Attack on national anthem aired in school

Indigenous school students air footage of rapper Adam Briggs denouncing national anthem.

Adam Briggs, social commentator and hip-hop artist. Picture: Britta Campion

Indigenous students at a Can­berra school have screened controversial footage of popular Aboriginal rapper Adam Briggs denouncing the Australian ­national anthem and declaring “the song sucks” as part of their NAIDOC Week celebrations.

The television segment, “Is Our National Anthem for Everyone?”, which aired on the ABC program The Weekly with Charlie Pickering in June, features Briggs as he dissects Advance Australia Fair line by line, claiming “I want to help you understand what the national anthem sounds like when blackfellas listen to it”.

On the line “for we are young and free” he describes Aboriginal Australians as “the most incarcerated people on Earth” and “as for young, we’ve been here for 80,000 years”.

The reference to “our land” ­reminded indigenous Australians “it was our land before our home was girt by you lot”.

“We can’t even share our opinion about a song without you lot freaking out,” he continues.

“That’s why so many of us don’t feel like standing up or singing along. The song sucks.”

The video, which has been criticised as an “extremist political message” and counter-productive”, was aired at a special NAIDOC Week assembly at the school on Tuesday.

Dickson College principal Craig Edwards noted it was “confrontational” but defended its airing, claiming it was initiated by indigenous students who had wanted to present an “alternative perspective” on the anthem to the wider school community.

“Essentially students wanted to … get non-indigenous Australians thinking about why the ­anthem is such a hotly discussed topic and why indigenous Australians find parts of it hard to reconcile,” Mr Edwards said.

“We do have this national ­anthem that is revered by many and this (film) presents an irreverent view. In that regard it hits the nail on the head.”

Mr Edwards said the senior college, which catered for Years 11 and 12 students, had done significant work on cultural understanding in recent years and valued student agency and voice: “That’s one of the reasons we empower that group of young people to organise that assembly.”

Prominent indigenous business leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine, who was one of several people to criticise the Briggs segment last month, said he had no issue with young people being exposed to different views on contentious topics. But he said too many schools and universities “were showing only one view”.

“The issue is a lot of Aboriginal people don’t actually agree about the national anthem and this film claims to speak for them. I don’t judge nations by their history. I sing the national anthem,” Mr Mundine said.

Bella d’Abrera, director of the Institute of Public Affairs’ Foundations of Western Civilisation Program, said it was “inappropriate” to show the film in schools: “It is identity politics, promoting division based on race.”

ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry said the students were exploring “how the anthem reinforces the dominant perspective on Australian history”.

“It is in line with the government’s commitment to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait ­Islander students, families and communities to bring forward their perspectives as part of learning,” she said.