Anthony Mundine calls on white NRL stars to join Aboriginal Blues players in boycotting the Australian national anthem during State of Origin
- Aboriginal Blues stars Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr will boycott the anthem
- They are boycotting because the anthem doesn't represent Indigenous people
- Mundine asked white NRL stars to join them in the boycott on Wednesday night
- He said the anthem was racist as it was written during the White Australia Policy
Anthony Mundine has called on white NRL players to join Aboriginal Blues players in a boycott of the Australian national anthem during State of Origin.
Aboriginal Blues stars Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr have stated they will not be singing the national anthem before the first game between NSW and Queensland at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
They believe 'Advance Australia Fair' does not represent Indigenous people.
Mundine, a former NSW player, said the anthem is a racist song and white players should support the boycott because it would greatly help the debate surrounding the injustices against Aboriginal people.
Mundine, a former NSW player, said the anthem is a racist song and white players should support the boycott because it would greatly help the debate surrounding the injustices against Aboriginal people
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Walker and Addo-Carr said there needs to be a greater conversation surrounding why Indigenous people are absent in the Australian anthem.
'I am a proud Australian man but a proud Indigenous man, too. If it's not going to stand for my people, why should I sing it?' Addo-Carr told The Sydney Morning Herald.
'Why can't we recognise the Indigenous people of Australia? How hard can it be?'
Aboriginal Blues stars Cody Walker (pictured with girlfriend Nellie Bell) and Josh Addo-Carr have stated they will not be singing the national anthem before the first game between NSW and Queensland at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
'If it's not going to stand for my people, why should I sing it?'; Walker and Addo-Carr (pictured with his girlfriend Lakaree Smith) said there needs to be a greater conversation surrounding why Indigenous people are absent in the Australian anthem.
Mundine told Wide World of Sports that 'all white fellas ain't bad' but they need to join the boycott to show support for the Aboriginal players and the community.
'They see the Aboriginal people's plight, they see what's going on; the oppression. How limited the opportunities for Aboriginal people and how many opportunities there are for Caucasian white fellas,' Mundine told Wide World of Sports.
'It's hard, but if they stood with them it would be a lot more powerful movement for what they're trying to do, because then you've got both sides of the fence taking one action.'
'They wanted to wipe out the blackness of this country'; Mundine also said Advance Australia Fair contains language from the era of the White Australia Policy and believes it needs to be changed because it doesn't represent Indigenous people
Mundine also said Advance Australia Fair contains language from the era of the White Australia Policy and believes it needs to be changed because it doesn't represent Indigenous people.
'It's all about Advance Australia 'Fair' – but that's fair in colour. That's why the Stolen Generations came into play. They wanted to wipe out the blackness of this country.'
He asked people to research the history of Advance Australia Fair as it is an injustice to the native people of this land.
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