Electing Barack better that saying we are sorry!

_______________________
GOOD MORNING FLINT !
______________________
Date 02/13/08
By Terry Bankert Posted full article first to Flint Talk THEN summarized, for discussion, also posted to: http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=24788#24788
Full article at Google blog Good Morning Flint, http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/ with citations.(AT THE VER BOTTOM OF THIS POST) also posted to MLIVE Flint JOURNAL Flint Community blogs, Flint Citizen, Craigs list, Face Book, My Space and . Please circulate and post freely. Do you have suggestions for other sites to post to. Recent BANKERT VLOGG on :Mediation #1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnHdn-Ilu0E ______________________

THE LONG AWAITED APOLOGY, WILL A NATION SAYING WE ARE SORRY SUFFICE?[TRB]

"A century ago, it was wrongly decided by officials of the Federal Government of this nation that Aborigines were not fit to raise their own children, that it would benefit those children to be taken - by force if necessary - away from their natural families and placed in institutional care, where they could be raised in the ways of white Australia. It has been estimated that as many as one in three, or as few as one in 10 Aboriginal and part Aboriginal children were taken from their families. [TDTC]

Apology to Aborigines hailed as historic shift for Australia [AFP]

The reading of Australia's apology and the parliamentary vote was broadcast nationally, and people across the country watched, from the Outback breakfasts to the school assemblies.[SFG]

I thought I would look at this because I know little of aborigines and also wondered how this may be like others requests for reparations [trb]

WHICH WOULD BE BETTER, AN NATIONAL DAY OF I’M SORRY, OR ELECTING BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT?

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian media and analysts Thursday hailed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to Aborigines for past injustices as marking an historic shift for the nation.[AFP]

A nation saying they are sorry to a " People". The closest we have come is the Jimmy Swaggart crying apology when he was caught.[trb]

RUDDS SPEECH

"Today we honor the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologize for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologize especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia. "—END RUDDS SPEECH—

THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER HEADING SAY "SORRY"

With the word "Sorry" splashed across front pages in huge type along with pictures of weeping and cheering Aborigines, newspapers devoted entire sections to what the Daily Telegraph called "a unique and radiant moment."[AFP] see:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/index/0,,5016323,00.html

Like most commentators, however, the paper said in an editorial "the brutal truth is that unless it is followed up with a program of substance and originality, the aftermath of yesterday will merely be a hollow symbolism."[AFP]

WHERE IS THE STOLEN GENERATION

To find Wilcannia's Stolen Generation, you had to take a right turn at the pub and drive a few kilometers out of town until you reached the cemetery.[TDT]

And there, beneath endless mounds of dry red earth, many of them unmarked, they lay. [TDT]

There were the babies, faded stuffed toys and plastic flowers turned brittle by the heat covering many of their small dirt graves. There were teenagers and too many others in their 20s and 30s.[TDT]

There were generations of Wilcannia's people, the Barkindji and others, stolen by disease, by violence, by alcohol and sometimes by their own hand.[TDT]

The word "sorry" may have echoed around Australia yesterday. But its sound was faint by the time it made it here.[TDT]

The Australian described Wednesday's apology in parliament as "by any measure a historic day in the life of the nation, its parliament and, crucially, in relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians."[AFP]

The Sydney Morning Herald said the prime minister's speech generated "a nationwide emotional release -- a collective sigh of relief that this long-awaited moment had finally come."[AFP]

DO AMERICANS NEED THIS NATIONAL SIGH OF RELIEF?

