Australia says sorry.. or does it?
February 13th 2008 04:16
The scars of oppression run deep
And what a historical day I have chosen. Today, Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, during a speech in Federal Parliament, offered a seemingly heart felt apology for the governments role in the horrific ordeal of the stolen generation. The apology, worded very carefully, is supposed to pave the way for better relations with the indigenous communities around the country.
But let us be clear that this apology was made on behalf of the government and not the Australian people. Parliament has said sorry but, as far as I'm concerned, Australia as a country simply hasn't. Many times I have heard the excuse, 'But it wasn't us, it was our ancestors and people from so many years ago!' Talk about missing the point. The scars of this heinous process run deep and are still all around us today, as is the bigotry that went along with it.
It's such a shame that civil pride and blind racism go so easily hand in hand. It is especially hard to swallow in this case because there is a legitimate argument to be made that the only true Australian's are descended from those around before the Europeans landed and claimed the country as their own.
Let's just think about that for a moment. If the settlement took place somewhere in today's world, it would be tantamount to an invasion. Obviously, we live in very different times so the comparison perhaps isn't fool proof, but it's certainly worth remembering the next time we complain at all the 'extra opportunities' thrown the way of the indigenous people of Australia. Extra opportunities? That's almost as funny as it is wrong. We have a responsibility to educate indigenous people and offer them the very best that western civilisation has to offer, not to sneer and complain at their every nuance. Let us not forget we are in their back yard, not the other way around.
It's 2008 and it saddens me to know that attitudes toward indigenous people by certain Australians are still ugly, dismissive and just plain ignorant. The apology is certainly a step in the right direction,but, please, don't for one second think that it erases all memory of over two hundred years of pain and suffering.
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