It’s been a crazy month for me. So much happening, I barely have time to breathe. But I had to come out of hiding, if only briefly.
The year started on a high for me with a formal apology from the Australian government to its indigenous peoples and towards the end of the year a black man was elected the President of the USA; both totally unexpected occurrences.
How times change. Amazing and wonderful. Congratulations and best wishes to the people of America for making it happen.
And if I have to have one more conversation with one more white person asking “Why are people calling him black when he’s mixed race? He’s white too!” I shall go postal.
If he were being identified as the perpetrator of a crime he’d be described as being “African American” by both the victim and any media reporting the incident. If he was brought home to some woman’s uptight waspy family as the new boyfriend I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t be thanking her for bringing such a lovely “part white” man into their fold. Any number of law firms he might have applied to would have identified him as black, consciously or subconsciously, the moment they saw his name or in person, regardless of how it impacted on their decision to hire him.
Some white people can be pretty funny, if only they weren’t so unwittingly offensive.
Do I think Australia will have a female Prime Minister in the near future? Probably not. Do I think Australia will ever have an indigenous Prime Minister? Never. I think we have some pretty serious and unfortunately insurmountable issues around gender and race that will require a whole lot of work before we get anywhere near to such a watershed moment as the one America now finds itself in.
But at the same time, it’s great to witness such amazing times with the new belief that amazing things are possible.
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i agree. Last week gave me a new breath of hope for this country…
Think of it this way. Australia has had a few (not many) of its indigenous people attain the Senate in your Parliament, right? I don’t know if there are any right now, but I know there was at least one earlier this decade.
Right now, Barack Obama is the ONLY black Senator in the US. When he becomes President in January there will be none. So is it really out of the question for someone to come out of the blue (as Obama did 4 years ago at the Democratic Convention) to become PM?
I don’t really know, but maybe it could be possible.
i think we could have a part-aboriginal PM. but not anytime soon. part-aboriginals are afforded the same education as white australia, it’s the full aboriginals that are so terribly neglected.
and full aboriginals don’t consider part-aboriginals worth talking to.
Slyde: Same here, but also for the world.
Earl: Yep, you’re right. but I have to regretfully say, as much as I love kiki and I think he is a sweet, sweet boy, his view unfortunately represents a large proprtion of white Australia and their paternalistic views – and that’s why it wont happen.
kiki: What-choo talkin’ bout Willis??? This sort of stuff is what I meant by unwittingly offensive. I hope you’re just taking the piss??? Where do I start? “Part Aboriginal” is no better or worse than saying “half-caste”. And no, Aboriginal people, regardless of definition are not afforded the same education as white Australia. Are you really Andrew Bolt??? I hope I’m reading you wrong and you’re just taking the piss out of yourself and your kind as a privately educated white boy from an “effluent” suburb, in which case, good job, dude.
you tell him sista!
I commented somewhere (not my blog) that it is typically white folks protesting that racism is a thing of the past, ‘we’ (read THEY) just need to move on, they can’t be responsible for what their forbears did, etc etc etc. A course, I could just be relating to ‘merican white folks …. but I doubt it.
i meant it BUT i didn’t express it as i would have liked.
i’ve been to places like Aurukun, Katherine, Kununurra and the Tiwi Islands. Full-blood indigenous people are afforded nothing that “Part Aboriginal” people are. It’s a fact.
I’ll admit my comment about “part aboriginals” being afforded the same aducation etc as white people is wrong, but it’s much closer to that than the opposite.
If you don’t believe me that full-blooded indigenous people don’t consider “part aboriginals” indigenous, then go and find out for yourself. They struggle to accept people from different regions, let alone those with white blood mixed in them.
i said “part aboriginals” so what? how is that racist? my father is english and my mother is (enough generations back to be) Australian. Does that make me english?
NO. it makes me PART English, PART Australian. to find something i said as ‘racist’ is ridiculous.
While i’ll happily admit that my remark about part/full education standards was made in haste and was wrong i’ll staunchly stand by this (without being racist):
PART Aboriginals are afforded better and more things (like education) than full aboriginals. There is absolutely no doubt about it. That’s why you rarely see full aboriginals in positions of power. Look at all the people that were on ATSIC before it was disbanded.
look at all the tribal elders for areas outside Arnhem Land and the kimberleys. You’ll struggle to find any full aboriginals.
If you’re going to get picky, then the word “aboriginal” should even be used. I’m aboriginal as i was born here. I’m not indigenous though.
Say i’m racist if you want. But i’m not.
You know I don’t agree with one word you’ve said here, dude, but ya also know I love Toto’s ‘Rosanna’. Kudos for conceding that that private school education didn’t help you articulate your points very well – difference between you and many is you’re prepared to listen and hear. Let’s hug it out bitch!
PS. The word “racist” wasn’t in my post anywhere. Maybe you’re worried you are???