In his final time hosting the ABC‘s Q+A before stepping away for an undetermined amount of time, Stan Grant closed out Monday night’s episode by addressing his decision.
He also confirmed that next week’s episode will be hosted by RN Breakfast host, Patricia Karvelas.
Grant’s full statement from Monday night’s show can be read below:
See Also: Stan Grant to leave Q+A, citing racist abuse after ABC’s coronation coverage
See Also: ABC apologises to Stan Grant, announces it will review its response to racism
“Before I go, I just wanted to say a few words.
“Many of you would know by now that I’m stepping away for a little while. Sometimes we need to take time out, sometimes our souls are hurting – and so it is for me. I’ve had to learn that endurance is not always strength, sometimes strength is knowing when to say stop.
“To those who sent messages of support, thank you so much, but I’ll be OK. Please send that support and care to those of my people, and all people, who feel abandoned and alone, who are wondering whether they have a place in this country and who don’t have my privileges. To those who have abused me and my family, I would just say if your aim was to hurt me, well, you succeeded, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I must have given you so much cause to hate me, to target me and my family, to make threats against me.
“I’m sorry, and that’s what Yindyamarra means. It means that I’m not just responsible for what I do, but for what you do. It’s not just a word, it is sacred. It is what it means to be Wiradjuri, it is the core of my being. It is respect. It is respect that comes from the earth we are born into from God, if I break that then I lose who I am.
“I am down right now, I am. But I’ll get back up and you can come at me again, and I will meet you with the love of my people. My people can teach the world to love. As Martin Luther King Jr said of his struggle, ‘we will wear you down with our capacity to love’. Don’t mistake our love for weakness, it is our strength. We have never stopped loving and fighting for justice and truth.
“Yindyamarra means to live with respect in a world worth living in, and we in the media must ask if we are truly honouring a world worth living in. Too often we are the poison in the bloodstream of our society, I fear the media does not have the love or the language to speak to the gentle spirits of our land.
“I’m not walking away for a while because of racism, we get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem, and I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.
“To my people, I have always wanted to represent you with pride. I know I might disappoint you sometimes, but in my own little way I just wanted to make us seen, and I’m sorry that I can’t do that for a little while. To my family, I love you. Goodnight.”