Koori-white fella reconciliation will only take a step backwards with the proposed apology to the ‘Stolen generation’. Sure, it may make some feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and ease the sense of guilt that many Anglo Celtics feel about their own and forebears actions, but it merely approaches the issue from the same bureaucratic and institutional like dogma which has been applied to this problem for decades.
The official apology will abrogate peoples’ civic responsibility to become personally involved with aboriginals at a micro interpersonal level, because the likes of the Darlinghurst soy de-cafe late set will say “well I went on the march over the bridge, I wrote letters to the PM, I saw the exhibition at the state gallery and finally my dreams came to fruition, goal completed. My contact with things aboriginal has now come to its natural conclusion because I feel good about myself and I can move onto other things”.
Feeling good about yourself does not come about through apology though, it comes through personal actions, mentoring, modelling and above all giving the most precious resource you have available, your time. In a society such as Australia, where most people are very diffident about excepting outsiders who don’t conform to the stereo types of their perceived groups, this holistic approach to reconciliation is years away from fruition.
It is every person’s responsibility to foster civic inclusion and general sociability to all though, and the change can start with you today.
If you have aboriginals living down the road knock on their door sometime. Invite them round for a barbecue, and be honest. “I am inviting your family, so I hope you can be there at 8pm on Friday “. Make it clear that you mean their family only, not 300 freeloaders expecting free drinks, tell them, “freeloaders are not nice people and it is a bad practice”. As you can see the mentoring can begin from day one.
Be honest to and openly critical of other cultures and religions. But also be prepared to except criticisms, we can all learn off each other.
Join political parties and encourage our leaders to use this philosophy to guide them in their policies.
Disregard the words of conservatives and liberals as the answers lie away from what they promulgate.
Once you have done all this, and you have gotten to personally know a Koori family you can apologize as your own representative, if the family was drastically affected by the policy of eugenics. And you can live in the knowledge that such an apology actually meant something.
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