Gail Mabo: 'We must let young people speak their minds and move us forward'

Gail Mabo, the middle daughter of land rights activist Eddie "Koiki" Mabo and Bonita Mabo, is a Townsville local, a celebrated artist, a mother, and a proud Indigenous woman.

As racial tensions flare in the US with protests against police brutality surfacing in the wake of George Floyd's death, she shares her views on Australia's own history with racism with 9Honey.

"I've always shown the police the respect they've earned from the uniform they wear," she explains.

"But when the person in that uniform has abused that role, that's when the hatred begins."

The hatred, Mabo refers to, resonates in Floyd's final words "I can't breathe" which has been chanted by frustrated crowds across the globe, as the Black Lives Matter movement reaches a fever pitch.

Five years ago, footage of Dunghutti man David Dungay revealed he too spoke the same final words, 12 times before dying in police custody, apprehended for refusing to stop eating a packet of biscuits.

As the gruesome videos of both men's deaths circulate, Australia is confronted with their own harrowing and complex relationship with race.

Mabo explains the "desensitising" nature of the footage does not allow people "the time to process it and have conversations about it."

"These videos are just moments of wrongdoing - we have to educate people on the whole history of the matter," she explains.

With over 430 Indigenous deaths in custody in 29 years, and no convictions made, the mother-of-seven says the future of harmony and respect relies on the next generation.

"There comes a time when egos need to be pushed aside and we let young people speak their minds and move us forward," she shares.

"It's been that time for a while."

"Young people don't have blinkers on, their mindset is open. If we hone that in to the values of what makes a respectful life and respectful means of treating others, then we can move forward," she shares.

Such belief in the power of children to champion equality, stems from Mabo's own childhood.

Her father Eddie would regularly invite people from their Townsville neighbourhood over to the home, sharing conversations about their cultural differences over dishes from their national heritage.

"He would always invite people on our street to come over - the Italian man with his garden would cook pasta for us - the old lady down the road from Malaysia and would feed us Malay food in banana leaves," she explains.

The effect of this, Mabo explains, forced her and her nine siblings "to judge people by their character, not their colour."

"He took our blinkers off to show us greater things. He made us think of the world in a different way."

As the protests emerge amid the coronavirus pandemic that brought the world to a standstill, and global grief exacerbates, Mabo maintains: "people forget to tell stories about good things."

"We didn't know who our neighbours were anymore, but with coronavirus, we were forced to remind ourselves of the importance of community, and respecting each other in our space."

When I ask Mabo about the motivation behind her messages, her response is simple.

"Whatever I've said, I've said for my children,"

"That is who we owe a better world to."

This week marked the conclusion of Reconciliation Week with Mabo Day, a national celebration of Eddie Koiki Mabo's contribution to Indigenous land rights, commemorating the June 3 1992 Australian High Court's decision to overturn 200 years of terra nullius.

The decision came after a 10-year legal battle spearheaded by Mabo, to demonstrate Indigenous people had rights and claims to the land.

Mabo passed away from cancer five months before the decision was officially made.