Blackout
ABC Television
Tuesdays, 9.30 p.m.
Reviewed by Sean Malloy
This is the second series of Blackout, and I'm elated to say that this new series looks as good as, if not better than, the first.
Blackout examines Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, ranging from politics to sport. It manages to entertain and educate in an approachable, down to earth manner. The program is very human in its treatment of issues and individuals, something missing altogether from the overwhelming majority of current affair or issues-based programs.
The first instalment of this series began with a moving tribute to the late activists and poets Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Kevin Gilbert. Blackout's presentation of their lives' work was markedly different from mainstream pieces. Their poetry was put into the context of oppression of Aboriginal people and their struggle for land rights and justice, rather than abstracted as poetry in itself.
This series of Blackout will also feature interviews with indigenous peoples of other nations around the world. The first of these interviews was with Ertha Kitt, legendary singer and actor.
Kitt's mother was an indigenous American, her father an African-American. As a young child she was taken away from her mother and grew up with relatives on her father's side. She grew up not knowing her mother or father or her indigenous history.
During her recent tour in Australia, Kitt travelled through Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. She was appalled at Aboriginal living conditions and the high level of racism directed at Aborigines.
When Kitt raised the needs of Aboriginal communities at a dinner with federal government ministers, she received a shallow hearing. One unnamed minister asked her, "Why would you worry about those people? They are so ugly."
Kitt, incensed by the comment, said that indigenous communities need to organise themselves and make themselves strong against such backwardness and ignorance.