We don’t like to admit it, but Australia has the same incalcitrant hatred towards First Nations folk as white america has towards black Americans

The nation and its industries - looking at you, mining, in particular - pays lip service to Indigenous culture when it suits- a didgeridoo solo here and there in a tourism ad, the occasional flash of dot painting; the acknowledgment of country - but never ever makes a real

sustained effort across governments, states, constitution - to change things. Sure, there’s a Big Launch now and then - Close the Gap, Reconciliation and so on - and so far there have been some bumper stickers and hands on the lawns of Parliament House

But every effort is stymied; the funds are lost through corruption; and the nation always stops short at the most important step: self-management, land rights and self determination. The Uluru Statement. Mabo, being watered down by the “Wik 10 Point Plan” - a pox on your name,

Howard- it’s one step forward and ten steps back while telling you that at least you got an invite even if it was immediately rescinded when you RSVP’d your attendance

The response to the Uluru Statement is the defining sample of this lily-live red, soulless, gutless, shameful history and present: the gift asked for a meaningful dialogue and then rejected the out come because it wasn’t hat they wanted to hear

So the cycle of destruction and insult and exclusion continues. Liberal White Australia likes to express outrage over the brutal murders of Black Americans; but the stories of Black deaths in custody, the murder of small children on bikes in the city or country don’t stay on

Our radars or front pages for long. These crimes are equally heinous as those we hear about overseas. They are buried so quickly and quietly and efficiently

Terra nullius lives on; even if it’s no longer legally true: there is so little value placed on the ancient - truly, deeply ancient, antique- cultural and sacred sites of First Nations that they aren’t even granted the basic decency of protection.

Rio Tinto has calmly and casual destroyed a 49,000 year old site. FORTY NINE THOUSAND YEARS OLD. MILLENIA. 45 MILLENIA

Burrup Penninsula rock art, also thousands and thousands of years old- was so stsntly under threat from mining. I mean..this is incomprehensible. And we also now know how much of Australian history had lied about how Indigenous people managed the land and the level of

sophistication involved. There are many ways in which Australia is strikingly different to the US, except in this. Indigenous people in Australia are First Nations and black; and cop both oppressions at once; our enduring national shame, disgrace, failure