In this solo monologue recorded at an airport, Dr. John A. King watches myna birds repeatedly begging for food and uses them as a metaphor for the dependence of Aboriginal/Umbrati peoples on government handouts, which he calls “sugarbagging.” He argues that reliance on free provisions erodes the instinct to work, forage, and fight for survival, leading to cultural decay. King distinguishes between a “handout” (short‑term, recurring aid) and a “hand‑up” (long‑term, problem‑solving support), asserting that the current system fosters a cultural issue rather than systemic racism. He calls for a return to traditional law, true culture, education, and self‑reliance, warning that without a revival of the foraging and fighting spirit the community’s culture and future as a species are at risk.
Chapters
Sitting at the airport waiting for some people to land, and, uh, they've got a sandwich and some chips. All these myna birds flock around chirping, chirping, chirping, chirping, wanting free, wanting free, wanting free, wanting free. And I, I got to thinking that, that any species that gets used to living on handouts, um, they don't fight for food anymore, they don't dig for food anymore, they don't forage for food anymore. They don't work for food anymore. It doesn't matter if you're human, it doesn't matter if you're a bird or you're a reptile or whatever it is. And I think it's tragic that, that as a people, um, Umbrati, Aboriginals, I think we've been trained to sugar bag. We've been trained to go to the government to look for free food, go to people when our phone card runs out or our power card runs out. You know, I'm not What I'm suggesting is a hand up, not a handout. That the difference between asking someone to help, to help solve your problem long-term, and to continually beg every Monday because you've drunk all of your pension money or your benefits money by Friday or Saturday, then the problem is not systemic racism with a beholden system. It is a cultural issue that lies within our hearts that we've been— we've allowed to overcome us. Now we have to make some decisions about finding our way back to who we really are, finding our way back to law, finding our way back to true culture. And the culture we have of sugarbagging, the culture we have of handouts, the culture we have of lack of education, the culture we have of lack of follow-through, It's gotta end. It just has to end because our culture is dying, our old people are dying, our young people are so disengaged and disenfranchised with everything. We have to find our way back. It's absolutely vital for the continuation of us as a species that we learn what it is to forage and fight again.
