Australia apologizes to Indigenous folks

Tomorrow morning, 7:55am Brisbane time, the Prime Minister is finally going to formally apologize, on behalf of the federal government, for forcibly taking away several generations of Indigenous children from their families, to "civilize" them.

I really enjoy living in Aussie-land -- but in a number of ways, Australia is a generation or two behind the U.S. in what's considered "normal" or "right" for race relations.

This "apology" has been a big issue of debate for the last few years. I'm not sure if the U.S. ever apologized to the Native Americans for various things -- but in 1988, Ronald Reagan formally apologized to the Japanese-Americans who were forcibly interned during WWII. (Fun fact: 62% were American citizens.) 1988 for the U.S.; 2008 for Australia. A twenty year lag.

The Stolen Generation took place in Australia from roughly 1869-1969; the U.S. stopped shipping Indian kids off to boarding schools around 1928. So, 1928 for the U.S.; versus 1969 (i.e. nearly within my lifetime!!!) for Australia. Forty-one years difference.

Native Americans finally got the right to vote in 1924. In contrast, a 1949 law allowed Indigenous folks to vote in federal elections **if** their state allowed them to vote (the right to vote varied from state to state); and Indigenous Australians were allowed to vote in federal elections regardless of their state's laws in 1962. So, either 25, or 38, years difference.

And they're now (June 2006) finally looking in to the practice of withholding Indigenous employee's wages "for their own good" -- which occurred from the 1900s right up to the eighties!!! I know that the U.S. used to do this with Native Americans, here and there -- but a quick Google search didn't turn up anything. But, I rather doubt that it was still going on in the 1980s...


So: just a lot of "race and ethnicity" stuff that Australia seems to be a bit behind on.


But -- the wage and employment laws, educational system, and healthcare system are **still** wayyyy better than in the U.S.


--GG