Grandmothers say ‘Bring our babies home’

Grandmothers say ‘Bring our babies home’.

We march to mark seven years since then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an “apology” to the Stolen Generations of the 20th century, an apology loaded with the worst hypocrisy, given the crescendo of forced child removals that took place under the watch of his government.

There are currently more than 15,000 Aboriginal children in so-called “out of home care”. The majority of these removals are for alleged “neglect” — the exact rationale provided for tens of thousands of 20th century removals. It is a term used to denigrate Aboriginal culture and the love and care provided by Aboriginal families and communities. It is a term that masks the systematic neglect of governments that enforce conditions of extreme poverty and social trauma on our communities. It is a term used to justify a continuing project of forced assimilation.

We march to demand recognition of the continuing sovereignty of our nations and our fundamental right to determine our own future — we have been camping with the National Freedom Movement at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy for the last three weeks and support their manifesto.

We demand Aboriginal control of Aboriginal child welfare and a massive transfer of resources into Aboriginal hands to deal with unacceptable social conditions. We demand an end to the removals and a moratorium on the use of police armed with guns, batons and pepper spray to take children.

…

We demand the full domestic implementation of the 1948 Genocide Convention into Australian law by repealing section 268.121 and 268.122 of the International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002, in order to enable a challenge to the destruction of our religion, culture, bloodlines and communities by forced child removal and creating conditions of life set to destroy the group in whole or in part.

Emphasis Mine

The invisible genocide. We trained to avert our eyes. We are educated to see the Aborigines as less than human. In this miasma of racism, we refuse to see this geonocide because the press keeps telling us that white people are civilised, and that the non-whites are the barbarians with their strange religions, beliefs, and cultures.

How can one stop absorbing this racism through what we read, listen to, and warch? The first step is to admit that it is happening. Denial of racism is its strongest support.

It is always easy to see racism in others. It is extremely painful to reflect upon our own prejudices and practices, for we consider ourselves to be good people.

But, we must do this daily. From that reflection comes a plan of action. The plan will be flawed as will be shown by experience, and mistakes will be made. Then further reflection is needed. But we will have learned as we hobble along the rocky path out of racism.