Kekendika, I saw a programme where the descendants of slaves are trying to sue for their ancestors removal from their native land. Not sure who should sue whom, I also watched another programme where the descendants of slaves went back to Africa tracing their forbears and were horrified to find that Africans sold Africans for profit.
Poor old England , if all the convicts she transported, all the dominions she conquered were to sue, the lawyers would wax exceedingly fat.
But maybe she could prove that in the long run, most of the conquered countries and certainly most of the convicts turned out to be far better off through her early management than had she kept her mitts to herself .

Mickijo - Thanks for the info about who was suing whom... but knowing the American penchant for having the lawyers scrounging around for a way of life, they would probably end up suing themselves......

I was fairly familiar about who sold whom in the slave trade of course and what better way to get rid of some people, but to knock over a rival village or two of your fellow countrymen and sell them off to anyone who had the right price - and come to think of it before the British came along the main sales went to the Muslims - but hey, according to Islamic lore, the Kaffirs were not real people anyway (come to think of it anyone who is not a muslim is fair game to be enslaved and sold into slavery.

But then again one only has to look at how well Liberia (you can check the origins of Liberia through any Google or wikipedia search) and see just how well blacks treat other blacks, or Rwanda, or the Congo ... or even Uganda with good old “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.” (another good catholic turned muslim, given sanctuary in Saudi Arabia after killing of a few of his minions - but then again they were not real people anyway…… were they?

Having lived for some 30 odd years overseas, I have seen the attitude of many different peoples and to actually restrict the term racist to only how white people denigrate people of other colours is just plain ignorance – but then again what would I know - I am only a politically incorrect old bag of wind who is quite comfortable in how he thinks of himself and treats others as I would like to be treated myself, but then again maybe that is not politically correct either

Cultural differences are not traditional costumes or food, nor is it genetics. It is what software has been installed into the mind thorough education and experience.

. Anthropology, like all western science is a collection of perceptions of a detatched observer. Even "embedded" researchers report from their own cultural staus-quo.

"Wesern Culture", like it's science, is detatched from subject. Statistics tell more of the information gathering method than of the information itself. Sub atomic and astro-physics relys on "observations" which are really just the reactions of measuring machines, which give clarity to the nature of measurement, but not that which is measured.
This is the nature of "Western" culture, There is a psychological detatchment from subject which inhibits wholistic experience. The most profound example of this is the role of literacy in "Western" culture. Almost all of our education systems are based on reading, which is always the same one dimensional experience for whatever we are learning about - that is our eyes react to text which triggers associations and preconceptions in our minds as to the meaning of the text. More importantly text is by its nature a representation of reality, not reality itself. for example, whitefellas can read books about black fellas, even discuss all sorts of curly questions on forums like this. But until we shake a blackfella's hand, we know nothing. Wholistic education strategies, especially in oral cultures, has the direct holistic experience of reality as it's pedagogy.

Similarly with violence. The "Western" mind leaves that to the responsible authorities such as police, prisons and soldiers rather than taking personal responsibility for doing unpleasant things that are necessary for social harmony and survival, thus institionalising detatchment from reality and the power to intervene in it.

An interesting anthropological analysis
http://byggesbottomley.blogspot.com/

Dear Craig
thanx for that heartfelt post.
I’m unsure what you were getting at though.

Clearly you are concerned that I’m not ‘seeing’ something. Let me assure you, that I do see, and in regard to the case of mixed children, my own are mixed. They are part indigenous/part white.
They also tend to identify more today with ‘Asian’s rather than white aussies. Though my sons were extremely popular at school and did not experience any racism. (my daughter did experience it and is still scarred today)

If you’re worried that I don’t recognize the terrible damage done to some mixed children due to the policy of removal and assimilation, this is not quite the case. I cannot speak with any universal condemnation of the policy, because I’m sure it needs to be evaluated on the basis of the actual experience of each individual child. I think you would recognize that (to use your wonderful illustration of the mirrorball) there were many varying experiences of children.

I suspect that some stories of rejection and social ostracization surfaced such that the authorities felt it best to remove them, but erred in that they made it universal policy.

Please don’t blame ‘The Church’ for this, though I also guess that some of the larger institutionalized Churches with large bureaucracies must have had a hand in it.

So, let me ask you also...”What, do you want to happen” ? <- IMPORTANT.

Can you try to articulate this in a few sentences?

I believe for every story there is a headline, and then there is the more detailed content.
Lets have a go at codifying it, saying some specifics.

Is it ‘say sorry’ ? If yes, will they then say “We forgive you, now lets move on” ?

Claiming I feel ‘blackness’ will rub off is a bit rough, my children have slanty eyes and brownish skins.

Ranier.... at least Craig is grappling with the issue.....
I have no apology for pointing out the ‘whites’ say u need ‘money’ when clearly the Indigenous person wants ‘dignity’-same old paternalistic politics from the whites.

BOAZ_David, apologies for the tardiness of my reply but your response to my post was in another thread. A small speed bump in the road of communication but better late then never.

In hindsight, it is true, I could have explained more clearly. The terrible damage that you acknowledge in your response had little to do with mixed heritage. I used Rabbit Proof Fence as an example of forced removal but that was, by no means, the main thrust of my point.

It was that the Indigenous peoples of Australia have been severely maltreated and then blamed for the subsequent position that many find themselves in. Blood quantum is a controversial categorisation at best though Indigenous peoples around the world have, themselves, used it.

Forced removal was not, ever, confined to a blood quantum ratio. The treatment of communities and land denial created dysfunctional mixed communities that paid the price for European interference. Children were removed because Europeans would not allow their kinship, language and community conventions to be practiced. They, in effect, shouldered the blame for the crime of being subjugated.

"Is it ‘say sorry’ ? If yes, will they then say “We forgive you, now lets move on” ?" To most of the Indigenous peoples that I have talked to, yes, it is as easy as that. Many want nothing more than the recognition of the pain that continues to this day. Others were angry, and it would be hard to deny the right of someone who has never known family to have a seething ache.

However, it would be an indictment on all of us if 'sorry' was an end of it in our minds and actions. To be truly sorry is a concept that far exceeds a simple word. You, if your faith is as true as you would have us believe, would know that more than most… {continued}