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“Racism is killing the Australian dream” speech goes viral

Indigenous Australian journalist Stan Grant has delivered a passionate speech on racism and the Australian dream that is being described as Australia’s “Martin Luther King moment”.

By AG Staff • Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Image credit: Youtube

“THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM is rooted in racism. It is the very foundation of the dream. It is there at the birth of the nation.”

These are the words of Indigenous Australian journalist Stan Grant, in a passionate and scathing speech he delivered at an IQ2 debate held by The Ethics Centre, themed “Racism is killing the Australian dream”.

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Grant’s speech, which was delivered in October 2015, was published online last week, and has since gone viral, being shared more than 27,000 times on Facebook. It is being described as Australia’s “Martin Luther King moment”.

“I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges. Reminds me that my people were killed on those plains, we were shot on those plains, disease ravaged us on those plains. I come from those plains,” said the 52-year-old Sky News journalist, who is from the Wiradjuri people of central NSW.

Honestly. I think this Stan Grant speech will one day be viewed as a Martin Luther King moment. https://t.co/bshxwKjBiX via @YouTube — Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) January 22, 2016

“In 1963, when I was born, I was counted among the flora and fauna, not among the citizens of this country,” said Grant, who also referenced the controversial ‘booing’ incident of Indigenous AFL star and former Australian of the Year Adam Goodes.

Grant appeared on a debate panel alongside immigration lawyer Pallavi Sinha, newspaper columnist Rita Panahi and actor Jack Thompson.

“Of course racism is killing the Australian dream,” said Grant. “It is self evident that it is killing the Australian dream, but we are better than that. … One day I want to be able to stand here and be able to say as proudly and sing as loudly as anyone else in this room – Australians all let us rejoice.”

Watch the full IQ2 debate here.

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