TRANSCRIPT
Natalie Ahmat: The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy is back in court on Thursday, maybe for the last time as the NSW Supreme Court decides on a time for the Embassy to be dismantled and its residents evicted.
Earlier today Danny Teece-Johnson spoke exclusively with Aunty Jenny Munro's daughter Lorna Munro, who grew up in the Block and speaks about its history, its legacy and what the future holds for the area's youth.
Lorna is calling for all young people to Warrior up and stand up for the Block.
Lorna Munro: I think that the overall feeling is that the fight is not over, the battle has never been lost at the moment, I think that there is a victory that needs to be claimed, which is the government signing on and bringing the banks and others investors and making them accountable for what's going on here and a lot of the corruption that's been happening.
I think these fullas up here are actually trying to claim it as their victory, when there's been a lot of things happening down here during the time of the tent embassy that the Aboriginal Housing Company and Micky Mundine haven't been able to do, which was things we were talking about before, community garden, there's been projects, programs happening here for kids, there's been a lot of people coming down here wanting to share their stories
A lot of families moved away from here on the one condition that they were allowed come back, and how many years later and these families have been moved on to department housing
We have maintained a certain sense of a community that has really been broken down over the last 20 years under the watch of people like Micky. A lot of people need to recognise that with these developments and the plans that have been happening, bit by bit by bit, they're not going to be housing Aboriginal people.
A lot of families moved away from here on the one condition that they were allowed come back, and how many years later and these families have been moved on to department housing. Once you're on department housing, you can't be on other housing lists.
There were a lot of kids going in to DOCS care after the Redfern riots and that was, you know, a straight push from the Redfern-Waterloo authority push to get rid of the antisocial behaviour, again, which Micky totally turned his back on the youth of this community, claimed these kids weren't even from this community.
I'm calling on those kids to come back here as adults now, with their own children and stand with us, and to stand strong, because once this place goes, you know, that's it
You have a look at those pictures, they're all from here, and I'm calling on those kids to come back here as adults now, with their own children and stand with us, and to stand strong, because once this place goes, you know, that's it.
Where're you going to come to, to find family, where're you going to come to, to find information, where're you going to come to, to see black faces in the middle of the city.
There's always going to be resistance here in this country, and especially here in the birthplace of black power
There's a certain sense of strength still, you know, we come from warrior blood lines, we've been fighting since, you know, the white man first came here in 1770, and even then there were two warriors standing on that shore line, throwing spears and contesting that. There's always going to be resistance here in this country, and especially here in the birthplace of black power.
"We've gotta take strength in the fact that we come from a long line of those warriors"
It's never over. As long as there are strong people that are grassroots and that are humbled and that, you know, aren't letting money dictate their lives...the fight will never be over.
And we've gotta take strength in the fact that we come from a long line of those warriors, and start "warrioring-up" as they say.
