Whenasked,“Haveyoueverbeencharged,arrested
orincarcerated?”MeganandJameswererequired
totick“yes.”Ina curtemailfromthepassportoffice,
weweretoldouronlychancetoboardtheplanewas
if theAustralianHighCommissioninCanadawaived
thepolicecheck.Luckily,wehaddonetheadvocacy
workhereandtheHighCommissionhadjustposted
aboutourfilmonFacebook.Inresponsetoa carefully
craftedemail,theygrantedpermissionforourtravel.Yetagain,mydiscomfortroseattherealisationthat
togettheattentionofthesepowerfulpeople,whose
goodwillwedesperatelyneededatthisfinalcrucial
hour,I consciouslytappedintotheirawarenessof
disadvantageandunfairness.I panderedtoa narrative
thatplacesthem,andme,assaviours.Thenextemail
tolandinmyinboxbroughtmetoa halt.TheCanadian
Immigrationcouldwaivethepolicecheck,butthey
neededdetailsofeveryoffence,documentationof
everyaddressandemployersinceMeganandJames
(Dujuan’sfather)were18,anda biometrics(eyeball
scanandfingerprints)appointmentinSydney.Asa
result,theysummised:Thisbeingthebeginningof
a holidayweek,it’snotgoingtobepossibletoget
themtraveldocumentsontimeforthetraveldates.Disheartenedandexasperated,I turnedtoMegan
forhelp.MegangrewupinAliceSprings,shehasfour
kidsandhasspentmostofherteensbeinga young
mum.We’recloseinage,andbymanycountsshe
hasachievedmuchmorethanmeinherlifetime.She
pausedandwhisperedquietly,“Ireallywanttogo.”
Meganwassocommittedtobeingpresentwhenourfilm
wasfirstseenbyaninternationalaudiencethatshewas
willingtobeara seeminglyendlessarrayofbureaucratic
processesthatcontinuallybroughtintoquestionher
legitimacyasa trustworthy,responsiblehuman.I rallied.For a small fortune, we re-booked each leg of the
flight to Toronto, secured an emergency biometrics
appointment, set to the task of appealing to a worker
at the Alice Springs courthouse to access two decades
of charges, and set our minds to supporting families
to write “declarations of rehabilitation.” Megan spoke
while I scribed: Dear immigration, I have grown up as
an Aboriginal person in Australia. When I was younger
I saw my family drinking and sometimes driving. While
this is no excuse, I didn’t know better. I am working
to be the one in my family who makes a better future
for my children. For the driving offences I am an
unemployed single young mother and could not pay
for a license and registration of our car. I needed to
take my kids to school, get away and go shopping.I am sorry. Where the IDs once lay on my kitchen table,
court papers lay in piles weighed down by items of
cutlery. Ten minutes to close of business, we delivered
a document with every private detail available on
record about their lives. This trail of administrivia
placed me in an uncomfortable position of knowing
private things about my friends’ and collaborators’ lives
that they may have otherwise chosen not to share.These attempts to attain official travel documentation
have given me a microscopic glimpse into what
it might be like to navigate life in Australia as an
Aboriginal person. Even with all of the privilege
and resources that we had and the pro bono
assistance of a qualified lawyer, doctor and
accountant, travelling overseas proved almost
impossible for a group of First Australians.For many non-Indigenous Australians, it’s convenient
to believe that racism is confined to backwards minds
and far-flung areas. What is harder to see is how the
social structures that work for many of us perpetuate
disadvantage in ongoing and insidious ways. While many
of these generous people along the way, I can imagine,
felt they did a “good deed” to support our quest to
get to the premiere, I wondered whether any of them
would work to change the structures of inaccessibility
that perpetuate these underlying inequities?This process has certainly affirmed for me the
necessity to challenge these often invisible
barriers and to ensure the release of our film goes
some way to tackling them—at the very least by
naming them and sharing our experiences.I look over at Dujuan sitting on the plane surrounded
by his mother, father, brother, baby sister and both his
grandmothers. Peering out the window he anxiously
asks, “Maya, how is this big metal thing able to stay up
in the sky?” The miracle of flight took the hard work
of many people over a long period of time to finally
achieve something that we now take for granted, but
then felt impossible. His grandmother gives his hand
a reassuring squeeze as we taxi down the runway.In My Blood It Runs will be in cinemas nationally
in early 2020, and is launching a multi-year social
impact campaign aiming to address structural
racism, First Nations-led education systems and
youth justice reform. Find out how to see the film and
join the campaign at: http://www.inmyblooditruns.com28 DUMBO FEATHER