Lesbians on the Loose May 2000 THE CRUEL 10% While the Federal Government debate and deny just how many children were taken from their families, Australia's indigenous people continue to suffer the indignity and disgrace of the stolen generations. This is Deborah Cheetham's story. I want to admit right away that maths has never been my forte, but on that Tuesday as I lay in bed still numb from the blow I had just been dealt by Senator Herron, even I could work out three out of nine equals 30 percent. Yes three out of nine children were stolen from my Aboriginal mother in the mid to late 1960s and I was one of them. As if the denial of the existence of our stolen generations wasn't devastating enough, I feel the ten percent was a particularly cruel figure to pluck from thin air. For the affected Aboriginal families, already marginalised by economic disadvantage, racial discrimination and lack of understanding of their culture, this means an even greater, harsher marginalisation. My own story is one that will be familiar to some of you as it is told in my autobiographical play White Baptist Abba Fan. I was taken from my Aboriginal mother, Monica, in 1964 by a Salvation Army Officer who had led her to believe that I would be taken care of while she went to look for work. When Monica came back I was gone. Unlike many children of an earlier decade or century I was not sent in to domestic service - read slavery. No, I had the love of parents who worked hard to give me every opportunity in life Sadly they did not realise how intrinsic my Aboriginality, like my sexuality, was. 0ccasionally I find myself in secondary school teaching adolescent children. As such an occasion presented itself this week, I decided to conduct a survey designed to gauge the typical viewpoint of tomorrow's lea4ers. There were six boys in this Year 12 class. all aged seventeen, one more year and their opinions will make a difference at the polls I tried to weigh the questions of the survey as objectively as possible I began by asking if they were aware of the central issues regarding indigenous Australians currently debated in Parliament, and reported by the media. They were quick to answer, "mandatory sentencing, reconciliation, and stolen generation". Even more impressive was their grasp of the issues. When asked how mandatory sentencing is identified as a racial issue one student explained that lack of education and poverty meant that Aboriginal youths were more likely to offend. They were even up to date with the amendments made to the law, raising the age from seventeen to eighteen. So far so good, after all I hadn't really sought any opinions at this stage - I'd played it safe....how unlike me! I thought it was worthwhile finding out how many Aboriginal people their own age they actually knew. Three. Consider, this is a selective boy's high school nestled in comfortable, established suburbia in the heart of the northern bible belt of Sydney. Makes you squirm a little? Sound familiar at all? How many of us have evolved from the very same background? 0f the six students two held strong opinions and were well informed, one was well informed and concerned but a fence sitter (probably a Libran), two were too immature for the discussion and did little more than snigger incomprehensible responses, and one other was a little too intimidated by the sniggering ones to say much at all. Looking at the clock I decided the time was right to take a risk with these kids. The bell was about to ring and soon they would be set free into the jungle playground to devour their lunch. Is the statement of regret adequate? Is it as powerful as an apology? At this point, silence - the kind you can cut with a knife. The savvy boys realised, probably for the first time, that they were talking to an Aboriginal person The well informed boys immediately stated their opinions: 1. "Aboriginal people deserve an apology, regret is not enough". 2 "(Australians) should not have to apologise". This made me wonder if informed boy number two considered Aboriginal people to be Australians. Further silence. 3."A statement of regret is not as powerful as an apology � but it is probably good enough" 4.Shrug...snigger look around for support. 5.Chew..chew..."What was the question?" fi. "There needs ta be an apology...I think?" Alarmingly these boys are a pretty fair representation of a cross-section of the broader Australian community. They knew that the forced removal of Aboriginal children officially ended in NSW in the 1960s, they had only ever encountered Aboriginal people in the sporting arena and the majority felt the issues held little relevance in their own lives. Alter all they'd never met a member of the stolen generation...well not until fifth period that day. I wonder what impact the class had on them - if any. I also wonder who you are reading this article. Am I preaching to the choir or are you one of those who feels an apology is trouble in the making? I meet people all the time, in all walks of life who have no hesitation in telling me what is enough to heal the wounds caused by my forced removal from my mother, my family and my culture at just three weeks of age. Is there someone reading this who is afraid of massive compensation claims if an official apology is issued by the Prime Minister? Perhaps you know someone who is forever suggesting this as a valid reason for the present government to continue to live in denial of the past. I am one of the stolen generation. I do not want money. l want acceptance. Acceptance of the truth. As for Mr. Howard's 10 percent claim that there was never a generation of stolen children - I cannot tell you how hated and rejected I felt the day I heard that announcement I felt all sense of belonging and acceptance stripped away - and if it can do that to me as I watch the news from the comfort of my lounge room with the love and support of my partner to keep me from going completely under, how must those Aboriginal people living under a plastic sheet on the corner of Redfern's Eveleigh Street feel, whose families were no doubt torn apart some time earlier this century, never to be mended, when they hear their suffering trivialised by a government too weak to face the truth. Where will this all end? Hopefully net in flames as Mr. Perkins suggests, although I do understand his anger. I know it, 1 feel it. Anger will not be the solution but I feel it is inevitable that it will be part of the process. Trouble at 0lympic time? Well I feel SOCOG doesn't really need any extra help in that department, they seem to be doing fine on their own. No, I believe the Aboriginal protest will be dignified. Already I have been approached by spin doctors working for the Federal Government to take part in a video presentation highlighting the progress we are making towards reconciliation Oh yes! Wouldn't I make a wonderful assimilation success story -oh, except for the lesbian part ... and the nervous breakdown at 30 years of age and the constant search for a place to belong...and the over whelming truth that I will always live between worlds too white to be black, too black to be white, trying desperately to understand both cultures and find harmony between them. John Howard - you are not helping ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
