It’s been great to receive messages, emails and calls from people asking questions or sharing their experiences around this quilt for Kevin Henry. It means people have actively consider Kevin’s story and engaged in their own understanding before adding their name in support of Kevin.
Thank you to all who have reached out with questions and to those who have given their name in support of Kevin.
For some, it hasn’t felt right to sign the quilt for Kevin without taking further action.
So, what can you do next…….?
For me Amy McQuire, Martin Hodgson and Debbie Kilroy have been instrumental in educating me on the realities of Kevin’s story..
If you have the means Donate consistently. This helps Amy & Martin continue with Kevin’s exoneration process. Kevin would be the first ‘living’ Indigenous Australian to be exonerated in QLD.
Talk to people about Kevin Henry, his story and what the invisibility around this story means on a larger scale for Indigenous Peoples.
Pause, reflect and allow these learnings to settle into your nervous system. Check what you need to do to support yourself so you can continue showing up? ‘My Grandmother’s Hands’ has some great somatic practices.
I came across this quote recently “We can not shame ourselves into change, we can only love ourselves into evolution.” - Dr J.K. Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams and Tara Brach talk about this in their interview “Facing the Truths that keep us from Love”. It’s an hour long and offers an accessable understanding of this work.
Start! Find your way. Ask questions. you’re guaranteed to get things wrong & make mistakes. I certainly have …. and still continue to unfortunately. Our colonial history & socialisation make it inevitable that we’ll stumble. Don’t let the stumbling stop you.
There are so many wonderful resources out there. Curtain The Podcast as a start, Blood on the Tracks: What happened to Mark Hains Podcast, Kadija Gdla has this list. Yarn have this , Peppermint Magazine , Mia Muse “The work of White People in Dismantling Racism.” ….. & so on.
Take the time to build your own resources. Read, listen, watch. Then pause, reflect and be willing to act. I once read a line in Dumbo Feather (but can’t for the life of me remember who the interviewee was) that said “it won’t be politicians who make change, it will be passionate people.” It stuck with me. It is also everyday people, like you and me, who affect change when we take action.
53 names have been added to the quilt so far. It’s slowly coming to completion and will then make it’s way to Kevin. However, there’s still time and room for more names if you want to add yours.