Attention managers: if you expect First Nations’ staff to do all your ‘Indigenous stuff’, this isn’t support – it’s racism

[Extract]
Workplaces can be hostile, overwhelming and unwelcoming places for many First Nations Peoples. My research has explored how this is the case in many organisations, including universities.

White organisations often expect First Nations People to take on additional unpaid work such as providing cultural expertise, educating colleagues and additional networking with First Nations organisations. Often this is done without the First Nations person being given any avenue to be promoted to a leadership role.

White people can react negatively when a person of colour questions or tries to change what white people consider common understandings. Due to these environments, it often feels like as academics, we’re unable to examine complicated or complex issues caused by ongoing effects of colonisation - such as racism.