Saturday 16 February 2008

The nation of Australia is sorry

Wednesday, 13 February, 2008. The day Australians of conscience and compassion can mark in their personal histories, as the one where our elected leader linked us all in a gesture so important that it can hardly be overestimated. Aboriginal people had bared their souls in telling their traumatic life stories to produce the 'Stolen Generations' report, only to have their pain exacerbated by the refusal of the Howard Government to say 'sorry' in vindication of their suffering and courageous willingness to 'relive' and share it.

They were robbed of their apology by the election box, no one can doubt that Paul Keating, who commissioned the report, would have made one had he been in power when the report was tabled. Now the election box has returned it to them. All those who voted to remove a government intransigently opposed to genuine reconciliation, can feel proud that they've been instrumental in bringing about this wonderful event. We can also feel humble in the face of our First Australians' patience, understanding, forgiveness and charity towards us for being 'a bit slow' - in terms of time and ability to learn - and showing such good grace in allowing us to begin our redemption.

So many gems were uttered in Kevin Rudd's speech to and for our nation and hearing and reading the words for ourselves is the best way to experience it. The full speech can be read at the link at the bottom of the Blog page and all quotes from the apology used here are taken from that document.

"I move that... today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history." In his opening remark, Keven Rudd set the scene, no other comment need be made, I think, than 'here, here'.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry."

May all Australians contemplate how their own family histories anchor them in 'time and place'. How we talk about our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc., in an almost unconscious way, using them to explain who we are and why we are as we are. Adoptees are the most obvious ones among white Australians who can come anywhere near understanding the 'displacement' loss of family brings but even they cannot contemplate what it would feel like to have had their life and history stolen because of their colour and to find themselves racially and culturally alone in an often hostile place.

"To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry."

May we all contemplate our own loved ones, what each of them means to us as individuals and how much poorer our life experience would be without one or more of them. Those who voluntarily relinquish their children still suffer the grief of loss. Those who have their children taken from them through illness, accident or violence, suffer agonies of loss. No one is ever replaced because no individual can be. Now, contemplate what would be our pain if the Government took away many or all of those precious people who give our lives meaning!

"And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

May we all contemplate the truth of our cultural heritage in providing us with confidence and belief in our value. Imagine the undermining of that confidence and belief if we are considered and treated as 'less' because of our birthright. If all the things we valued were seen as barbaric and we ourselves were disdained as unworthy of inclusion. If your people had not even been counted as people for most of the nation's history, would this not impact on your psyche?

In December, 1992 Paul Keating - speaking as our elected Prime Minister - delivered one of the seminal speeches in our history. He said, the following (and so much more):

"It begins, I think, with the act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the disasters. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion.

"It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us. With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds. We failed to ask - how would I feel if this were done to me?"

This speech is worthy of rereading again and again, to keep reminding us of our power. We can insist on our politicians doing, in our name, what is just and fair, what is humane and moral. If those are not the core values of our elected representatives, we need to elect some who do hold those values and act on them for the benefit of all people and for the good of our national 'soul'.

It is important that we don't fail again, as we have so many times in the past. The apology is made on behalf of the Nation, its Governments and Parliaments but we must never forget that it is 'the people' who put them in power and bear responsibility for their actions - carried out in our name. Our Governments can't be allowed to forget that they govern for ALL Australians and our First Australians are starting from a long way behind the rest of us.