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The Forum > General Discussion > Referring back to article 'Education is key for living in two worlds'

Referring back to article 'Education is key for living in two worlds'

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Aboriginal people...........they never had a chance.....and just by the amount thats not employed......tells the story....

LEAP
Posted by Quantumleap, Sunday, 10 April 2011 1:08:25 AM
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Without doubt, European leaders have bothered the Aboriginal people to get a chance. But now, they have got back lands and the discriminatory laws are abandonned. Therefore, good education is the key for the future to do better and keep their distinct identity.

Look again at the Jews: They have suffered of pogroms for centuries and of the holocaust in the last century. But nevertheless, the Jews have always been famous for their thinkers and scientists as well as for successful business as well as their distinct identity.

After the holocaust and pogroms before, one would expect similar problems as those ones of the Aboriginal people. But the state of Israel has been a history of success. One key factor has probably been their high level of education.

Of course, Aboriginal people and the Jews differ in that point that the Jews are one single people whereas the Aboriginal people consist of many tribes. And in addition, the Jews are more numerous than the Aboriginal people.. But there are very useful lessons to learn from them for indigenous and minorized peoples around the world.
Posted by OccidentalChristian, Sunday, 10 April 2011 2:42:04 AM
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QL,

With respect, that's a very defeatist attitude. You have to differentiate between different categories of Indigenous people, according to location, history, education, access to the modern economy, etc.

When you do that, it becomes starkly clear that the 'Gap' is far greater for some Aboriginal people, depending on their circumstances, than it is for others. Frankly, for about half or two-thirds of the population, their indices on health, education, housing, employment, incarceration, are not all that different from non-Indigenous Australians. But for the permanently unemployed, for the great majority of people in remote settlements, for the completely uneducated, the Gap is enormous, horrifyingly enormous.

For example, youth suicide: the Aboriginal rate - as a whole - is five or six times the national rate. But for young people in remote areas, it could be fifteen times the national rate.

Life-expectancy is maybe fifteen years shorter for Aboriginal males - as a whole. But for permanently unemployed Aboriginal males, I wouldn't be surprised if it is forty years shorter. Perhaps thirty years shorter for Aboriginal women and girls in similar depressed and hopeless conditions.

But not for employed people, especially those in the cities: their life-expectancy is not significantly shorter than it is for non-Indigenous Australians.

My wife started work, as the eldest of ten Indigenous kids, as an unpaid house-maid on a sheep station - but ended her career as a senior lecturer at a university. That sort of thing is not uncommon.

Opportunities are there, although the natural inclination is to assume that there are none - until you look, and ask around. By the end of next year, there could be thirty thousand Indigenous university graduates, and their chances of getting employment are about the same as for other graduates.

Fifty thousand by 2020 :)

Yes, this has all occurred only in the last thirty or forty years, but what is the point in picking at scabs that aren't there any more ? Like the Occidental Christian says about Jewish people, you pick yourself up and get on with life. Never forget, never let it crush you.
Posted by Loudmouth, Sunday, 10 April 2011 2:20:46 PM
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Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

I love reading your posts!
Posted by Lexi, Sunday, 10 April 2011 2:27:11 PM
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Hey, that's a coincidence ! Yours are sometimes very beautiful, very 'inclusive', from the heart. Keep them coming :)

Regards,

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Sunday, 10 April 2011 2:29:27 PM
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Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

I came across this poem on the web. I thought you might enjoy it:

"A Song Of Hope," by Oodgeroo (Kath Walker).

"Look up, my people
The dawn is breaking
The world is waking
To a bright new day
When none defame us
No restriction tame us
Nor colour shame us
Nor sneer dismay.

Now brood no more
On the years behind you
The hope assigned you
Shall the past replace
When a juster justice
Grown wise and stronger
Points the bone no longer
At a darker race.

So long we waited
Bound and frustrated
Till hat e be hated
And caste deposed
Now light shall guide us
No goal denied us
And all doors open
That long were closed.

See plain the promise
Dark freedom-lover!
Night's nearly over
And though long the climb
New rights will greet us
New mateship meet us
And joy complete us
In our new Dream Time.

To our fathers' fathers
The paid, the sorrows,
To our children's children
the glad tomorrow.
Posted by Lexi, Sunday, 10 April 2011 4:55:14 PM
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