Wiradjuri journalist, presenter and international affairs analyst Stan Grant is stepping away from media duties for an indefinite period after a wave of racist abuse sparked by his honest and accurate commentary on the coronation of Charles III.
On Friday afternoon Mr Grant wrote in an ABC column that since the King's coronation, he has seen "people in the media lie and distort my words".
"They have tried to depict me as hate filled. They have accused me of maligning Australia. Nothing could be further from the truth. My ancestors would not allow me to be filled with hate," he said.
"I was invited to contribute to the ABC's coverage as part of a discussion about the legacy of the monarchy. I pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of our land. In the name of the crown my people were segregated on missions and reserves. Police wearing the seal of the crown took children from their families. Under the crown our people were massacred.
"Australia is the only Commonwealth country not to have signed treaties with First Nations people. Under the crown we remain the most impoverished and imprisoned people in the country. We cannot live in the fantasy Australia that pretends we have transcended this history. We owe it to ourselves to be better."
Mr Grant noted that through his Wiradjuri family he learned Yindyamarra.
"Yindyamarra is respect. During the coronation coverage I spoke of Yindyamarra for those who support the monarchy even as I confront the darkness of colonisation and empire. I speak truth with love because that is who I am. If I did not offer Yindyamarra, my ancestors would be ashamed of me. They would also be ashamed of me if I did not speak up for justice," he said.
"I speak of truth, not grievance. Yet that is not how it has been reported."
The veteran reporter noted that racist abuse online was not new to him.
"On social media my family and I are regularly racially mocked or abused. This is not new. Barely a week goes by when I am not racially targeted. My wife is targeted with abuse for being married to a Wiradjuri man," he said.
"I don't even read it, yet I can't escape it. People stop me in the street to tell me how vile it is. They tell me how sorry they are. Although I try to shield myself from it, the fact it is out there poisons the air I breathe.
"The ABC has this year lodged an official complaint with Twitter about the relentless racial filth I am subjected to. I am not beyond criticism. I occupy a privileged and prominent place in the media — I should be critiqued. And I am not thin skinned. Aboriginal people learn to tough it out. That's the price of survival. This year the stakes are higher. There is a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and I am not alone in feeling judged. This is an Australian judgement on us. Such is politics. But racism is a crime. Racism is violence. And I have had enough."
Mr Grant wrote that no one at the ABC, "whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest", had "uttered one word of public support" during the frenzy of racist abuse after the coronation.
"This is the last column I will write for the ABC for a while. On Monday night I will present my Q+A program, then walk away. For how long? I don't know," he said.
"I don't take time out because of racism — I won't give racists the satisfaction. I don't take time out because I believe the ABC was wrong to discuss the legacy of colonisation and empire on the day of the coronation. We did that, I believe, with maturity and respect.
"I take time out because we have shown again that our history — our hard truth — is too big, too fragile, too precious for the media. The media sees only battle lines, not bridges. It sees only politics."
Mr Grant said "not everything is politics".
"Some things are sacred. Our stories are sacred. Yet the media has turned public discussion into an amusement park. Social media, at its worst, is a sordid spectacle. A grotesque burlesque. Lives are reduced to mockery and ridicule. I want no part of it. I want to find a place of grace far from the stench of the media. I want to go where I am not reminded of the social media sewer," he said.
"My parents have been proud of the career I have built. I owe anything I have done to them. I have tried to represent my people and do some good in the world. I don't know now if it has amounted to anything."
