Sorry Day - what’s next - Forgiveness?

Indigenous  artist  from the North Jack Wilkie-Jans suggests that saying sorry is a two-way street that might be used for better effect. GC.Ed.@L.

Sorry Day commemorates when the then Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, made a historic and highly symbolic apology on behalf of previous Governments for the acts committed during the White Australia Policy unto First Australians. This day was welcomed by survivors and descendants of the Stolen Generation and academics, reconciliation advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the globe. 

Sorry Day and the Apology has received equal amount of criticism and speculation as well as adoration. Many people saw it as a stepping stone towards financial compensation and of course resulting court cases. The move has been criticised for being overly populist, symbolic and seen as a ruse to lesser the unpopularity of the Northern Territory Intervention and other such prohibition championed by the Australian Labor Party, and of course, for being mere words.

Sorry Day should be appreciated for what it stood for at the time, without wanting or to be misused as leverage, and as a gesture which needed to occur to begin the healing process and move towards truer reconciliation; even the Chancellor of Germany made such a historic gesture towards the Jewish people in Israel by issuing an apology for the Holocaust in World War Two. It's about tying up loose ends and understanding that such a move signifies acknowledgement for horrors perpetrated by Governments.

In order to achieve true, wholesome and empowering reconciliation, we need to suffer the pain from an action which we as a People have done, we need appreciation of what has occurred and an apology, however there is one more step, we need to close the circle of blame & sympathy and forgive build up our own capacity as a People to become independent in a great many respects. Freedom from blame and by doing so releasing guilt means all Australians can move forward being truly equal.

I am calling for a national day of Forgiveness by Aboriginal people as a logical next step in order to achieve true reconciliation. First Australians have never been in such a place of real power, which is the power to forgive and by doing so, can dictate the future course of our positive future generations' attitudes and understanding of the past.

When an apology has been issued and accepted, such as the Kevin Rudd one, it is appropriate to issue forgiveness in return. Aboriginal culture has always been one of harmony with others and with land, so I can see this as being something our ancestors would be proud of. Forgiveness they say, is where real power lies, and we owe it to our future generations to even the score and lift the blame in order for this reconciliation, which countless Aboriginal Rights activists have been working towards for decades and which NAIDOC Day is said to encourage, to come about out of mutual respect.

Jack is an Aboriginal Affairs Advocate, Artist and Traditional Owner from Far North Queensland with British, Danish and Aboriginal Australian heritage.

Comments

[james]

1.

"apology on behalf of previous Governments for the acts committed during the White Australia Policy unto First Australians"

bit mixed up here - White Australia policy (although never officially named as such) was more so aimed at Asian immigration not indigenous people; the policy toward the latter was one of blatant racism unchallenged until the 1970s - lots to say sorry for.

[deejay]

2.

It's "an historic".

[kraka]

3.

The problem Jack-was the apology was issued as a feel good moment of behalf of ALL Australians-virtually none of whom had anything to apologize for.
I welcome the new found voice of those like yourself, Noel Pearson et al who realize that way forward requires a lot of introspection and a great deal of personal responsibility. They reject the entitlement mentality foisted upon the Aboriginal people by a self loathing left eager to enforce their opinions of the noble savage myth and blame western culture for "crimes" from a bygone era. The appearance of "seeming" to do something without actually doing anything materialized as the apology.
The apology was never a way out of Aboriginal poverty because it was based on Aboriginals being able to blame others for their situation instead of the need to take personal responsibility for one's self.

Like I say, I welcome your voice in this but I don't think the apology was ever a line in the sand day for either groups of people. We are all Australian-end of story.

[John Mc]

4.

Great article. We should be making a genuine effort to reconciliation where we come together to apologise for mistakes, even if they were 'honest' mistakes, and to forgive each other.

We've been saying sorry for a while now and it's time to move on as one community pursuing the betterment of our common humanity.

[DavidB]

5.

It's indeed a great virtue to acknowledge when we have been in error, then apologize for any harm caused.

However, none of us alive today had anything to do with how the blacks were treated, nor did any of the blacks today experience what is being apologized for.

So we have an absurd situation, were a bunch of people are perpetually apologizing for something they never did, to a bunch of people that never experience anything that's being apologized for.

And BTW, these people being apologized to, have more federal and state funding and tax payer funded programs, than any other group in the country. Yep, I'd call that Racist.

[pk]

6.

>However, none of us alive today had anything to do with how the blacks were treated, nor did any of the blacks today experience what is being apologized for.

Incorrect David (and BTW are you from sth africa? what a nasty turn of phrase you have- 'blacks' indeed).

Do you not understand that the systematic injustice of aboriginal australians has only just been dismantled in the last generation. Every member of my family bar me were alive when indigenous australians were not counted in the census, did not receive fair pay for fair days work, could not vote and could not own land. We as white australians benefitted from their slave labor on the land and in the home and the via the taking of land they used and lived on while they were killed by disease and the hand of white fellas. These benefits trickle down to this day. The ancestors of the squattocray are alive and well and go to Geelong Grammar, let me tell you.

The separation of children from their natural families and the placement of them into institutional care, ensured they did not have the child rearing, nor education to make something of themselves when they became adults. How can you 'mother' when you were ripped from your mother and don't know what family is? There are still many , many people living with the scars of this, of non- functioning family producing non-functioning people.

[Prompete]

7.

"Aboriginal culture has always been one of harmony with others "

Where do you get that immature fantasy from?.

[John Mc]

8.

PK, when do you think non-indigenous people should stop feeling guilt for what happened (if ever?) and when should we move to a position of one law for all i.e. where we consider non-indigenous and indigenous people as essentially just Australians with the same rights and responsibilities?

