Is the goverment racist?

[issaa]

Amadoda,

There is no excuse for what the colonialists did in Africa, Asia, Australia etc...

Whether it was mass extermination or Apartheid or stealing land... they're all the same!

Don't justify SA's racist whites actions ... just because they didn't wipe out a couple million blacks ... doesnt mean they're saints.

[Amadoda]

ISSA

"There is no excuse for what the colonialists did in Africa, Asia, Australia etc... "

AGREED


"Whether it was mass extermination or Apartheid or stealing land... they're all the same!"

DISAGREE

IMO mass extermination is far worse than apartheid.

And I stand by my opinion that if SA's whites had followed the same route as the US and OZ, there would be very little btw the 3 countries.

Fortunately they didn't and hence we are such a diverse nation. Perhaps we'll see the fruit 100 years from now.

Some things are more evil than others and this is why I strongly object to hypocrites like the US and AUS pointing fingers at SA

[zane]

i agree that what happened to the aborigines when australia was colonised by the british was a terrible thing, at the time the british thought that by separating lightly coloured aborigines from their parents and placing them with white families was benefiting the aborigines. Obviously it didnt. The british colonists did many other horrible things to the aborigines for no reason other than they were different and were seen as vunerable.

However, over the past years 'white' australia have been eager to repair the rift between ourselves and the aborigines...weve tried to make up for our ancestors actions by giving aborigines increased opportunities in education, provided them with health care and other forms of welfare and both primary and secondary schools teach students about aboriginal culture and what happened during the colonisation of australia.

Australians have been eager to reconcile however there are some aborigines who, whilst claiming that they want to reconcile, continue to find things that they feel r an injustice to them and were 'robbed' of by 'the white man', the lastest being the australian emblem, the emblem features both the kangaroo and emu on it (two native animals chosen because of theyre common attribute that they cannot walk backwards. The aborigines however feel that these two animals r theirs and that 'white australia' has no right to use them on the emblem. They even went so far as to steal the national emblem off parliament house!....the emblem does not represent white australians but ALL australians and it this aspect that aborigines continue to overlook...the aborigines might claim to be eager reconcile with 'white australia' however they continuously prove otherwise in their actions, more determined to further separate themselves from the rest of australia whilst claiming that they r being wronged.

I know that not all aborigines feel that they r victims and that not everything that is done is done just so that they can be further persecuted...there r some that r looking towards the future.

Ok ive probably gone a bit off track with this but i feel that internationaly (which was evident in ur comments)australians r seen as racist for something that happened long before my generation was born. Some of u may feel that is a pretty poor excuse and it probably is, however we cant continue to lay blame and agonise over past actions...we need to look at what was done and not necessarily look at what can be done to 'fix' past mistakes as i dont think its possible to rectify the atrocious events that took place, but it is possible to look at what can be done to better understand indigenous ppl and produce a country (whether it be aus, sa, or us) that will no longer have great divisions between the indigenious and 'white' ppl.

[Amadoda]

I don't think I explained myself properly.

I am not trying to lay blame on today's generation of Australians for the genocide committed a while ago.

Many white Australians and Americans have the nerve to talk about "Europeans" being largely in control of SA's economy etc...

This is complete rubbish. We are SOuth Africans and not European. White Americans consider themselves American not Europeans although they are definitely of European ancestry.

I know of a white South AFrican who emmigrated to AUstralia and could not believe the state of the Aboriginal community in her area. SHe said it was 3rd world just like black SA. With the whites having the same racist attitudes, about them being lazy and there condition being entirely a fault of their own. (It has nothing to do with the whole sale destruction of their way of life and nevermind the more recent "White AUstralia" policy.

The only difference is that the Aboriginals are a minority and blacks in SA are the majority. We all know why that is.

I am amused how you distance yourself from Australias racist history by laying all blame on "British colonists." Most of white Australia are the descendents thereof and there have been cases of Aboriginals being booted off their ancestral land in modern times to make way for ranches and mines. Unlike in SA there is no international outcry because they are a minority and voice is largely ignored.

[zane]

i said nothing about the white ppl in sa being european...they r south african just as much as white ppl in aust r australian...when i say australian i dont just think of white ppl i consider the aborigines to b australians to...where as most aborigines still see it as two separate ppls...we may have diff ancestrys but we r all living in the same country...

i agree there r some aborigines that do live in poor conditions however to lay all the blame on the 'white' man is unfair. aborigines have just as much accountability as 'white' australia. not all aborigines r lazy however there r some that have not wasted opportunities that have been extended to them and continue to blame evry1 else for their situation (some 'white' australians do too). There r those aborigines that have decided however that what happened in the past, as horrible as it was, should not prevent them from bettering their situation. it is these aborigines who i admire. there is no denying that they have it harder than white australians do, however the assistance is there if they really want to move towards the future and stop blaming the white man for evry little thing that is not right in their lives.

sorry that i am distancing myself from past events by placing the blame on those actually responsible for those events...next time my grandpa does something to hurt some1 else ill b sure to apologise for him and accept responsibility for his actions!!

[sagpillai]

Hugh Ray Sistkunt

[Amadoda]

Zane, you have purposefully misunderstood me.

"sorry that i am distancing myself from past events by placing the blame on those actually responsible for those events...next time my grandpa does something to hurt some1 else ill b sure to apologise for him and accept responsibility for his actions!!"

Would you describe your grandparents generation, I guess born anytime btw 1910-1945 as British colonists?