Get smart, not angry, and win this fight ... Once and for all

ARE the Black Lives Matter rallies in Australia achieving anything? The tragic and brutally honest answer is bugger all.

I write this as one who earnestly supports the cause of those who have marched.

Aboriginal people around the nation are just as likely to be victims of police brutality and just as likely to die in custody as they were before the protests. There has been no commitment from any tier of government, any official, to anything other than business as usual when it comes to inequality and discrimination.

Protesters may feel a rush of endorphins while defying authorities to gather in large numbers during pandemic restrictions. Perhaps they enjoy a sense of solidarity after lockdown isolation. They have managed to get race relations in the media for a few days.

But has the Prime Minister, a premier or anyone else in power said or done anything to change how police or others deal with Aborigines? Nope, not a jot, not even a whisper.

Protesters have achieved little but to expose families and friends, and everyone else, to the risk of a second wave of infections from a virus that has killed 400,000 worldwide and for which there is no vaccine.

This risk is of extra concern for Aboriginal communities, which have higher rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases, making them more prone to severe COVID-19 and a painful, lonely death, drowning in their own phlegm.

I sincerely hope protesters have not spread the infection because it is Aboriginal elders who are most likely to die.

Some elders may be willing to pay the ultimate price for the cause, but that will hardly lighten the load on protesters who will live the rest of their days with blood on their hands.

The protests are backed by many, including Mercury columnists Greg Barns and Peter Boyer and, in the US, Martin Luther King III. They see the anger on the streets as justified, and cheer on those who run the viral gauntlet.

But, mark my words, as long as this righteous cause depends on anger and hype for its momentum it will continue to fail by (1) petering out as the rage dissipates, or (2) by being beaten into submission by riot police, or (3) by reducing our society to a contagious tangle of chaos, grief and rubble.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr marched with 250,000 to the Lincoln Memorial in

Washington, DC, demanding the same equality as those who marched here this week. But Rodney King was still beaten senseless by LA police 30 years later, and George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis cops just weeks back. Let’s wait a month or so to gauge the virus fallout before judging the merits of recent US marches.

Taking to the streets can rouse the troops, but the way to actually win this interminable fight is to act strategically and to stop reacting mindlessly like tired sheep being corralled and sorted by a border collie.

The powers that be in our society are highly organised to maintain the status quo. They pay lawyers, PR consultants, political parties, lobbyists and others to protect their privilege.

The reason the powers that be said little about the protests is because there is no need. The demonstrators are pissing into the wind. People who sacrificed their freedom and livelihoods to stop the virus are angry at protesters putting it all at risk. Powers that be 1: protesters 0.

If joining a march is the extent of your commitment to this cause, then stay home and sink another tinnie or smoke another cone or whatever else you care to waste your life doing; it’s just as effective.

Change will only happen when enough of us think and act strategically — that means making an effort, especially at times when there’s no lit fuse. This cause does not require the devotion of a martyr and is not the stuff of heroes or legends. It requires us to be informed about what’s happening. It requires us to engage with the community, to write letters to editors and MPs, to observe council and parliament, to volunteer, to join political parties and lobbies, to network, to care for one another, and to create art and music to spread the word.

It requires more than a fist pump at a protest — but rest assured, if we get organised, the day will come when we will all be able to raise a fist in triumph, not just in futile defiance.

If you happen to think simple democratic actions make no difference and that “the man” is too powerful, you are categorically wrong.

“The man” wants you to think that. He wants you to take another toke on that pipe and to feel defeated and apathetic, because as long as you feel powerless, you pose no threat. But, the truth is, you are powerful in numbers.

We live in a democracy where people can change things if they are organised. “The man” prefers you violent, rather than organised, because he has a riot squad to trade blows and a justice system to tamp down your anger.

In a democracy, the status quo is always more brittle than it seems. “The man” pays lackeys to create a facade of invincibility, but democracy is about numbers, and there are many more of us than of him.

The idea is to get people to agree; the more united voices, the better. Most Aussies despise racism, just look at the bended knees in the AFL. It’s a matter of taking the issue to the polls.

Winning the democratic numbers game will not be helped by risking the spread of a virus that could kill our elders, black or white. It will not be helped by alienating and putting at risk those who surrendered their freedom and livelihoods to beat this virus.

Taking to the streets during a pandemic is dangerous and ineffective. It smacks of a lack of initiative in a world full of technology and possibilities.

The inability to maintain the rage long enough for all Australians to be able to unite against ingrained inequalities that stain our society displays a lack of foresight and resolve.

This issue is too essential to the evolving character of this nation, and to the safety and health of Aboriginal people, to stuff up with a divisive and kamikaze rush of blood.