Black and Blue
A Memoir of Racism and Resilience
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Black and Blue
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Narrated by:
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Tamala Shelton
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By:
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Veronica Gorrie
About this listen
The story of an Aboriginal woman who worked as a police officer and fought for justice both within and beyond the Australian Police Force.
A proud Gunai/Kurnai woman, Veronica Gorrie grew up dauntless, full of cheek and a fierce sense of justice. After watching her friends and family suffer under a deeply compromised law-enforcement system, Gorrie signed up for training to become one of a rare few Aboriginal police officers in Australia. In her ten years in the force, she witnessed appalling institutional racism and sexism and fought past those things to provide courageous and compassionate service to civilians in need, many Aboriginal themselves.
With a great gift for storytelling and a wicked sense of humour, Gorrie frankly and movingly explores the impact of racism on her family and her life, the impact of intergenerational trauma resulting from cultural dispossession and the inevitable difficulties of making her way in the white- and male-dominated workplace of the police force.
Black and Blue is a memoir of remarkable fortitude and resilience, told with wit, wisdom and great heart.
2022, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Victorian Prize for Literature Winner
2022, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Short-listed
2022, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Small Publishers' Adult, Short-listed
©2021 Veronica Gorrie (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing Pty LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Loved it. I read it in one sitting - couldn't put it down." (Melissa Lucashenko, author of Too Much Lip)
"This is the read for Australia now...it crackles with urgency. Honestly. I was left with a startling clarity after reading Black and Blue." (Rick Morton, author of My Year of Living Vulnerably)
"Women who have historically been silenced: now more than ever, we need to be reading their stories." (Jessie Tu, Sydney Morning Herald)
I found the story itself interesting, with no great surprises, the author by book's end realises the establishment does not favour indigenous peoples, not even if they try to inspire positive change within their own community by joining the force. It's a story of racism personified that in my experience blankets the globe when it comes to conquered peoples in colonised nations.
A life in uniform as an Aboriginal Australian
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This is an amazing human story that hat everyone should read. Not only for the inequities that our most vulnerable experience but also for the courage, persistence and resilience of a sister, mother and fellow citizen.
Thanks for sharing your story in such compelling, eloquent and vivid prose.
Painfully inspirational
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