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Kevin John Gilbert

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Kevin John Gilbert INDEX - Biographical notes; - Committed Poetry; - Prose as an illustrative background for poetry; -“What does, factually, go with black skin?”; - We cannot celebrate the invasion and theft of our Land!; - Art for art’s sake?; - A ppendix: Lineal Legends; Wahlo: Tribal Law; Totality: Massacre Mountain; Corroboree Spirits; Untitled; - Thanks and dedication. Kevin John Gilbert Australian Aboriginal flag Kevin J. Gilb ert: “What will we do with the ‘natives’?” -The Aboriginal point of view- Biographical notes: Kevin John Gilbert was born in 1933 in the Wiradjuri Aboriginal area, on the New South Wales Australian coast. He was orphaned at the age of seven and, as an adult, spent many years in prison for the unintentional killing of his wife. Whilst in prison, he realised that conditions for prisoners, although bad, were on the whole better than the conditions in which his own people lived. As a consequence, he began to educate himself using dictionaries and encyclopaedias so as to be able to express his ideas artistically. Kevin Gilbert succeeded in realising his projects and, as a matter of fact, he has been widely recognised as a pioneering Aboriginal artist and has received some important awards. He died in early 1993 aged fifty-nine after having stimulated the never-ending struggle for Aboriginal Rights. Committed poetry: The starting point for this research is represented by two representative poems taken from the collection called Black from the Edge 1, published in 1994. The first one is the most emblematic: What will we do with the “natives”? Tuck them Blacks around the corner out of sight if sight you can out in the light they grieve our conscience calling out for Rights of man we here are far too busy earning tourist money 1 Gilbert, Kevin. Black from the Edge. Melbourne: Hyland House, 1994. quids time is money souvenirs and tourists take our time not kids. Which I have translated as follows: Cosa faremo dei “nativi”? Nascondete i Neri dietro l’angolo, fuori dalla vostra vista, se di vista siete dotati Alla luce del sole affliggono la nostra coscienza chiedendo Diritti Umani Qui, noi siamo fin troppo impegnati a guadagnare i soldi dei turisti, sterline Il tempo è denaro, regalini, e i turisti ci rubano il tempo senza pensare ai nostri figli. This poem clearly presents the main themes shaping Gilbert’s literary production, that is to say, racism, human rights, economic issues and exploitation of the land for touristic purposes. Despite being an aborigine, Kevin Gilbert approaches all of these subjects from the perspective of the Australian white society as well. This is evident when we start analysing the above-mentioned poem in detail; in fact, the author uses a viewpoint that makes the reader imagine that Gilbert is someone outside both social environments. He indeed refers to the blacks by using the personal pronoun them (“Tuck them Blacks / around the corner…”) and to the whites by using the pronoun you (“[…]out of sight / if sight you can…”). Nonetheless, he also makes use of the possessive adjective our when he refers to white people (“[…]they grieve our conscience…”), but also when referring to the blacks (“[…]and tourists take our time / not kids.”). This use of our clearly shows Gilbert’s emotional and personal involvement with the problems he is tackling. He is actually describing the world in which he lives and acts to improve the Aboriginal living conditions. The second poem I have chosen as one of the most representative of the aborigine’s feelings towards white people and of their social situation is the following: Notice to territory tourists To you who walk amidst and then pass by intrigued by these art shops and man’s estate thank god or he to whom your country prays that being born at Alice as a Black was not your fate They stole my country fouled my paradise they take you by the hand to ‘see the sights’ look long think deep on history understand you witness here Australia’s inhumanity to man. My own translation of this poem is: Avviso ai turisti A voi che camminate tra di noi e passate al nostro fianco, affascinati da questi negozi d’arte e da queste terre, ringraziate Dio, o colui al quale il vostro paese prega, perchè essere un Nero nato ad Alice Springs non fu il vostro destino Rubarono la mia nazione, rovinarono il mio paradiso ed ora vi accompagnano per mano ad ammirare il panorama. Guardate lontano, pensate alla storia e rendetevi conto che qui siete testimoni della disumanità dell’Australia nei confronti dell’uomo. In this poem, Gilbert’s direct way of addressing to foreign tourists (“To you who walk amidst / and then pass by…”) seems to bring the “Aboriginal Matter” to international