The recent apology by the Australian Prime Minister for "the indignity and degradation" caused by the policies of past governments was a joke. What the Aborigines should have said is; You displaced us by taking our land, you murdered generations of our people, raped generations of our women, you enslaved us leaving us destitute....fuck the apology, give us our land back bitches!It is bizarre how leaders throughout the ages come up with these political apology statements and tours for their government's crimes against humanity. Former president Bill Clinton apologized for Rawanda in 1994 and then entertained the idea of apologizing for slavery in 1997.
I recently read the following comment on the New York Times blog concerning presidential apologies for slavery; "I am a white American man and I don't believe that these goverments should be apologizing for something that happened hundreds of years ago. If anything, America should be apologizing to white people for not shipping blacks back to Africa right after we abolished slavery."
I am sure that the white person that posted this comment is not alone in his sentiments about governmental apologies to colonized and enslaved groups, because people like him don't see the crimes committed against these people as wrong. They believe that they did us a favor by creating a white supremacy system that keeps most of us poor, undeducated, imprisoned, drugged up, and politically disempowered.
That is why I say, if these governments really want to make a difference, apologize for the shit that they are still doing to our people today and vow to STOP!
And fuck the apology for slavery! Instead, I'll take a monetary equivalent to the money that my enslaved ancestors would have received had they not been working for free to build the foundations of today's America. Now that is an apology that I can use.
More on Aboriginal Apology here>>>>
Joe
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