Rapper and singer Ziggy Ramo has released a powerful new poem titled 'Welcome,' which directly addresses the controversial booing of Uncle Ray Minniecon during an Anzac Day dawn service. The poem, shared as part of Australian Poetry Month, critiques the nation's selective remembrance of its wars and the conditional nature of Indigenous inclusion.
The Incident That Sparked the Poem
The poem was inspired by a specific event: Uncle Ray Minniecon, a respected Elder, was booed while performing a Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day ceremony. Ramo emphasizes that the timing was significant, noting it occurred on a day dedicated to remembrance and sacrifice, yet the gesture of grace was met with disrespect.
Ramo explains the contradiction that stayed with him: 'Australia is comfortable remembering some wars and forgetting others.' He points out that Anzac Day is treated as sacred, but the frontier wars are rarely discussed with the same reverence. The poem highlights how soldiers who fought overseas are honoured, while First Peoples who resisted invasion on home soil are not.
Turning Ceremony Inside Out
'Welcome' begins with the familiar phrasing of public acknowledgment but subverts it: 'I'd like to acknowledge / the lack of knowledge.' Ramo wanted the poem to sound like 'a ceremony collapsing under the weight of what it refuses to say.'
The poem uses blunt language to mirror the blunt disrespect of the moment. Phrases like 'Finders keepers' critique the logic of invasion, while 'a seat at the table' becomes a conditional invitation. Ramo notes, 'We are welcomed only when we are grateful, quiet and convenient.'
A Deeper Truth
For Ramo, a Welcome to Country is not mere politeness but an assertion of sovereignty, memory, and custodianship. Booing such a welcome reveals a country that 'wants the comfort of ceremony without the responsibility of truth.'
The poem is ultimately about being 'invited in and rejected at the same time.' It expresses the strange relief of seeing the mask slip and refuses the accusation that telling the truth makes one ungrateful. Australian Poetry Month runs throughout August, featuring festivals, events, and commissioned poems by Red Room Poetry.
