ABORIGINALS IN AUSTRALIA (5/22/07)
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The land down under known to the world as Australia and colonized by the British as it did so many countries like Kenya where I was born still bear the indelible scars of unquestionable bloody actions bordering genocide that still cries to heaven for justice and full restitution..
My visit to Australia was not by hyper stance - I had come to meet my aging mother and also my sisters, god children, and many loved cousins. But I had also come to see the circumstances surrounding the Aboriginals of Australia as I have with the First People of California. Tears swell in onešs eyes and the heart is heavy. The mind seems to go no where when one fully comprehends the depth and the width of the crimes committed against the Aboriginals. It is as if the slaughter of the Aboriginals with the invasion of the colonists should not be exposed for what it is - genocide of a people. No one wants to speak the truth and less call a spade a spade. All that rosy talk and lies that they take to the grave and think their sins will wash away. Never. We all remember how blankets laden with small pox were given to the Native Americans tribes and how they died. We all remember the Sexually Transmitted Diseases so common with the Whites were spread like wild wire to those they came in contact with - killing thousands. Those of us in the know remember the cannons, guns and bullets used to kill the innocent to steal the land and proclaim them owners when in fact they are bandits and culprits to this day. As with Native American art and things to behold that are scattered all over the place - genuine art and artifacts are hard to come by in Australia. Less still the original way the Aboriginals lived. At least in America many Native American Tribes have preserved their culture and continue to live by the dictates of the Great Spirit. It is a joke how some will portray deep culture associated with the Aboriginals of Australia and associate it with the boomerang, rain sticks, the famous didgeridoo, some rituals with body paint and calling the ghost of fire and such remaining rituals far and between in the daily lives of the very few full blooded Aboriginals living today. It indeed is difficult to preserve in the strictest term of the word any culture going forty thousand plus years when there were no writings passed generation to generation. As with many African Tribes words and songs were passed from generation to generation and no one thought some strangers would come and kill and maim, defile and steal, take all and proclaim that all was fine. Time will tell. It was my privilege to meet several Aboriginals full blooded from all over Australia in San Francisco when as a delegation I had a one to one talk with the leaders and some members. I was listening and when they tried to paint a picture of their distraught - I went to a place and gave hope a chance. How ever I know this distress call is alive and something must be done on an emergency footing to right the wrong and bringing mitigation and restitution sooner not later. Finding a full blooded Aboriginal in Melbourne is like finding a needle in tons and tons of hay. You chances are next to nil. Some say go north and others to places that are far remote and should be. Why is it that those that should be free and own this land are shoved out of sight and in the out back? The First People of any land are guaranteed rights by the United Nations. How ever the Nations that are in place today - many of whom stole the land and have blood on their hands act as any chronic thief would - talk the talk but not walk the walk.
One may steal the land and spread the pain Francisco Da Costa Melbourne, May 22, 2007 |
