After the Apology: still keeping our distance – On Line Opinion – 26/2/2009

After the Apology: still keeping our distance

By Maggie Walter – ON LINE opinion  26 February 2009There is a casual disrespect of Aboriginal people in general that permeates everyday Australian life. This patter of casual and almost thoughtless denigration pervades our society’s conversations. You hear it in cabs, at the hairdressers, on the bus – everywhere. Not knowing anything much about Aboriginal people, or not knowing any Aboriginal people does not stop non-Aboriginal Australians having loud opinions about those people they don’t know……………………..I want an Australia where to be Australian, for all Australians, means understanding and being proud of our Indigenous heritage and our Indigenous present.

Where all Australians know and interact with Aboriginal people as part of the normal interactions of daily life; where your dentist, bus driver, teacher or neighbour or all of them are likely to be Aboriginal and this not be considered unusual.

Where Aboriginal culture is celebrated and where Aboriginal ways of being, doing and living have embedded social and political legitimacy and are a significant and inextricable aspect of “the” Australian culture. And where regardless of our own heritage, where we live, and our occupation, we all have plenty of Aboriginal friends. But there’s a long way to go.

After the Apology: still keeping our distance – On Line Opinion – 26/2/2009

February 26, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized