In February 2021, I, along with another member of the UTS Ethnocultural Collective, wrote an article in response to the former Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs’ anti-racism statement. We focused on the impacts of systemic racism versus interpersonal racism and sought to provide achievable goals for our university in the continual fight for racial justice. We tackled the critical thinking required to be “proactively anti-racist” while questioning the UTS community every step of the way.
However, as the months have rolled on, and we have yet to feel any tangible change, I want to shift focus and ask the question: how does racism impact our autonomy?
What has been the emotional cost of being in an education system built on colonialism and white supremacy?
When your identity is not one of a cis white man, how do you keep yourself from drowning?