importance. Moreover, Gilbert includes a final exhortation to the same foreigners to think about the History of Australia and its inhabitants (“[…]look long think deep / on history understand / you witness here / Australia’s inhumanity / to man.”), comprehending a sort of anthropomorphic image of Australia through the substantive “inhumanity”; which is the same inhumanity shown by the whites throughout the centuries towards the aborigines. Prose as an illustrative background for poetry : In order to have a deeper understanding of the issues raised by the author, we have also to consider Gilbert’s prose works. In particular, his last book entitled Because a white man’ll never do it 2, first published in 1973, throws light upon the whole range of topics he has been dealing with throughout his life and literary production. It can undoubtedly be stated that his prose works give an explicatory background to his poetry, and we can easily understand it by reading the dedication contained in this work: “This book is dedicated to the Aboriginal patriots of Australia who have refused to sell out, have refused to pay that ultimate ‘price of survival’ demanded by the white boss…and to the mass of blacks, ‘poor buggars all’, who are still waiting…” 3. In the Author’s Note following the dedication, Gilbert also writes: “[…]it seems to me that there has long been too damn much research and not enough action[…]Black writers don’t seem to get very much support from either government or big companies.” 4 In the first chapter, Race Memories, the author suggests a possible solution to the “Aboriginal Matter” by underlining the need to give them –the aborigines- back their land rights and let them try and rectify what the white man has done, because a white man will never do it. This is the issue that underlies the whole development of the book even though it is only considered by the author as the starting point of a long-dreamed social and political national reform. Despite these preliminary remarks about Kevin Gilbert’s prose which could give the impression of a stereotyped kind of writing concerning racism, we realize, as we go through the text, that this feeling is only partially true. As a matter of fact, Gilbert’s perspective on the issues he raises is meant to be as objective as possible by offering an impartial view on the two “worlds”: the white and the black one. A significant example on this matter can be found in the thirteenth chapter, Love’s Labor’s Lost – the reality of the 2 Gilbert, Kevin. Because a White Man’ll Never Do It. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1973. 3 Ibidem, VII. 4 Ibid., 162. reserves, in which the author doesn’t hesitate to blame his own people for some of their attitudes and social convictions. In one of the most crucial passages, we read: […]if a quarter-caste woman spends all her income on taxis and grog while her kids starve and get sick, then I believe that it is a matter of private selfishness and corruption rather than the fault of any larger racial issue[…]It is easier, I think, for a white man to write about the black situation for he either takes a ‘they’re bums’ attitude or, alternatively, a mea culpa line. 5 Nonetheless, immediately afterwards he makes the point clearer: “[…]let nothing that I say here about black culpability be used by any white man to excuse his grasping, mean- minded inhumanity.”6 With regard to the blacks’ social attitude, Gilbert states that they are psychologically far from being aware of the need for community self-discipline and organization. In addition, it is much easier and less painful for them to project their energy out, that is to say, into hatred for the white man. Furthermore, because discrimination by white people against blacks is so universal in the whole of Australia, it has also become a tool which blacks use to dodge responsibility. Frequently, the cry of ‘discrimination’ is just a defence against one’s psychological and social growth. One of the most meaningful examples given by the author is that of an Aboriginal man who suffers permanent crippling as a result of injuries received when he was blind drunk; he generally blames the cops or the white man for his condition, without accepting that it was his own irresponsible stupidity that has ruined his body. Moreover, he asserts that it is the white man’s fault if the wine has been brought into the country! Another aspect that marks the Aboriginal social attitude out is ‘fear’. The point is that the Aboriginal microcosm - the reserve- is usually a place where only legendary negative remnants of tribal lore have survived. For instance, there are a lot of stories telling about dreaded beings who inhabits a certain swamp, spirits of the night, giant killer dogs, and so on.
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