Indigenous Australian explains racism using shopping trolley in viral TikTok video

‘But Indigenous people get free things from the government,’ says video creator

A TikTok user has created a simple yet powerful video using food items in a shopping trolley to help explain racism.

The clip, titled “Notice how she ended up with my trolley”, was created by a man who goes by the handle @pnuks to demonstrate the unconscious bias towards the Indigenous community in Australia.

The TikTok video, which has been viewed nearly 600,000 times, starts with the man saying he is going to use a supermarket to explain Black Lives Matter before he addresses a common misconception by saying: “But Indigenous people get free things from the government.”

He then uses a number of food items to explain how each product represents a different part of Aboriginal culture. Bread stands for “language”, a bottle of milk is the Indigenous “way of life”, steak represents “culture” and a packet of flavoured pumpkin rice is the “ability to dance”.

Moments later, a white customer interrupts him and pulls his trolley away, saying: “Mate, that’s ours.”

The Indigenous man attempts to pull the trolley back, saying: “What do you mean, we've been here ages before you.”

However, the other customer continues to take the trolley from him, and also asks for his shoes.

The man replies: “You can’t take these, this is like family, these are my babies, part of a whole generation, what do you mean?”

The white man then takes the shoes and exchanges them for a basket of lower quality items, including powdered milk, cereal and a tin of spam.

The man then asks the white customer how he is supposed to pay for the basket he was given.

@pnuks

Noticed how she ended up with my trolley ##HiddenTalents ##blacklivesmatter ##blm ##australia ##sydney ##woolworths ##woolies ##food

♬ original sound - pnuks

“I’ll pay for it,” the white man replies, suggesting he is doing the TikTok user favour.

A second shopper then walks past and says: “You get everything paid for by the government.”

The video has since received thousands of comments from TikTok users praising the creator for sharing such a powerful message.

“Yes! I’m sick of being told that Aboriginals get a free ride,” one person wrote.

Another added: “Ladies and gentlemen, he’s nailed it,” while a third commented: “This is definitely an eye-opener for me. I love how you’re explaining everything to make it easier for us who don’t understand properly.“

The video was created in response to recent Black Lives Matter protests that have been taking place across the world following the death of George Floyd in the United States.