Life would be so easy if I just bloody assimilated!
Frickin' John Howard and Pauline Hanson would be so proud of me.
I’d have their photos on my wall and kiss them every night.
But I can't just play within those rules that Australia has written for me
what it means to be an Indian Australian, to sit down to shut up
and just don't fuck with the system.
I think my duty is to be smart, to be compassionate, to be loving
but also to yeah maybe just a bit of shit stirring.
My name is Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, I’m 23 years old
and I’m a spoken word artist.
If you’re not in Australia, where the bloody hell are ya?!
Remember the Bingle jingle inviting the world to mix and mingle?
Where a fair go was your welcome mat?
Unless you’re of caramel descent than ain’t nobody got time for that!
I think Australia’s Got Talent was interesting.
I think I was scared of my safety
am I instigating something that I shouldn’t be instigating
like is there fear of questioning this?
My parents left India to find a better education for their children.
My family and my people, the Sikh people
come from a very strong culture of human rights
fighting for freedom, and fighting for identity
fighting for the turban, the beard, the long hair, the hairy legs
even the hairy legs.
Our culture was very conservative you can say.
We were taught like we never questioned our parents
we did whatever they told us.
My parents and my in laws, they arranged my marriage.
And I never questioned, but this new generation
you tell them to do something, they always have questions.
If it doesn’t suit them, they won't do it.
I guess the inner conflict of being like a first gen Australian Sikh
is that you’re neither here nor there
your butt is kind of sitting on the fence.
Not knowing where you belong in Australia, do you belong in India?
No you don't because you're too dark, or you're too hairy
or you're not marriage quality.
But in Australia you're not blonde, you’re not wearing
your Lara Bingle bikini and walking across the beach.
It's all of those little experiences of Australia Day racism
or people screaming at your temple on a Sunday morning
or people chucking stuff at you post-9/11.
That was all stuff that as a kid, you don’t know why it's happening.
You just know the feeling, and the feeling is fear.
And the feeling is, I don’t want to hang out with people with turbans and beards
because that means I’m going to be associated with something.
If there was a birthday party, I would not want my dad there
and that's a really disgusting thing to feel.
To not even be able to show your love for your family
because of the hate that you're receiving from the outside world.
Sikhs in turbans came here in 1860 with camels and carts and courageous hearts
and ‘look at the maxi taxis.’
We’re still driving and stirring this country
in offices and hospitals and even on stage.
To advance Australia fair page by page.
Spoken word is definitely a space for those who feel voiceless.
If I didn’t have spoken word, if I didn't have the stage to communicate
I would be pretty crazy. I’m pretty crazy anyway but I’d be worse.
What makes you Australian? Is it a Southern Cross tattoo
or a wombat stew crumbled with a dunkaroo?
Seriously, the only thing I can think of when I think of being an Australian
is my humour.
I think Sikhs are really lucky now because beards are in fashion
and being a hipster, being hairy especially in Melbourne.
Like, oh you’re so cool . You’re so vegetarian.
And having curry is normal?
My god, everyone thought I had rat poo in my lunchbox
and now it's cool!
I feel like all that happened as a kid, when it comes to confronting my bullies
it all led up to that moment for Australia’s Got Talent
and it was kind of like, now I’m ready.
I’m confused as to why on Australia Day
when the night sky spews bigot bile, I’m left traumatised.
When a teen rips off my uncle’s turban I’m an enraged flame
of pain and shame and sorrow for tomorrow
when a hooning ute throws a rotten peach at my Dad
and screams, ‘Go home ya bloody terrorist!’
She wanted to show the world that we are different
but we are one. We can be together.
Yeah, I’ve got an advantage, with the accent, with the look
with the humour, with the crudeness, with the bluntness.
It's like I get to be, as a spoken word artist
a translator between my community, and then the general public of Australia.
So when people tell me and my family to go home
to where we came from
I reply with a smile, tongue in cheek:
Mate we’ve been right at home for the past 150 years.
I’m not the one that’s a freak. I’m fully Sikh.
I’m just bored with the stereotypes, I'm just bored with the surface level.
I think we need to get a bit deeper, Australia.