A NYT editorial has slammed Goldman Sachs for its role in the financial crisis, Ten must work out what to do with Australian Idol in 2010, how the media downturn will affect higher education, newsreaders get emo, and more.
Assimilation, another word for ‘bridging the gap’
|
I live in a small city in Australia — that city is Darwin. I was born in this Larrakia country, but it is not the original homelands of my Peoples, the Kungarakan and Gurindji. I have ended up in this situation, living away from my spiritual heartlands as a result of earlier racist and assimilationist policies devised during a not so long ago past period when Commonwealth government could have chosen to treat all its citizens with respect rather than contempt. Both my Kungarakan Great Grandmother and my Gurindji Grandmother need not have been relocated (forcibly removed by Government) but earlier government “protection” policies developed and enforced by “native affairs experts” promised all such measures were “for their own good”. I believe there were promises of education and a better lifestyle than what their Aboriginal (camp native) Mothers could give them. That was the rhetoric back then. The term “traditional” was not in vogue then, and neither was the term “indigenous” employed to describe people or to create exploitive programs so as to manipulate so-called “traditional” folk and to create another example of difference — that between Aboriginal people themselves. Those moves by earlier governments led to a myriad of problems and in fact set in place a number of “constant affirmations of difference”, as Alison Anderson said in The Australian last week. Those constant affirmations of difference are indeed historical and they continue through the ongoing protectionist policies of today. The pity is that we did not have Anderson stating “There is not a black way or a white way to build a reservoir: just a right way.” Flowery (white) words and white rhetoric cannot change what has gone before — and nor can it change what happens now. Gaps have existed since 1788 — as has white intervention — all for the wrong reasons. Establishment of carefully selected “Growth Towns” is not going to change the entrenched status quo nor coloniser attitude. Yes, we would all like to move beyond the current Intervention — indeed we would like to move beyond colonisation. We would like to move on from failed policies (past and present) and we would like to see fair distribution of resources, future growth, some transparency even in the successful delivery of services — but relocating Aboriginal people and blaming them for failure of past government policies, is not the way to do it. As a Kungarakan-Gurindji woman, and first Great Granddaughter of Alyandubu and first Granddaughter of Jack McGinness of the Kungarakan, I am not too much unlike Anderson in a number of ways. I too live with difference and I have lived my entire life fighting racism, difference and prejudice. While I would never be described as a “traditional” Aboriginal woman and I do not have the extent of language nor the cultural laws as Anderson and others who make blanket decisions about “Aboriginal futures”, I am capable of representing a broad section of Aboriginal people across the NT too, in spite of those specific differences. I am not arguing against the idea that drastic measures need to be taken — even though government has not worried too much in the past, and should have acted a few decades sooner. However, views and decisions about such monumental life-changing situations as the “beyond black and white”, “strategic direction for the remote towns and communities of the territory” requires broad debate before rushed decisions, especially those made by a carefully selected handful of “indigenous” experts. Such decisions should not be made by dangling million dollar packages along with stern ultimatums and threats from government, just because government is finally ready to try and do something to fix a problem while they fashion the “new” Aboriginal — that shall now be known as “indigenous”. Perhaps this latest attempt at making the Aboriginal vanish is the last ditch attempt at “smoothing the dying pillow”. And know it, that is going to cost a lot of money! The average “little Aussie battler” will be screaming long and loud. What if this latest ingenious attempt at full assimilation follows the pattern of past failures? Will government wait another 30-50 years to fix it? My grandparents fought to eliminate difference, to improve conditions, to point out inappropriate and inadequate policy decisions, to change attitudes, to stamp out racism and prejudice — in the 1930s, the 1960s and my generation from the 1960s, the 1990s to present — yet we have only come to this? So we continue dealing with the failures of government and the long line of carpetbagger-types (politicians, advisers and others) and their compliant natives (Native Police Force) in all sectors while they continue to manipulate the “indigenous”agenda for both professional and personal gain, and nothing more? We should not be talking about “beyond black and white” in 2009. We talked about that already — in the 1960s (Wave Hill; Referendum), the 1990s (Mabo; Native Title). In fact we have been talking about it since 1788. Wasn’t the great “reconciliation” movement supposed to be about “actively managing our differences”? And dare I mention the recent Kevin Rudd government “apology”? Here we go again! This sudden and accelerated action, a fast track approach at assisting “indigenous” people to bridge the gap between “traditional” life and mainstream Australian society, is not much different to those earlier attempts at transition from savagery to civilisation. What disappoints me most is the allowance and authorisation and spin of that mentality that drives such attitude and action — the move from primitivism into the economic and social life of the nation — and the categorising of us, once again, into something malleable and easily controlled comes from “indigenous leaders”. It certainly would be something to celebrate if the “indigenous experts” and government authorities seriously set out to eliminate what Anderson describes as the “constant affirmation of difference” by truly committing to recognising that Aboriginal people have much to offer and have always had much to offer. They have much to contribute to Australian culture and way of life and they too must share in the economic and other successes as full citizens, with protected rights. Aboriginal people are expected to continue being viewed as primitive curiosities and ancient relics (in the main part) whose culture and traditions should be preserved to simply assist in the creation of “attractive destinations of private investment and economic opportunities”. While the spin sounds good those promised private investment and economic opportunities will only benefit a small number of Aboriginal people — as they do now. |
|
|
24 Comments
I enjoyed reading this, and agree that the “constant affirmation of difference” seems only to remind aboriginal peoples of everything that has gone wrong since 1788.
But what to do?
Being probably slightly more aware of Australian aboriginal culture than the typical aussie white fella, I reckon there is great progress to be made outside of the political and intellectual landscape. The recent Richmond Vs Essendon ‘dreamtime’ clash at the ‘G’ was a potent emotional event. Michael Long and his fellow organisers deserve a great deal of credit. The event is a demonstration how the mentorship of young aboriginal players is succeeding. The young Australian aboriginal AFL player of today is an example to over-privileged, immature, spoilt, middle-class professional sportsman the world over.
How many more years and how many more dollars until “Aboriginal people…bridge the gap between “traditional” life and mainstream Australian society”?
So what are you doing to improve the lot of ‘your’ people?
Make another movie? Establish another Indigenous Corporation?
“They have much to contribute to Australian culture and way of life and they too must share in the economic and other successes as full citizens, with protected rights.”
Dot paintings and ‘cultural’ committees don’t beat a university degree or a trade.
Stop playing the victim and step up.
Happy to meet you halfway.
Your future is in your hands.
I get a sense of exasperation in this piece MPM, and reckon your implied frustration a little petulant. Have you no empathy for the problem? You don’t seem to be suggesting anything in your criticism except the usual paternalistic tirade. Can you bring anything fresh to the table?
Your future too, is in YOUR hands
As a New Zealander I have to (dare) say it here that the way Australian society treats Aborigines is a bit of a disgrace. There, you’ve been trujilloed again.
It seems to be the hardest thing in the world for an average Australian to recognise the qualities and potential in an average Aborigine, and its not because the qualities and potential aren’t there.
I don’t have an answers to this - such widespread ignorance - this is obviously a job for Superman.
MPM -Well wouldn’t you know it . Just like I said…The average little Aussie battler will be sreaming long and loud.
Not that it really matters but in response to a couple of your statements I tell you that I have worked tirelessly ‘to improve the lot of my people’ - including fellow non-Aboriginal Australians and others who make this land their home. I know nothing about dot paintings or “indigenous art” for that matter but I have served on a number of “cultural committees” and not one of them an Aboriginal cultural committee. I have 3 university degrees, including a PhD plus other tertiary qualifications. However, it seems I have the wrong politics to land a job in the NT. Indeed, at my last job at an academic institution I was advised by a non-Aboriginal “leader” that I had nothing of value to offer to “indigenous.” Believe me MPM I did step up - in western academia - to find there is nothing much there for “my people” anyway!!
Who is the victim here? Certainly not me. Neither my people nor I are wanting your sympathy. That victim name calling is simply another clever strategy used by the complicit oppressor - I’m onto that trick…and pretty tired of it!
