Magneto Bold Too summed up today - the day that Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, made a parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations - very well…
“About fucking time.”
For my overseas readers, the Stolen Generations are those indigenous children the “white” Australians literally tore from the arms of their parents over decades, never to be returned. They were clothed, and fed, and “educated”. And stripped of their family, their heritage, their language and their culture. For their own protection. The fact that at least 17% of the girls and 8% of the boys experienced sex crimes while in the care of the government and the churches and “charitable” white families gives us a very clear picture of the quality of that “protection”.
Of course, it wasn’t just the children who were stolen, and had something stolen from them: Entire peoples were victims of this abuse.
Yes. I’m comfortable calling it what it was: Racist abuse.
I’m not interested in the arguments made about “good intentions”. (Brendan Nelson: You made a grave error of judgement.) The nature of those intentions are evident in the acts and the results of those acts, whether they were committed in ignorance or not. For some things, ignorance is not an excuse. And it cannot be claimed as one on a scale such as this.
I cannot tell their stories for them. I do not have the right and they have been doing that for themselves for a long time now, most of it without being heard. Most of it while being ignored or subjected to attacks from those unwilling to accept the faults of the past, adding more and more failures of humanity to our history.
Today, Kevin Rudd called it a “stain upon our souls”.
I don’t know what a soul is supposed to be, but I feel it as a stain, even though I was not born here, even though I was born after these crimes “officially” ended. I have felt ashamed of our history since I learned of it. I have felt ashamed that it is something I learned only as an adult. And while John Howard was in power, I am proud to say that I was ashamed to be an Australian.
I’m not very old but while I was being educated in Australian schools, Australian history consisted of the First Fleet and bushrangers and Federation and diggers. These dark facts were not given to me until I went to university and I was very aware that meant many others who went on to study in other fields were never told the truth by those who had a responsibility to do so.
As a child and a teenager, I had a strong social conscience. I carried around a tattered copy of “I have a dream…”; I had anti-apartheid posters on my walls. And all that time, I never knew what had happened in my own backyard, not just during the period of the Stolen Generations, but since settlement.
When I learned of it, I was appalled, and furious at the education system which had failed me. I can only hope that the curriculum has improved since then. I do not want my son raised in the same self-satisfied and blinded atmosphere I was. A past so heinous needs to be addressed, if not by those who created it, then by those who are its inheritors.
So this was me in the 90s, wearing my reconciliation armband; the armband which sold out within a day of appearing on the shelves at The Body Shop because I was not alone in my sentiments. Below me was Nicole Kidman, a “glamorous activist” fighting for the same thing I was. I marched for Land Rights, for The Wik Decision, for the Amendment to the Native Title Act. I read and I watched and I argued and I cried.
In the scheme of things, did that mean anything?
I look at it now and see a white girl who came to this country and was granted all the rights of a citizen without question. I look at it and see a white girl who will never be able comprehend the enormity of the pain that was caused to the people she wanted to stand up for. I look at it now and see a pretty white girl in the newspaper when faces other than hers should have been seen, when voices other than hers should have been heard.
But I cried today when that symbolic act took place. I cried to hear, finally, an official apology which was unequivocal and made no excuses. I cried to see someone stand up and speak the truth on behalf of all of us who have wanted it spoken for so long. Not because it expatiates our history’s wrongs, not because it absolves us of our guilt, but simply because, as Cathy Freeman said, “It is the right thing to do.”
I’m very sure that for some members of the Stolen Generations, and some of those effected by the policies of successive Australian governments and the behaviour of generations of white settlers, the words spoken today will mean little. And that’s fine. Victims of abuse are not required to forgive and forget. For others, they might find a little peace in finally hearing words of acknowledgement which have been so long in coming and I am glad of that.
But the shame of our county’s past, and the stain upon my “soul”, will not be washed away until our indigenous children stop dying, until our indigenous people live long and full lives, until our indigenous people have the same access to the healthcare and education and services we enjoy and they are free to make their own choices about using them, not just in law but in fact.
This apology which is so long overdue… It’s a beginning.
What Others Are Saying…
Anyone who I have missed, please leave a link to your post about the apology in the comments of send it to me via my contact form and I will add it to the list.
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