Read on Twitter
Hey it's reconciliation week in Australia!
I'm not indigenous, but I feel like letting it slip by unacknowledged or with just a retweet or three would be misrepresenting how I feel about it so let's maybe chat from a place of my experiences with this topic.
I'm not indigenous, but I feel like letting it slip by unacknowledged or with just a retweet or three would be misrepresenting how I feel about it so let's maybe chat from a place of my experiences with this topic.
I grew up in Tasmania. I don't know how much you've read about Tasmanian indigenous groups but they got a mention in H.G. Wells War of the Worlds. It's not a great mention, but it was honestly probably my first real introduction to the topic as a teenager.
"The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years."
And that's about accurate.
And that's about accurate.
At school we learned how "awesome" captain cook was, tragedies around first people on the mainland- but besides a light dusting of the name Truganini- we learned nothing about Tasmanians. We spent more time talking Tasmanian Tigers than the Black Line. https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/the-black-line
I was too young to really have a good handle on what was going on through the years of reconciliation rallies leading up to Kevin Rudd saying Sorry. I went and walked at the ones my mum went to.
It seemed a bit silly and weird once I had some context for the atrocities.
It seemed a bit silly and weird once I had some context for the atrocities.
Like, what does it mean when there are no people left to apologise to? On the mainland it makes sense- there are people living and suffering today- from old and new atrocities and injustices. but what does reconciliation mean, what is 'sorry' worth, when *everyone* was killed?
We had a prime minister called John Howard who took a really common whitey stance that he had not personally assaulted anyone, and therefore couldn't reasonably be expected to apologise for a crime he did not commit. And I guess there's a kind of gutless self-serving logic there.
But what we're talking about is one culture *obliterating* another because they were inconvenient.
We probably just stopped short of eating them or turning them into cattle feed. It's horrible, unquestionably criminal and it splashes blood on the inheritors of the spoils forever.
We probably just stopped short of eating them or turning them into cattle feed. It's horrible, unquestionably criminal and it splashes blood on the inheritors of the spoils forever.
What do you do with that understanding?
Dunno. I haven't figured it out.
Money is tight, guilt is useless.
This sort of white boy invader-ancestor experience of reconciliation tweet-wall is only useful in the context of spreading the story.
Dunno. I haven't figured it out.
Money is tight, guilt is useless.
This sort of white boy invader-ancestor experience of reconciliation tweet-wall is only useful in the context of spreading the story.
I guess ideally I'd want taxes directed aggressively to support land and resources for displaced and debilitated indigenous groups. Indigenous health issues/life expectancy is horrible and I can't really parse the articles on crime vs police racism. There's work there for sure.
I think it's probably right that the inheritors of stolen land feel weird and twisted. I think even the 'I didn't do anything' 'not-sorry' people are feeling a bit funny about it- it's a denial response.
It's probably good to wade into that gross feeling and sit in it for a bit.
It's probably good to wade into that gross feeling and sit in it for a bit.
I don't really have anything to cap off this thread with.
I'll take this down instantly if I've missed something or spoken out of turn.
Mainly this is for my international friends who might not be up on this stuff, hope it was an interesting read.
I'll take this down instantly if I've missed something or spoken out of turn.
Mainly this is for my international friends who might not be up on this stuff, hope it was an interesting read.
