Marissa Williamson Pohlman, the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in Olympic boxing, said she had frequently been on the receiving end of racist slurs during her sporting career. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
A family who are alive only because a bomb that landed at their feet didn't explode.
An Olympian forced out of the sport that changed her life after being belittled and bullied.
A mother questioning whether sending her children to school is doing them more harm than good.
An elder who is too scared to gather with community in public after another attempt on their lives.
This is just some of the harrowing testimony given at the inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at First Nations people.
Day after day, witnesses relived some of the darkest moments of their lives. Some spoke of violence. Others of fear, humiliation, and grief. Many did so publicly, knowing the personal cost, like former Olympic boxer Marissa Williamson-Pohlman.
"Institutions celebrate Blak excellence when it is convenient, but abandon us when it matters most," Williamson-Pohlman told the inquiry.
"I wonder where my energy would go … if not so much time was spent with me fighting the very system that was created to 'support' me and make my dreams come true."
Her story was one of many detailing personal and systemic harm through racism, but many of those invited to listen, explain, or respond never appeared.
The inquiry drew heavy hitters, including a former federal minister, lawyers, professors, land councils, and policy advocates, but in many places the absences were just as notable as those who attended.
Dozens of politicians, government officials, and national powerbrokers were asked to attend each hearing.
Victorian Senator Jana Stewart has described the NT government's absence from the inquiry's public hearings as "disappointing" and a "missed opportunity". (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"It's disappointing. I think the public expectation would be if you are a big organisation, if you are a government service, that you front up to inquiries like this and you are accountable," Senator Jana Stewart told me in between sessions in Melbourne.
"I think the least they could do is show up."
