Someone the other day told me he overheard some redneckers openly talk about killing all the "Abos" to get rid of the "Abo problem" (meaning: Australian indigenous aboriginal peoples).
But I guess those redneckers were just articulating subtle racism disguised as Political Correctness, in discourse about Aboriginal "welfare" (excuse my Foucauldian-ness today, I am rather discours-ed out by all the study).
So it got me thinking about why the world over, indigenous people endure an almost daily struggle against the systematic silencing of their voices, destruction of their culture, re-writing of their histories, theft of their lands and children, right down to average garden variety racism.
It occurred to me that it sucks to be born indigenous.
Well, for one thing - you have rednecks making death threats at you.
And if that wasn't enough, you get blamed for pretty much everything from the economic recession (government frittering away too much money in reparations payments) to crime rates and violence. You're probably a lot less likely to be granted name suppression in a court if you're brown than if you're white, if you were a rapper for example.
But anyway. I came across a quotation which struck me as quite refreshingly poignant after reading countless mundane journal articles written in high-brow academic language.
The Aboriginal woman writes:
Give us Christ, not crucifixion.
Though baptised and blessed and Bibled
We are still tabooed and libelled.
You devout Salvation-sellers,
Make us neighbours, not fringe-dwellers;
Make us mates, not poor relations,
Citizens, not serfs on stations
(Oodgeroo, 2000, p. 1, cited in Mercer, 2003)
Hmmm. Seems to me Christianity's got a lot to answer for. Surprised, much?
No comments:
Post a Comment