Thousands of people watching the historic ceremony jeered and booed while others turned their backs as Dr Nelson spoke in support of the apology, while rejecting calls for compensation for indigenous children taken from their families.[TDT]

In an address broadcast live on giant screens around the country, Rudd apologized to Aborigines for injustices over two centuries of white settlement, saying he wanted "to remove a great stain from the nation's soul."[AFP]

"We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," he told parliament.[AFP]

Rudd also pledged practical measures to improve health, education and housing for Australia's most impoverished minority.[AFP]

"The reality of the apology, I hope, signals a far deeper intent to remedy the situation quickly with the participation of the Aboriginal leadership," said Pat Dodson, former chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.[AFP]

Several Aboriginal leaders have also called for financial compensation for victims of the "Stolen Generations" policy under which Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families to be raised in white institutions.[AFP]

The symbolism is important, but the key to a lasting process of "reconciliation" is the eradication of the social inequities to which the majority of Aborigines - not just the Stolen Generation - are still heir. [TDTC]

High infant mortality, chronic poverty, high unemployment, high rates of imprisonment, chronic drug abuse and alcoholism, family violence and assault on children; they are the problems - and, it must be said, the identifiers - of Aboriginality in this country. Is an "apology" warranted for those wrongs as well? If so, let’s say we’re sorry, and let’s mean it. [TDTC]

"No one out there believes compensation is an issue that will go away," said indigenous leader Lowitja O'Donoghue.[AFP]

But, for the moment, newspapers reflected a sense of fundamental change in the nation.[AFP]
"Growing up as an Aboriginal child, looking into the mirror of Australia was difficult and alienating," Linda Burney, a cabinet minister in New South Wales state government, wrote in the Australian.[AFP]

"Your reflection was at best ugly and distorted, and at worst non-existent... There was always that nagging sense of not belonging, like a piece of a puzzle was missing.[AFP]

In Redfern yesterday, Aborigines wept silently as they received their apology.[TDT]

When it was over, a small group retreated to the top of Eveleigh St, where they sipped beer from long-neck bottles and quietly digested Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's words.[TDT]

Among the older generation, the reaction was gracious and dignified.[TDT]

Not for them the anger and resentment of previous decades - instead, they said they would accept the apology in the spirit it was offered and pledged to ensure their community's survival by leading it into the future.[TDT]

"Something like this just erases everything, that's what I say," said Enid Williams, who accepted the apology on behalf of several family members who were removed from their homes several decades ago.[TDT]

"We're going to be looked at differently as a result of this apology," she added. "We're getting the respect we want and truly deserve."[TDT]

"February 13, 2008, has allowed me to finally fill in the last piece of my jigsaw."[AFP]

We should understand an apology, by itself, will solve nothing. Commitment to change - by Aborigines as much as non-indigenous Australians - is what is needed[TDTC]

"This is a historic day," said Tom Calma, who was selected by Stolen Generations organizations to give a formal response to the apology. "Today our leaders across the political spectrum have chosen dignity, hope and respect as the guiding principles for the relationship with our nation's first people."[SFG]


JOIN THE FLINT AREA INTERNET MOVEMENT,
HERE ARE SUGGESTIONS;
FLINT BLOG CENTRAL
http://www.mlive.com/blogs/flint/index.ssf
Here you could start your own google blog for Flint Journal/MLIVE posting
FLINT DISCUSSION CENTRAL
http://www.flinttalk.com/viewforum.php?f=2
Here you can register and join in the debate topice or start your ownhttp://attorneybankert.com/

Other internet access sites where you can participate
GOOD MORNING FLINT!http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
You can comment here to my dailey posts.
FACEBOOKhttp://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362
Join Facebook and become a FRIEND . I am creating a Flint area issues social/political/ community issues discussion group
MY SPACEhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=113559892
Same intent as Facebook but becoming less used
FLINT CITIZENhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Flintcitizen/
A Flint Area Politcal Action discussion groupt. Three locals campaign have vased from here
YOU TUBEhttp://www.youtube.com/user/terrybankert
You can comment on the VLOGGS
-----

Posted here by
Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/

—where did this stuff come from---

[AFP]
AFP
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZ0Wi5yZkbcDrqUHTDM66V5ncL8A

[TDT]
The Daily Telegraph
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/

[TDTR]
The Daily Telegraph Rudds Report
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/

[TDTC]
The Daily Telegraph
Changing is a True Apology
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/rogercoombs/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/changing_is_a_true_apology/

[SFG]
SFGATE.COM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/13/MNBNV17VT.DTL
---
Who am I:
http://attorneybankert.com/about.php

My Political party of Choice.
http://www.michigandems.com/join.html

Sphere: Related Content