This piece was written by the Editor of the Collective on Anti-Racism Blog, Kavina. She works alongside BIPOC writers to create a space on the internet that elevates and celebrates their voices. More pieces from the COAR blog can be found at https://coarcbr.wixsite.com/coarcbr/blog. The COAR team encourages anyone interested in writing for the blog, irrespective of experience, to reach out through the contact details at the end of this piece.
The Collective on Anti-Racism, also known as COAR, has been nurtured on the stolen lands of Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. Since our inception in 2020, we have been committed to building a safe and strong community on this land for BIPOC people to reflect on, learn more about, and connect through, anti-racism. Within COAR itself, we are diverse in our backgrounds, stories, and experiences. While we started as a group of university students passionate about anti-racism at the ANU, over the past few years we have since transitioned to the larger Canberra community with the hopes of reaching BIPOC people of all ages and histories, with no prior knowledge of anti-racism required. Our central goal has always been to create safe BIPOC spaces in Canberra to seek refuge and heal. What makes COAR unique is our willingness to put this into practice.
COAR seeks to do this through various means. In the first instance, we are constantly grappling with the question of the hour: what is anti-racism? To give it a one-dimensional answer, however, would be an injustice in and of itself. Anti-racism cannot be confined to just policies or politics or copious amounts of information sharing. It is not supposed to be an unattainable beast of rapid decolonisation. Anti-racism cannot be, because racism itself is complex and intricate and bleeds into our lives far more insidiously and pervasively than we could know. What we do know, however, is our own experience. And since the existence of People of Colour is resistance in the Western world we live in today, what could be more anti-racist than the elevation and celebration of our stories.
Indeed, sharing stories has been a part of the BIPOC DNA since the beginning of time and will continue to be so. COAR is hooked on the strength and power of sharing BIPOC stories, and we are committed to the anti-racist communities it creates along the way. Our monthly discussion groups, ‘Roar with COAR’ are an emblem of this commitment and we are infinitely proud of its mission. Every month, people from around Canberra come together on the last Saturday of the month to discuss topics that characterise the BIPOC experience. From BIPOC representation in the media to Whiteness to racism in schools and workplaces, Roar with COAR has been illuminating, liberating, and healing for all present. After these discussions, we often like to continue community in informal ways such as going on walks or getting a coffee or food. What is more BIPOC than convening over a meal?
As people of colour, we often speak about community. The communities we grew up in, the communities we at times don’t fit in, the communities we miss, the communities we love and feel loved in. At the COAR, we are set on the strength of community. We believe in its transformative power for all in its orbit and it is why we are dedicated to creating community for BIPOC people in Canberra to meet, share stories, learn together, grow together, and importantly, heal together.
The beginnings of COAR can be traced back to the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2018. In the face of systemic racism and global adversity, community was needed more than ever. As we expanded to the collective we are today, this has never changed. It has always been our priority to create the community we have always needed. One to feel safe in, one to feel empowered by, one in which we are simultaneously celebrated and feared both at once. We believe this can exist because we see it. We see it at our monthly anti-racist BIPOC-centred ROAR with COARs. We see it at our monthly autonomous community events, in quiet cafes and walks by the lake.
We saw it at our other events such as our BIPOC Mental Health Roundtable, ‘Colouring the Map’ Zine Launch Party, and Blackout Poetry Event. They have all been examples of the way COAR has sought to create community in Canberra. And each time we have been coloured with awe and gratitude to be able to carve out such spaces for storytelling. How revolutionary and liberating is it for people to come together and share their experiences, and how grateful we are to be able to help facilitate that for BIPOC people in Canberra.
Community is at the heart of COAR. And we invite you to join ours. Whether you are well acquainted with the anti-racist space or are simply looking for a BIPOC friend, the COAR community waits for you with open arms. Because how nice it is to be heard. But how liberating it is to be understood.
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COAR is a community that is excited about the work we do, but even more so, the people we have gotten to know along the way. We would love to meet you at one of our events. You can keep up-to-date via our Facebook: ‘Collective on Anti-Racism – COAR’ or Instagram: @coar.cbr. If you would like to get in contact, we would love to hear from you through Facebook or Instagram direct message, or coar.cbr@gmail.com.
© Kavina, 2023
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