2015, Grant gave a landmark speech in Sydney which argued that “the Australian Dream” is based upon racism. In 2019, he wrote a film on the same topic, focusing on the story of an elite AFL player who was hounded by racist abuse on the football field. Stan Grant will reflect on his personal journey and examine if the momentum from across the Pacific can contribute to a reckoning on race in Australia.