It is sad to read the criticisms on what Amanda Midlam has disclosed in her two posts to this publication.

I am infuriated by what the so called democratic governments continue to do to the Aboriginal families right now, as can be shown by the following e-mail just received:

Some Comments by Adam Giles - Media Release 24th May 2011

“The Territory Government is receiving an additional $40m per year for 10 years from the $1.8 billion National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing to improve housing management services.

“During Estimates the Opposition will attempt to identify how much of that $40million annual commitment is spent where it is meant to be.

“Kicking people out of their homes as a political fix is a sure sign that the Government will stoop to unprecedented lows to try and lift its appalling reputation.

“Given that most hostels and temporary accommodation is full, if people are kicked out of public housing they will live in their cars, the bush, take to the hills or the long-grass or pile into someone else’s house, causing even more problems.

“How are kids supposed to then go to school if they are the victims of Labor’s cruel political games?

alcohol abuse in Australia began with the first fleet,
Aka,Not quite, Betel nut & tuba were used for ages in the land which later became known as Australia, long before the arrival of the europeans. the Maccassans, Papuans, Islanders & Aborigines in fact just about ALL people on this planet have produced concoctions to alter the state of mind.
The european method of brewing more in a shorter time simply meant more access & subsequent abuse. I recall many complaints from indigenous Australians about not being allowed in hotels. Since they were allowed they did nothing but complain about the europeans' grog ruining their lives. Many europeans going to communities for work get asked to bring a bottle of this'n that. You can't expect anyone to know what the right thing is to do in such circumstances.
Indigenous Australians just like any other group have to make up their mind what they want for the future but, unlike any other group they'd get assistance from all corners.
You may not like this on grounds of responsibility but the ball is in their court.
In this day & age I truly wish I could be indigenous to Australia.

Aka, if you remove from my text the inclusive references to non-indigenous Australians, some politicians, academia, much of the media, many Human Rights activists, the UNHRC and many of the so called educated urban elites who also claim to represent the same heritage”, you will indeed be left with only indigenous Australians.

I made these inclusions in order to avoid the laying of blame since I believe ALL are responsible for the lack of solutions.

If it suits your point to make such sweeping exclusions then I’m sure that makes you right, but what sort of person would wish do that?

Jewelry, Amanda Midlam wrote a racist article in which she accuses the white Australians of being absolutely beastly to aborigines. Short on facts, she resorts to implications. Her article quoted a black man’s assertion about white genocide of aboriginal people, as if this was a an established fact. She even hinted that aboriginal reserves equated to the sort of concentration camps the Nazis set up to exterminate the Jews.

This is exactly the sort of smear by innuendo that was used in the movie “Rabbit Proof Fence”, who’s credits claimed it was “A True Story”. This movie showed a scene of the three girls traveling South locked in a cage on a train. The implication was, that it was true that an Australian government transported aboriginal children the same way that the Nazis transported the Jews to the death camps. The only thing wrong with the “true story” was that it was a lie. If you ever bothered to read the book, you would discover that the girls were transported South in a ship, escorted by a nurse, who treated them very kindly.

When you have a problem which will not go away, then it is imperative that you dispasssionately examine all of the facts, however unpleasant, to find a solution. One of society’s biggest problems, is that some races and ethnicities are always in trouble, and can never create modern functioning societies. Socialist humanitarians claim that all races are equal; therefore the only possible explanation for black dysfunction is because the white race exploits and oppresses them. Hence we get the sort of nonsensical articles from the likes of Amanda Midlam.

As much as I would like to believe that all races are equal, what scientific evidence I have, and the evidence of my own eyes, tells me that this is not true. And anyone who tries to blame my race for the inabilities of another to prosper, is telling lies, and they have got a real problem with me.

Lego:”Her article quoted a black man’s assertion about white genocide of aboriginal people, as if this was an established fact.”

I’m just not seeing what you see, she quoted another dude saying it. I assume it was a fact that he said it. She said that the camps were officially called concentration camps but I guess they stopped calling them that after Hitler gave them a bad name. It didn’t seem “nonsensical” either, I thought it all made sense. A short rundown of three places and some stuff that happened. Do you reckon she told lies?

I read the article as written rather dispassionately. I was expecting some kind of blast but it never came.

Lego this equal thing, what do you mean by it?

I thought the book rabbit proof fence said they travelled by boat and I only saw the movie quite recently. I don’t know if anyone is going to such lengths to compare everything to what Nazi’s did to the Jews. I never thought Jewish children were transported in little cages. You sure you aren’t a little paranoid because maybe the Nazi’s got their ideas off the Aussies and not the other way round? But if they went by boat maybe they were trying to compare it to the slave traders of old? Or maybe transporting people who didn’t want to be transported was always done in less than pleasant ways?

Lego:”And anyone who tries to blame my race for the inabilities of another to prosper, is telling lies, and they have got a real problem with me.”

There might be a few million people who have a real problem with you then. Good luck with that.

Jewely,

I thought your response to LEGO and I was approaching some balance. There remains however one significant difference between the style of responses. Some read and comprehend what is written, others don’t read at all, they just “feel”.

The best example I can give you is Aka’s effort. Regardless of the exhaustive identification of “all” the entities who I believe share some responsibility for the current status of aboriginal Australians, there was one, and only one “ emotionally electric” word that registered. That was “indigenous”.

Sadly it is this type of “trigger word” response that attracts accusations of racism.

IMHO when this happens there are some ugly consequences. Firstly the debate gets diverted; secondly, it gets devalued, thirdly, the debate becomes tainted with labels and abuse, fourthly, the author is denied a voice and their opinion is suppressed and finally the trigger word brigade adopt “pack behavior”.

These attributes add up to only one thing, collective, heartfelt and genuine racism.

We Australian’s have much to be ashamed of in dealing with the absence of progress in indigenous affairs. It is not however, simply the lack of progress of which we must feel shamed. It is the absence of understanding our own responses that is inhibiting solutions, for this we feel guilt, and to compensate for or salve this guilt we hurl ourselves into morass of over cooked “compassion”.

I agree with LEGO’s racist accusations directed at Amanda Midlam, because her article is “explainable’ as a syndrome which is now prolific in our society.

Until and unless those who wish reengineer, obfuscate, reinterpret and deconstruct reality get out of the way, there will be no solutions, just guilt, bitterness and recrimination.

Don’t become part of the problem.