[Dave of Inverell]

9.

Puzzling article with some strange content. The comment that aboriginal people were in harmony with one another is highly questionable. Maybe aboriginal history has been rewritten like a lot of other history. One thing I do agree with as the author says, is the matter of forgiveness. I live in Inverell and after the reconciliation years ago (1988, I think) we still have to have ceremonies at Myall Creek, site of the massacre of the 1800's. Some people keep the matter alive instead of accepting the guilty were tried and hanged for their crimes. The need to forgive what happened in the past, it can't be changed, maybe it is still all about money, money, money!

[pk]

10.

I don't consider it a question of guilt. But one of recognition, considering there are people around who still think that 200 years of oppression doesn't have any repercussions a mere 40 years after it's formal dismantling. It is good to just clarify and remind people that there are solid reasons as to why indigenous australians are still finding their feet as well as still trying to harmonise an ancient culture and traditions of their grandparents (and maybe parents) with the modern western world. I don't think any white australian would trade places/bodies with an aboriginal australian- not matter how many 'handouts' they are perceived to get. They still have do it tough all over the country and there is still a lot to resolve within the communities where family ties can lead to debilitating cronyism and from 'outside' forces who can sometimes act as paternal, non-consultative money spenders with no idea how to really fix the problems.

[bluebell]

11.

Pk - for what it's worth most Australians genuinely want a better future for our indigenous people. But the second part of your last paragraph strikes at the heart of the problem. We do tend to be patronizing and paternalistic when dealing with a people we deem as less technology advanced as our own culture. But things ARE slowly changing. Once we see aboriginal doctors, teachers, lawyers and other professionals coming through the university ranks things will pick up. Our biggest challenge is to change things at the ground level. If we can get every aboriginal child attending school and eradicate alcohol and substance abuse within communities that would be a positive step. You have to take communities on a willing journey of self improvement, and in order to do that we should trust them to take personal responsibility for their own future. Noel Pearson has done fantastic things for his Cape York community. If they can produce a Noel Pearson, they can produce others. I would like to see the government target those people and send them to Noel for mentoring. The change MUST come from them, we can offer guidance, advice, but the ultimate decision must be for them to make. Joint investment ventures would be also a good idea. There are people in this country who are well meaning and kind, but their strategy is wrong headed. Mutual consultation and respect are the essential key here....and $$$$$ for me is not really the answer. We have been throwing billions at the 'aboriginal problem' for well over 40 years and we are getting nowhere. WE have to start thinking outside the square. Maybe we should be taking more notice of the Bess Prices of this world instead of the narrow band of highly educated urban aboriginal elite.

[Brian Richard Allen]

12.

.... KRudd, made an entirely symbolic "apology" for the alleged behavior of a lot of dead people toward a lot of dead people ....

And what a pathetic bloody waste of time it was.

My last (Celt) slave ancestor died in Australia in the 1930s and I demand an apology and reparations from the descendants of the Pommy barstewards that enslaved and transported him.

Or I would if they weren't all now Americans, Australians and South Africans and Kenyans and even (gag me, a couple at least) Kiwis and Canucks!

Let's get over the institutionalized racism that so awfully-well (along with institutional-envy and every other kind of hatred) defines the fascist Left.

And to help us al;ong the way, here's a bit of a kick start!

CERTIFICATE OF ABSOLUTION
Hereby Issued to
(Fill in the Blank)
This certificate, in perpetuity releases the above named individual from
White Guilt
Being either self-inflicted or by association with Left Wing tradition, culture, institution or opinion.
Further, the certificate bearer is forthwith authorized to exclusively judge each person not by the color of his skin, but rather by the content of his character.
Made valid upon due endorsement by any thinking black, white, brown and/or brindle Australian.

[pk]

13.

>the alleged behavior of a lot of dead people toward a lot of dead people ....

Brian are you saying everyone alive in 1960s Australia is dead now? You should know better than to forget aboriginal australians were not considered people worth counting in the census, let alone have full rights as human beings, until 1967.

[John Mc]

14.

To be fair, PK, wile this is true it's not due to deliberate oppression by white people. As late as the 1960s there were still aboriginal tribes living in the deserts of Western Australia who had only passing contact with Europeans at the most, and were essentially still living a stone age existence. You're drawing a bit of a bow to suggest there was some sort of injustice because these people did not have voting rights or were not recorded on a Commonwealth census at that point. As natives they had the protection of the Crown and this afforded them the majority of the rights of a citizen, and probably nearly all of the rights they were able to effectively exercise at that moment.

Of course there were indigenous people who were at the other end of the scale and should have already had voting rights (and were already undertaking the full obligations of a citizen such as serving in the armed forces). However, it's not like the referendum to grant them full citizenship was contentious, although you could argue it was a bit late. If I remember correctly it had over 90% support from the Australian population.

My personal perspective is that waiting another 50 years to reconcile our differences is probably wearing thin. It's now time to celebrate our 'sameness', our common humanity. This doesn't mean we sweep the past under the rug, or anyone has to lose their culture and traditions, or that injustices will be tolerated. It means that we move forward to a better future rather than clinging on to the past.

[pk]

15.

>It means that we move forward to a better future rather than clinging on to the past.

I'd agree, but some people think even mentioning the dispossession of Aboriginal Australians is tantamount to a mass flaying our white backs in the streets in mea culpa. Like I said it's nice for some people to be reminded, and/or the younger ones educated on recent history- not unlike Anzac day or any other events which shaped the nation.

[Ronan]

16.

Hi. We're making an Australian TV documentary looking at these very issues, and we're looking for people of all opinions to take part. If you would like to find out more, email me at [email protected] or call 0448 332 884. Thanks, Ronan (Producer)