And about dots…The only dots I would encourage people to connect are the historical ones - and perhaps then mainstream Australia could make some informed comments about why this current dreadful situation exists for Aboriginal people in the NT, indeed throughout Australia.
Oh…and…there is no way you can even catch up with me let alone meet me halfway. But have a good life anyway.
It is a finely written piece. So I read all of it. But what now?
Tell me what you want me to do. Tell me what I should do that is not too fast, or too slow, or t0o autocratic, or too loose. Who are the people that I must consult before I do anything. How do I avoid the wrong “experts”?
Do you want me to erase history, and if so, how do you want me to do it? When would you like me to start and finish?
How many people share your thoughts? What is the mix of those wanting to preserve and live their traditional culture, those wanting to integrate, and those that are still thinking about it?
What certainty will I have when I get your response that another equally qualified person will not find fault in those responses?
And when you wrote “Oh…and…there is no way you can even catch up with me let alone meet me halfway” you surely wrote the truth.
Hey CICi
How good are you going with your 3 degrees and speechifying ability - way better than than MPM yet she seems happy and you’re not ?
It’s hard to relate the successful author of the response to the confused victim of the original article.
Is this what you were trying to say ? -’ Everything governments/white people have done for us abo’s is/has been /will always be wrong but they should do more of it’
How come if anyone is an aborigine and successful they feel the need to be a spokesperson of ‘your people’.
Remember the best revenge against us white oppressors is simply living well.
Anyway i’m pretty sure most aboriginal people are probably still people and eventually need to make their own decisions good or bad and its up to them to learn by their mistakes and successes.
They as individuals will ultimately need to be able to do this without your help.
If you do feel the need to shine why not do it as an example of what can be achieved .
Most white people have an extremely shaky grasp of their own history and what is passed down orally in a hunter gatherer culture cannot be reliable history at all. When there is reliable and reasonably ascertainable and verifiable knowledge of Aboriginal ways of two hundred years ago such as might help a younger generation to achieve authenticity in preserving an old culture it would be necessary to rely on white records of scholars and administrators who would only cover a fraction of the whole. For the most part all white people can do for Aborigines is show them how to live like white people. With luck it will be good and wise white people exhibiting and teaching the better ways of modern people but one thing is certain the clever people like Nugget Coombs and bien pensants like Robet Tickner are offering only absurdity and futility if they push Aborigines away from modernity towards some amalgam with traditional, but largely lost, culture that they know much nothing useful about.
The problem that the Aborigines have is that although they are Australia’s defeated enemies they remain defeated and they remain enemies. This limits the ability of the descendants and successors of their conquerors to do good to the Aborigines in a way that actually helps them.
Improving Aboriginal conditions of life is indeed supremely important, but even more important are other considerations such as:-
Ensuring that the Aborigines do not get any benefit to which they are not entitled;
Ensuring that we do not fail adequately to detect punish any wrong doing by them;
Ensuring we do not let them deceive us and thus make fools of us;
Ensuring that we do not waste too much money on any attempt to help them.
The above list of limitations constitute what Rick Farley described as our grudging attitude to the blacks.
It is much easier to create an underclass than it is to rehabilitate the members of such an underclass once it is created. The latter requires good will and a willingness to spend resources on people that we despise in a way that benefits them, good will and a willingness that are simply not there.
Do not assume that I am criticizing Australia’s treatment of the Aborigines as uniquely bad, it is not so. Australia is a colonial settler nation and its treatment of its unwanted indigenous people is neither much better nor much worse than that of other colonial settler nations such as Brazil, Indonesia (with respect to East Timor and West Papua), Israel, The USA, ……..
Both Aboriginals and Australians are conscious of the differences between them, but on the Australian side this difference is interpreted as the Aborigines being culturally and racially inferior , undeserving of anything good and exceedingly deserving of punishment for the slightest wrongdoing.
Australians have always felt the need to control Aborigines, but in exerting control they have been in a position of conflict of interest. Australian interests have always been as they still are in conflict with the interests of the blacks. In exerting control Australian governments have favored Australian interests and used laws originally meant to protect Aborigines from the depredations of lawless settlers instead to contain the nuisance that the existence of Aborigines presents to the settlers.
