@Ev

You have missed out on the Britney Spears,Emienem ,Paris Hilton,Rock music and others, of the 'American popular culture' and their influnces. Even white Australian culture and other aspects.You seem to know more about Natives,white and Indigenous & who relates more to who.

Amel,

No, I haven`t forgotten those other influences (on everyone). The original comment I was responding to was this (see post by Horus above):

"Heard during a discussion re religion on ABC AM 702 – 28/06/06:

Caller says:
A friend of mine had a daughter by a black American.
She became involved in an Aboriginal-dreaming group because she needed to know how to bring the daughter up ‘according to her culture.’
[Apparently, all 'black’ peoples share the same culture]"

..........

I'll tell you a story. Six years ago during the Sydney Olympics, representatives from Aboriginal tribes all over the Australia travelled to Sydney to set up a protest camp. They were not allowed to do it anywhere near the Olympic Stadium, so instead they chose Victoria Park, next to Sydney University, not far from the city centre.
For over 3 entire months they camped in this public park, keeping a Ceremonial Fire going night and day. It was a very important endeavour for them. For 3 months they kept the camp in good order. Alcohol was not permitted. Rubbish of any kind was not allowed to be thrown into the ceremonial fire. When a decision had to be made about something, they all sat around this fire, and each person had the absolute right to say what they wanted without being interrupted. At least one Elder was present make final decisions after taking everyone's view into account. It was very civilized!
On the city side of the fire they had 2 Australian Aboriginal flags on an X-shaped flagpole. During the Olympics they received many visitors. Some were representatives from the Mohawk Indian tribe (US/Canada). As a gesture of friendship, they swapped flags, so from then on the flagpole displayed an Aboriginal flag on one side and the Mohawk flag on the other.

@Ev
You got that the Native Americans& Aboriginals should have more in common ,because of the ceremonies and protesting both communities share at the olympics, in reply to Horus's comment, correct? I get what you're saying.
I would have thought maybe the Maori or Indigenous people in the Australia-Asia region would share more in common with each other,rather than the Native American or Canadians from the other side of the world in America and Canada. Its probally because Native Americans are from huge Popular United States ,and maybe their more expose than other regional people. Or maybe it something more than just that. You seem to know about the 2 stories/history etc.

As for African-Americans, they would have more in common with Africans.

Will Smith owns a house in Capetown South Africa. :)

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=9&click_id=99&art_id=qw1015225744341C432

Oprah Winfrey is building a world class all girls school in South Africa, to improve the position of women in Africa.Not just African American celebs but regular people too. Many African Americans make
the pilgrimage to Goree Island in Senegal every year .

http://unjobs.org/video/1106921284.15

Hi, to both of you, dee and Ev, and of course, all the other contributers.
I feel that I'm well and truely out of my depth, intellectually speaking. When I see the reasoning and logic expressed by some of you good people!
Ev you said that my views may've be coloured, as a result of the kind of people that I was required to work with. Probably correct. However, some of these 'crooks' had more honour, character, and ethical standards, than most of our more notable community leaders, believe it or not! I've learnt much, from some of them (not how to blow a safe though!).

And dee, I've lived and worked in the UK (a working holiday, for nine months) admittedly many years ago, just after my discharge from the Army. Something I do remember very well, was from a speech given by an erudite Member of the Commons, Mr. Enoch Powell. He warned all and sundry, that if immigration was not checked, and those applicants seeking entry to the UK, were not carefully screened - then..."the streets and rivers will run red with blood, and the 'englishman' will be dispossessed from his own country"...or words to that effect. Of course, Powell was branded a racist, a redneck, etc etc etc...ad nauseam. I think we all know what happened.

Amel,
I can see logic in Ev’s comparison of the situation of Aboriginal peoples in Australia with First Nations people in Canada: both are small minorities in British-based societies, which must put them in a similar position. The Maori are a far larger minority in NZ, and the other indigenous peoples of our region are not living within a predominantly British culture.

o sung wu,
It is a pity that Enoch Powell and others like him were not able to separate their valid reasoning from the absurdity of racism. We should think about the issue in terms of cultural difference instead of “race”.

It is ridiculous to pretend that culture – or indeed any behaviour – is genetically linked to “race”. I think it is quite clear that people of any genetic background are likely to absorb the predominant culture of the place where they are growing up. The problem comes when immigration occurs at such a rate or in such a way that ghettos arise. Then, young people will find themselves growing up, not in the culture of their country, but in the culture of their ghetto: a version of the culture of their parents’ or grandparents’ former country. In this situation, assimilation does not take place as it should.

Once that happens, you have groups of people who are legally part of the host country but not socially or psychologically part of it. We cannot force anyone to abandon their culture in all its details – that is not what assimilation means and it would not be desirable in any way –, but we should do whatever we can to manage immigration so that we do not have ethnic ghettos. The streets need never “run with blood” because, if immigration is correctly managed, all children growing up in Australia will grow up as Australians.

Assimilation is not about denying cultural diversity, it is about ensuring that the core values of our society – the things that make Australia an attractive place to migrate to – are passed on to every child who grows up here.

Dear Ian

the way you expressed the 'management' of Immigration was superb, because you linked it to a natural assimilation rather than a forced.

I've been harping on this for ages, but the 'usual suspects' will trot out their 'racist/xenophobic' chants, not that it worries me.

I'm encouraged to see common sense views being expressed by others such as yourself also.

Andrew Bolt, while not everyone's cuppa, did make some very valid points very recently, where he pointed out that there is something seriously wrong when a crowd of 'Australians' who calle themselves "Italian-Australians" (rather than 'Australians of Italian background) cheer when Italy beats Australia.

QUOTES:

Norton St Sydney, mostly Italian background.

"when the ball fizzed past Mark Schwarzer's despairing glove?

As many as 8000 people, many in Italy's blue shirts, screamed, clapped, sang, danced, lit flares, honked car horns and set off fireworks."

even here, in Lygon St, hundreds of "Italian-Australians" celebrated Italy's win with cries of "Viva Italia". Police on horseback struggled to keep dozens of the more aggressive away from belligerent Socceroos fans chanting "Bulls---".

We've seen similar scenes in earlier games. Thousands of "Greek-Australians" -- many too young to be immigrants -- noisily cheered Greece in its friendly against Australia at the MCG this year, and a handful kicked cars and smashed windows when the Socceroos won.

CONCLUSION: I have no hesitation in insisting the 'national loyalty' is a value we impart at the educational level. Otherwise, we are being white-anted to a degree that in any future defense of this country, alleigances may be suspect. When Italians in Lygon street are AGGRESSIVE toward Socceroo fans, we have a serious problem.