irene wrote
yes - to appropriate our culture is not the way it is perhaps a guide in
your journey to find a self a spirituality that lay under the rubble of
centuries of colonialism. the work for white folk is to regain an
indigenous identity wherever it originates, so it is a process of - start
digging up the rubble a lot of work but while there is an indigenous spirit
alive there is always guidance and direction for those who seek to
re-establish their own indigenous way of being...
to sit and talk reconciliation as i have always said and written about in
unison with many other indigenous voices is not the way,
----------
> From: Peter McGrath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [recoznet2] reconcilliation
> Date: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 7:39 AM
>
> Hi to all in the group and thanks for your postings. Just have a couple
of
> thoughts to put up and see if they get any response. Interested in how
> people feel about this.
> I have spent the last ten years working in australia on community
> development and justice and equity projects and am wondering if we, as a
> nation are not headed in the wrong direction on Reconciliation. I was
with
> a Tiwi lady last week who asked if I really expected her to be reconciled
> with the "mainstream" culture in Australia. I have to admit that this set
> me back a little. After a few minutes thinking about my and my families
> history at the hands of "white" australia i agreed with her that it would
> be foolish. A bit like going to bed with a known rapist and hoping that
> they will change because we are nice!
>
> Should not our efforts be instead based on reforming white society
instead.
> I am not refering, here, to trying to reform the racist and brutal areas
of
> politics, but of going behind that to the root causes of our racism. I
> believe that in a very real sense the brutality of what has happened to
> anglo-celts and other forced migrants including european POW's has left a
> deep scar on our psyche.
> The divorce from "our home lands" has in many ways crippled us
spiritually.
> And our Kurri, Murri and TI Friends are right to say that it is the land
> that nurtures us.
>
> Should we, as people who believe in a just society, be working towards
> reconciling, white australia to its own lack of spirituality. My belief
is
> that we as a group should ?perhaps? focus on developing an indigenous
> "white" spirituality. While this may sound crazy i am 8th generation
> Australian and while i, personally, feel a deep connection with the land,
i
> dont feel that it would be appropriate to apropriate Indigenous
spirituality.
>
> I put this forward because i am no longer sure of my position on
> "Reconciliation," at least as it stands now.
>
>
>
>
>
> Peter F (possum) McGrath
> Po Box 7136 East Brisbane
> QLD 4169
> E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.tals.qut.edu.au/staff/peter/index.htm
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