Following Meryl Dorey’s anti-vaccination interview with Tiga Bayles on the National Indigenous Radio Service this week , I wrote an article. I couldn’t write it immediately afterwards. First, I was crying too much. Second, I had to go to Brisbane. Words rattled around in my brain all the way down to the city and all the way back. The next morning I turned on the computer and a story just flowed out.
It sometimes takes me up to three weeks to write an article. This took less than three hours.
The team at Mama Mia who have been heroic in opposing Dorey’s anti-vaccination propaganda agreed to publish it. I’m very grateful because this article is rather ‘left of centre’ . But it’s what I had to write and I can only hope it’s something that people may feel they had to read.
I wrote with respect for the indigenous community and with no ill-feeling towards Tiga Bayles. I hope that comes across.
Anyway, here’s a taste.
“I’m sitting in the Griffith University Library at Nathan. It’s the mid-90s and I’m researching an assignment for my Bachelor’s degree. One of my subjects this semester is Aboriginal Studies. I open the study guide and turn to the required reading. As I read, great silent tears start to flow down my cheeks, splashing onto the page below. I don’t sob. There are no histrionics. I don’t make a sound. My face just starts to resemble a waterfall in slow motion. It is the strangest, saddest feeling, and one I will never forget.”
For the rest go to MamaMia: A three part tragedy: how Meryl Dorey is affecting Aboriginal health.
Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear 