in the victorian history curriculum, we never learn about slavery.

we are meant to learn about the 'makings of the modern world', but slavery is never compulsorily addressed; not the slave trade (briefly mentioned in passing; but not as individuals, just a 'group' of people whose 'movement' is to be 'charted'), not slavery within australia (wage theft from First Nations workers, kidnapped South Sea Islander sugar slavery, etc), and not human trafficking today.

 in america right now, trump is pulling slavery exhibits out from museums, removing evidence of slavery and related education materials. pretending that: a time when the essential dignity of human beings was ignored and supremacist doctrines were used to commit attrocities, basically never existed.

this is an affront to all the victims, all the people who still remain impacted to this very day. and if victorians are to be the leaders of tomorrow we cannot remain uneducated on these uncomfortable, but essential, topics. the least we can do is learn about these parts of our history that we choose to look away from. we have to have awareness. we can't dismiss it for "not being relevant"; in order to move forward we need to know where we are coming from.