Am I Black Enough For You?

By Anita Heiss

The story of an urban-based high achieving Aboriginal woman working to break down stereotypes and build bridges between black and white Australia.

I'm Aboriginal. I'm just not the Aboriginal person a lot of people want or expect me to be.

What does it mean to be Aboriginal? Why is Australia so obsessed with notions of identity? Anita Heiss, successful author and passionate campaigner for Aboriginal literacy, was born a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, but was raised in the suburbs of Sydney and educated at the local Catholic school. She is Aboriginal - however, this does not mean she likes to go barefoot and, please, don't ask her to camp in the desert.

After years of stereotyping Aboriginal Australians as either settlement dwellers or rioters in Redfern, the Australian media have discovered a new crime to charge them with: being too 'fair-skinned' to be an Australian Aboriginal. Such accusations led to Anita's involvement in one of the most important and sensational Australian legal decisions of the 21st-century when she joined others in charging a newspaper columnist with breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. He was found guilty, and the repercussions continue.

In this deeply personal memoir, told in her distinctive, wry style, Anita Heiss gives a first-hand account of her experiences as a woman with an Aboriginal mother and Austrian father, and explains the development of her activist consciousness.

Read her story and ask: what does it take for someone to be black enough for you?

 

"A cross between personal memoir and current events, this book is both thought provoking and challenging. 'Stereotyping' of any kind is bad - we are all different and deserving of respect". Judy Bastian, Store Manager, Dymocks Adelaide

 

"I have read and enjoyed Anita's chick lit, but this was something quite different. I loved reading about her life and her achievements but was appalled by the comments published about her and other Aboriginal people. I was so pleased they took him to court and won". Annie, Project Officer, The Big Book Club

 

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Author

 

Anita is a writer, poet, activist, social commentator and academic. She is the author of Yirra and her deadly dog, Demon, I'm not racist, but... , My Story: the diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937, and a series of chick lit novels including Not Meeting Mr Right, Avoiding Mr Right, Manhattan Dreaming and Paris Dreaming. Her work has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards Young People's History Prize and she has won the DEADLY award for writing a number of times. She is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, but grew up in Matraville, Sydney.

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