A (largely) useful and interesting discussion - until we get to Herod, who I think has a bright future as a research assistant for Kieth Windshuttle.
Herod’s view that no culture is pure/valid/extant beyond the point in time that it is in some imaginary and undiscernible state of perfection is truly bizarre - according to Herod once any culture is less than pure or comes into contact with another it is therefore invalid. I think we’d all better give up right now!
I dare Herod to go to Arnhem land and tell people there that, because they had over 700 years of contact with the Macassans and a few years of contact with balanda that their culture - then or now - is useless because “what is passed down orally in a hunter gatherer culture cannot be reliable history at all”.
And I really look forward to seeing Herod go out into just about any part of ‘modern’ Aboriginal Australia and telling Aboriginal people that “all white people can do for Aborigines is show them how to live like white people…good and wise white people exhibiting and teaching the better ways of modern people.”
Go on Herod, I dare you - you might actually learn something - and it won’t be from a book.
Hey James - So MPM is happier than me - good luck to MPM! I’m not even going to waste my time or words TRYING to explain why the comment was made about my degrees etc. except to say you will find the clues in MPM’s words themselves.
I am not a spokesperson for ‘my people’ or any people. I am merely expressing MY view. I don’t ask you or anyone to agree or disagree - and I also acknowledge your right to express your view, and I take it in that spirit. I firmly believe that each of us hold our own valid truths and understandings of any number of issues and I do not set out to, nor intend to, try to influence or force my views or my own truths on anyone. I simply write how I feel about a particular issue…just as you do - and in the case of my response to MPM defended myself against attacks on my commitment and my credibility. My opinion doesn’t really matter and I know that I cannot drag anyone to my way of thinking or doing but I am pleased that my piece on ongoing assimilation has generated some discussion…even though we still have some way to go before we might put our heads together and come up with some really good ideas that might end up as a pathway to solutions. Hopefully - it is now time to discuss the issue(s) and not attack me personally.
Bob Tamock - You are right - what now? I was hoping we could spend more time and energy discussing that issue and coming up with some valid solutions. I am uncertain if I am prepared to share any of my ideas for possible soultions with this forum right now.
And I don’t ask you or anyone else for that matter - to erase history but I do appeal to poeple to KNOW history as it does help sometimes to better understand the present.
I am not surprised that my article and my response have caused the reaction that they have(for some) as it is common here in Australia for folk to take the historical issues…and criticisms in relation to Aboriginal people, conquer, dispossession etc. etc. etc. to such a personal level. I know this and only speak from experience as a long-time teacher of Australian History. And lets hope this comment doesn’t initiate another personal attack on me or see me labelled a victim of Australian History.
In relation to some of the comments from others regarding the whole colonial mess - yes it is true that the situation in Australia is not unique but that still doesn’t make it right…and if anybody out there can point me to a successful model of ‘decolonisation’ or point us all on the right road to ‘modernity’perhaps we can find that pathway to real solutions soon.
I do not know if anybody shares my thoughts simply because they are MY thoughts.
And your last comment - yes, I did write the truth and that is evident by several responses I have read today.
Hey CICI
Yes i’m sure this issue will benefit from a few more years of discussion especially from an obviously brilliant proffessional disscusser such as yourself.
But can i give you a tip ( although i don’t speak for my people either ) -
I can’t understand the language you’re speaking in , it reads great but what are you saying ?. I think you may have to dumb things down for people like me.
Can you actually say what you think you want to happen ?
My theory ( for what it’s worth ) is that things will change when enough individuals want to change , until then there will plenty of discussion work to be done by the rest of us.
To Bob G ,
I thought what Herod had said was logically pretty reasonable.
The Catholic Church has changed a fair bit in the last 150years and they keep very good records so you would think any culture based on oral transmission of info would be pretty fluid over the course of a few generations.
Without taking the piss - What would he learn by visiting these people you recommend .Would you mind elaborating.
