Australia apologizes to Aborigines
Australia Apologizes to AboriginesAborigines organized breakfast barbecues in the Outback, schools held assemblies and giant TV screens went up in state capitals as Australians watched a live broadcast of their government Wednesday apologizing for policies that degraded its indigenous people.
In a historic parliamentary vote that supporters said would open a new chapter in race relations, lawmakers unanimously adopted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's motion on behalf of all Australians.
"We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Rudd said in Parliament, reading from the motion.
The apology is directed at tens of thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly taken from their families as children under now abandoned assimilation policies. 
In a historic parliamentary vote that supporters said would open a new chapter in race relations, lawmakers unanimously adopted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's motion on behalf of all Australians.
"We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Rudd said in Parliament, reading from the motion.
The apology is directed at tens of thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly taken from their families as children under now abandoned assimilation policies.
posted by Rob at 9:00 AM
2 Comments:
Writerfella here --
What, no text? No emotional ANZAC actor reading it aloud? So, what would it have said and sounded like?
"Oh, we of the 2008 white Australian cultural majority APOLOGIZE that we took our existence from you, the aboriginals, at the cost of your peoples, your cultures, your animals, your existences, your freedoms, your histories, and your original continent. That you now live as third-class citizens in our society and only are seen if we so should wish, forgive us because we only had the best intentions when we came here to your continent. We the Australian people apologize, and now will say, come to the back door of Parliament to get your copies of this apology. And remember, it is non-binding..."
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Text: Australia's apology
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