Stan Grant cited the ‘relentless racial filth’ he endured after he raised British colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during the conquest of King Charles III’s coronation.
One of Australia’s leading television journalists has opened a bout of national soul-searching by quitting her show because of the racist abuse she faced as an Indigenous person on the cover.
An award-winning ABC journalist, Stan Grant said the national broadcaster had lodged a complaint on Twitter about the “relentless racial filth” he had endured.
But he added the media themselves were “lying and twisting my words” and described him as “hateful” after he raised Britain’s colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during the ABC’s coverage of King Charles’ coronation III.
“I point out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of our land,” Grant said in an article published Friday on the ABC website.
“The police wearing the seal of the crown are taking children from their families. Under the crown our people are being killed.”
His commentary on the coronation was heavily criticized as one-sided and inappropriate by some in the conservative media.
Grant said he spoke out of love for Australia because he had to tell the truth that Indigenous people still have the highest rates of incarceration and poverty.
The 59-year-old announced he would be stepping down as presenter after the next episode of ABC’s current affairs discussion program Q+A on Monday.
‘Race environment toxicity’
Grant took his own boss to task.
“I’m writing this because no one at ABC – whose producers invited me to their coverage of the coronation as a guest – has spoken a word of public support. Not a single ABC executive has publicly denying the lies that have been written or spoken about me,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered his support to Grant telling journalists: “You can have respect for different views without engaging in vilification.”
ABC news director Justin Stevens also issued a statement supporting Grant, saying he had faced “severe racial abuse, including threats to his safety”.
Osman Faruqi, cultural news editor for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, who previously worked for the ABC, said the national broadcaster’s staff were not representative of Australia’s cultural mix.
But the issue goes beyond the national broadcaster, he said in an opinion piece on Saturday.
“It’s also bigger than the media. There is a toxicity around race that lives deep within this country, infecting all our institutions – the media, sport, arts, business and politics,” said Faruqi.
In his departure announcement, Grant said Indigenous people had learned to “tough it out”.
But the stakes are now higher, he said, as the country prepares for a referendum this year on whether to grant indigenous peoples the constitutional right to be consulted about laws that affect them.
“There’s a referendum on an Indigenous Voice in Parliament and I’m not alone in feeling judged. It’s an Australian judgment on us. That’s politics,” Grant wrote. “But racism is a crime. Racism is violence. And I am enough.”