Tyree Barnette: Stolen Man on Stolen Land

When Tyree Barnette moved to Sydney from North Carolina, he knew little of his new home.

Initially, he was pleasantly surprised to find Black American culture admired and celebrated. But in time, the undercurrents of racism in Australia came into view, as did the ongoing struggles of Indigenous Australians against injustice.

While watching from a distance as his homeland, the US, transformed through the rise of Trump and the Black Lives Matter Movement, Tyree learned the unique joy and pain of migration.

This is the perspective that has been missing from the race discussion in Australia, one that considers how privilege and race can shift across time and borders. Join Tyree, in conversation with Sweatshop’s Michael Mohammed Ahmad, to discuss his debut Stolen Man on Stolen Land, a poignant love letter to Australian multiculturalism and a clear-eyed exploration of its successes and its failings.