Hi CICI
I enjoyed reading that Sue and well written, someone once said. All truth passes through three stages. First stage it is ridiculed. Second stage it is violently aposed. third it is accepted as being self- evident….. from the risk mob
CICI, the colour of your article and further comments is closest to a watery prussian blue. I have re-read but still find no brighter shade or dreamier hue. Is it not all about the past and your past? We don’t want to unlearn the lessons of the past lest we suffer them again. And the past is real – unlike the future which may not exist and might not exist. My earlier questions were about the future, because I cannot do anything about the past. Let me ask you some different questions.
Is it racist to consider any group of people of the same race as though each and every one of them has the same profile, strengths, wishes and faults?
You write “I was advised by a non-Aboriginal “leader” that I had nothing of value to offer to “indigenous.” Which part of the statement was the insult and who was the target for the insult? Why would anyone think that there is anyone with something to offer to all indigenous people. Similarly I can’t image that there is anyone with nothing to offer to even one indigenous person.
Can we move away from the assumption that all Xs want Y, where X equals all indigenous, or all Queenslanders, or all Indians, or all Nigerians, or …etc. etc? Could it not be more useful to group people by the actual, measurable quality other than the accident of birth? Then your “non-Aboriginal ‘leader’” evaluation becomes “you have or have not a lot to offer anyone that wants to know and understand more Australian history?”
Having migrated here from overseas with absolutely nothing from a non white country. I must say Australia is most non-racist countries in the world. Yes, I have experienced some random racism slurs in the past, but I hardly taking it personal as those people are not someone I respected or look up to. Myself and my family has been trying hard and been doing very well with the opportunity that the Australian society has given to us and we are very thankful for it.
I think overall, the Australian society valued personal achievement more than race and gender. My fiancée is of Asian background, she has became a highly valued and respected professional in a predominately male and white industry.
If Australian society is such a racist nation, then I really don’t think she could get to where she at now.
Respect and prosperity is not something that is given to you freely, it has to be hard earned. No matter how much money the government spend on various Aboriginal issues, it’s not going to improve anything unless one can stand up on their feet and work hard to get to where they want in life. After all, opportunity is open up to us all, its up to the individual to take it.
zcai2672.
Most of the ideas that most people have about racism are wrong. One fallacy is that a racist will hate all people that are not of his own ethnic or racial group. On the contrary it is possible for someone to be prejudiced against some groups but not others.
I believe that you are correct in saying that Australia is very accepting of migrants, however the same people who are so welcoming to you and your wife may harbor world class racism towards the descendants of the unlawful migrants who entered this country 40,000 years before the arrival of its rightful owners.
We Australians can never forgive them for stealing something very precious from us, the legitimacy of our nation.
One thing that I have noticed is that contrary to my original expectations recent migrants are every bit as hostile to the Aborigines as are angloceltic Australians whose families have been here for hundreds of years. I suspect that despising Aborigines is one of the things many migrants unconsciously feel that they need to do to become more acceptable.
When you migrated from overseas you did not have absolutely nothing. You had intangible assets such as numeracy, and literacy in your own language and the fact that Australians did not mistake you for an Aborigine and hence adopt an attitude of hostility to you. A friend of mine, Boris from Goa (in India), told me that when he was touring the Australian outback, he was refused service in a pub because the bar tender thought he was black.
I do not believe that any of us legitimate Australians can imagine what it is like to be a boong, a coon or a rock ape. Things happen to Aborigines regularly that rarely happen to proper Australians. I suggest you use Google to research the death by police beating of Cameron Doomadgee in watch house of the Palm Island concentration camp.
There’s always reasons behind stereotyping, and the overall behaviour trend of a particular ethnic group is the main reason for the stereotyping. Perhaps you should ask why some aborigines are been refused to be serviced by the bar tender.
Can you tell me that you don’t stereotype according to others appearance without knowing them before hand? please think carefully before saying ‘no’ The fact is that every people judges , Its our primal instinct for survival. Its a function build into us to assist and avoid danger in our environment.
If the statistic that indicates certain ethnic are highly likely to be to have drinking problems and are prone to be violent after having too many. Than perhaps the bar tender has concluded that risk to himself and his property is too high and therefore refuse to serve to merely just to protect himself. if the same ethnic group has demonstrated a significant improvements in their drinking behaviour and no longer causing any issues.
