True Believer wrote:How many more generations to come will need to do the same? At what point do we put down the baggage of the past?
It's hard to move forward if you are preoccupied with looking backwards. That doesn't excuse whatever may have occurred, but unless people are prepared to move on, then we will end up with nothing more than a variation of the same problem that plagued Ireland, Serbia/Croatia and numerous other places. That is a conflict than runs for centuries because people continue to insist that the sins of the father are visited upon the son, ad infinitum.......
This serves only to cast our indigenous population in the role of victims - in perpetuity........
Good point. I reckon the past will keep coming up and it won't be truly forgotten, until the original population of Australia are given back enough power to make their own home (country, not just house) as they want it. More or less the same as the rest of us.
In short, probably never.
Your previous point was bang on, the near total absence in mainstream Australia of Aboriginal people means many Aussies can't connect with them, it just becomes a history lesson, or dry tokenism to excuse the sins of previous generations, but don't kid yourself that these sins aren't being repeated now, and others can talk more about that...
For many, the idea of changing our culture or identity is essentially saying what we have now is not good enough, which is hard to hear, and a reason why they get defensive. They are unwittingly falling back into the McAllister line that why shouldn't aboriginal Australia embace new (white) Aussie identity and culture.
But so long as aboriginal people exist, and some non-aboriginal people listen to them, their story will not be allowed to be forgotten, and that story has been partially but not wholly dealt with.
We said sorry.
We embraced Aboriginal art, dance, music.
We lionise aboriginal leaders, put them on banknotes, teach their stories in school.
We have an indigenous round in an AFL season.
Occasionally we forgive their mistakes.
Occasionally we overlook the parts of their culture we disagree with.
But the indigenous communities of Australia still have little access to self-determinism. They don't have the same access to health care, education that is the backbone of survival. Because of this they don't have access to the same career choices. They get to run communities with little public facilities or funding. I could continue but really, you know it already.
They are not blameless, they shoot themselves in the foot, as it is human nature to do so. The consequences of multi-generational poverty will take a long time to disappear.
But I'll repeat. Until they have total choice about how to live their lives, or at least to the same degree as most of us, then the past and the present will be intertwined, and ...
We can sweep it under the carpet, but at moments of conflict, it'll be there, waiting to be dealt with. That's Australia's curse, built on blood and pain. The foundations that support the house.
So I hope that eventually Australia doesn't have to keep answering for the sins of its fathers, because that will mean that finally indigenous Australians get a proper answer, and can live and thrive like their countrymen.
