Having lived in a 1/3 aboriginal 2/3 white fella community for 50 years before moving to Brisbane never a truer word was spoken.
I could argue all day on this topic ( but won’t other than making this statement).
When you’ve been to school with them, grown up with them , worked with them , employed them, been friends with them , had crimes committed against you by them and seen them daily in your life you get a very different perspective than your average city dweller who’s had none of that.
I have some good mates that are black fellas , not all are bad but sadly the radical / bad ones get all the publicity and the general public thinks that’s what they all think ( which isn’t actually correct), I assure you there are many aboriginals doing well and are happy with their lot.
If the radical ones could get the giant chip off their shoulders , use the benefits they get to improve their lives ( and not piss it up against the wall) then they’d have better lives to.
We are all Australians , it’s them that are being divisive not us.
PS: this is just an opinion and I’m not going to argue with anyone about it, I prefer to talk footy instead.
PSS: didn’t watch the game but read a report this morning and looks like we didn’t cop any injuries so that’s a good thing.
So true in many respects Mark, though there is a lot of justified bitterness on their part regarding how their people were treated in the past, and perhaps in some respects now. Generational horrors have long lives.
I have a part Indigenous Australian foster sister, who is like a second mother to me. She has three great children (one adopted) and several grandchildren and you wouldnt know their heritage, nor does my foster sister care one iota about it. By the way she owns her own home in Narrabeen and does very well thank you very much.
A close but now deceased friend was something of a mentor to me. He had Masters in Anthropology as well as being a qualified printer along with other skills. Yes he recognised himself as Indigenous Australian, was proud of it, showed many of us the Indigenous paintings down the Hacking River, but was also proudly Australian, very generous, had a heart of gold, and was well loved.
I've worked in the Redfern area including The Block. Knew dozens of Indigenous Australians there and rarely had any problems with them.
But as you say Mark, there is another side, especially in the 'them and us' communities in country regions. A friend, who worked and lived in Bourke for many years, said walking the streets at night could be dangerous. Lack of available work, separated into ghetto camp like regions, idle hours of nothing to do, substance abuse, physical abuse within the communities, and a lot a bitterness, partly borne of generational memories, part just irrational hatred, is a breeding ground of bitterness, often illdefined. Them and Us mentality.
The human condition when there are perceived differences of religion, culture, race, colour even gender issues, that have a histories of abuses, is always a cesspool for irrational hatred. I had a female companion at one stage, Australian born of Greek immigrants. She hated Turks, even though she had never had any problems with people of that background herself. But the Ottoman Empire and the horrors it brought to Greece, left a generational mark.
Unfortunately there are no quick fix solutions, and addressing such issues often take generations to heal or change...but sometimes it never happens. Can only hope, in the Australian setting, hopefully with improved conditions and congenial relationships developing between all peoples, that such wasted emotional negativity diminishes.