The same bar tender will most likely to do their business. Just tell me who don’t want an easy business.
The point I am trying to make here is that no one else can change a certain prejudiced or stereotype tag they carried but themselves.
I could only classified something as racism if one ethnic is denied of opportunity and others are accepted even both with the equal merits and qualification. I don’t believe that this is the kind of society we are living in, I really believe any particular ethnic who is hard working and diligent will be equally or more successful as other Australians.
Of course I stereotype some groups of people and have prejudices toward them which other might see as being irrational. For example I believe that the law dealing with dangerous dogs should be extended to cover all players of Rugby football and that footballers should not be allowed in public unless muzzled and on a leash and accompanied by a handler armed with a gun an empowered to terminate them when they misbehave and that when a footballer’s playing career is over he should be taken to a veterinary surgery and painlessly euthanized to prevent him becoming a talk back radio host or TV compere.
Another fallacy about racism is that it only occasionally becomes a problem as for example in Alabama in the lynching era, in Nazi occupied Europe from 1939 to 1945 and in apartheid South Africa. Racism is universal, to say of a particular human being that he is racist is as meaningful as saying that he has two eyes. Racism is a big problem to those subject to it and also disadvantaged. Members of disadvantaged and disliked minorities encounter far more situations where people prejudiced against them are making decisions that impinge on their life. When racist discrimination against a people occurs over multiple generations its effects accumulate. I believe that the damage done to Australia’s unwanted remnants is so great that it cannot be remedied even if the necessary good will to do anything effective were there which it is not. The kindest thing we could do within the bounds of possibility is to complete the genocide in Zyklon B showers as quickly as possible.
Nothing I say will change your opinion on Australia’s black underclass. All I can do is recommend ready some black armband history of black/white relations written by Professor Henry Reynolds. Try your library. I warn you that they make depressing reading. Dr Roberta Sykes “Snake Dreaming” trilogy may also give you some idea of how relentless is Australian anti-aboriginal racism. Roberta Sykes is one of those blacks of whom you approve who has puuled herself up by her own boot straps.
The past is of course tragic for the native people of Australia, I have no doubt about it as I have read a number of books about it during my high school years. But the past is history, people should to learn from history and trying harder to move on and live a better life, try to prove that those stereotyping less relevant and that the native people are becoming better with much hope for a better future. Its all about empowering themself so others can look up to them. Catherine Freeman did it, so can the others.
ZCAI2672
The past is indeed in the past, but its effects remain and you are wrong if you assume that Australians are no longer doing to blacks things which they would consider immoral if not illegal were someone to do them to a legitimate Australian.
Aborigines are still dying in police and prison custody under suspicious circumstances but these events never result in a conviction of any of the officers involved.
The most important thing about racism is that it difficult for those of us that are not its victims to imagine how powerful a force it is in the lives of members of those marginalized and disadvantaged groups subject to it. We look at the bad behavior of people and the dysfunction of their communities and think, “surely this cannot all be the result of racism, surely there is something inherently wrong with these people”. I can attest that one simply becomes tired of defending them from all the cheap shots that ignorant persons make.
Consider just these few things.
1/ The underclass live in a mileau of constant arbitrary violence which raises the levels of stress hormones that in the long term damage brains;
2/ Generations of sickly and malnourished mothers have sickly low birth weight babies that become sickly and malnourished children;
3/ In school children are taught by teachers that hate them and consider them “scumbags and vermin” (a direct quote of a NSW teacher).
4/ Everything an aborigine does occurs under the malign inspection of numerous Australians who are willing to go out of the way to prevent them succeeding if they think that the blacks are trying to appropriate privileges which are the exclusive property of legitimate citizens.
Wow EVILONE,
They certainly are doing it tough.
Still imagine how much better they’ll all feel when they eventually overcome these massive challenges and become legitimate aussies like me, you , CICI and ZCAI2672.
Better times ahead for sure, eh.
JAMES BENNETT
I do not believes that better times are ahead for the aborigines, sure a few of them will escape from the pit of despair but the vast majority will not. In 200 years time Australians will still be wringing their hands about the plight of the aborigines while ensuring that they sabotage any attempt to help them.