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I got the stupidest email today
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 288209" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>When I was growing up they were still taking "half-caste" aboriginal kids away from Aboriginal mothers in the mistaken belief that the kids would do better being brought up white and away from a culture which (the government beleived) was rejecting them.</p><p></p><p>We lived with the term "half-caste" and it was not intended in a derogatory way. But we now understand that Aboriginality is indepndent ofhow many generations removed you are - if ANY ancestor was Aboriginal, then so are you, in the eyes of Aboriginal culture.</p><p></p><p>And now - "half-caste" is seen as a term designed to indicate a place in a priorty system. Kids who were raised to call themselves "half-caste" were trained to think of themselves as superior to darker Aboriginals but inferior to whites. A very wrong attitude. Even if this attitude was not intended to be taught, it was an inevitable result of the whole system of "save the saveable and leave the rest".</p><p></p><p>Colour is not an indication of race. A family we know living nearby - the mother & kids are Aboriginal. The son has obvious Aboriginal features but his father's Scandinavian colouring - pale skin and stiff white-blonde hair. His mother says that when they go back to tribal country to visit family, they all crowd round her son because his looks are so unusual. He tans dark in summer but goes pale over winter.</p><p>At the school I was talking to a group of Aboriginal women (it was NAIDOC week - National Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander week) and we were talking about stolen gneration stuff and things I didn't know despite my actually going to school with "mission" kids. I was struck by the appearance of one of the women - again, classic Aboriginal facial features, but red hair and freckles! She very much considered herself to be Aboriginal and claimed access to the heritage - I was glad she had that right. Despite her colouring there was no way she could ever pretend to NOT be Aboriginal.</p><p></p><p>The thing is - it's not about colour of your skin. It's about where you call home, what culture you claim to have a right to.</p><p></p><p>it's such a shame your daughter in law doesn't get it.</p><p></p><p>When any person keeps pushing the race card in any way like this, the child gets the message. Not necessarily the message they intend to send, either. I suspect daughter in law is the last person to ever consider herself to be racist in any way, but she's pretty darn hamfisted about it.</p><p></p><p>As for that term - it's not used in Australia. The Aboriginal term for whitefella is "gubba". Or "balandra". It varies depending on where you are. And I'm not going around referring to myself as gubba, unless I'm in a group of Aboriginals who ask me which tribe I belong to. Only then is it even relevant.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 288209, member: 1991"] When I was growing up they were still taking "half-caste" aboriginal kids away from Aboriginal mothers in the mistaken belief that the kids would do better being brought up white and away from a culture which (the government beleived) was rejecting them. We lived with the term "half-caste" and it was not intended in a derogatory way. But we now understand that Aboriginality is indepndent ofhow many generations removed you are - if ANY ancestor was Aboriginal, then so are you, in the eyes of Aboriginal culture. And now - "half-caste" is seen as a term designed to indicate a place in a priorty system. Kids who were raised to call themselves "half-caste" were trained to think of themselves as superior to darker Aboriginals but inferior to whites. A very wrong attitude. Even if this attitude was not intended to be taught, it was an inevitable result of the whole system of "save the saveable and leave the rest". Colour is not an indication of race. A family we know living nearby - the mother & kids are Aboriginal. The son has obvious Aboriginal features but his father's Scandinavian colouring - pale skin and stiff white-blonde hair. His mother says that when they go back to tribal country to visit family, they all crowd round her son because his looks are so unusual. He tans dark in summer but goes pale over winter. At the school I was talking to a group of Aboriginal women (it was NAIDOC week - National Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander week) and we were talking about stolen gneration stuff and things I didn't know despite my actually going to school with "mission" kids. I was struck by the appearance of one of the women - again, classic Aboriginal facial features, but red hair and freckles! She very much considered herself to be Aboriginal and claimed access to the heritage - I was glad she had that right. Despite her colouring there was no way she could ever pretend to NOT be Aboriginal. The thing is - it's not about colour of your skin. It's about where you call home, what culture you claim to have a right to. it's such a shame your daughter in law doesn't get it. When any person keeps pushing the race card in any way like this, the child gets the message. Not necessarily the message they intend to send, either. I suspect daughter in law is the last person to ever consider herself to be racist in any way, but she's pretty darn hamfisted about it. As for that term - it's not used in Australia. The Aboriginal term for whitefella is "gubba". Or "balandra". It varies depending on where you are. And I'm not going around referring to myself as gubba, unless I'm in a group of Aboriginals who ask me which tribe I belong to. Only then is it even relevant. Marg [/QUOTE]
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