Some say that on February 13, the nation of Australia will be taking a monumental step forward, by apologising formally for some of the atrocities committed against the Aboriginal people. Others feel they personally haven’t done anything wrong and an apology on their behalf isn’t necessary. Or that an apology could lead to a series of astonishingly high compensation payouts.
Regardless of whether you agree with an apology or not, one thing is certain. The Rudd government is putting its heart on its sleeve; partly as a sincere gesture to Indigenous communities past and present and partly as a way of distancing itself from the previous government that focused more on the evasion of the topic than engagement with it.
But the question really needs to be asked. What will an apology actually do?
Will it help the current plight of the Aboriginal people? Will it improve the relationship between the Indigenous community and the English settlement? Or will it act as the catalyst for a series of economically crippling compensation requests? And are those requests justified?
The simple answer to this is that an apology will act as a symbol only. It will be worded in such a way that legally it will not implicate responsibility or encourage a mass wave of lawsuits. The government is smart enough to cover their own backsides when it comes to such a sensitive legal - not to mention financial - issue..
But how will a simple apology actually help fix the problems that many Indigenous Australians face today?
The simple answer? It won’t.
As a person who has spent a large amount of time working with projects aimed at helping Indigenous communities, in the city and the country, the voices I heard painted a complicated and painstakingly difficult situation to rectify.
The majority of white Australians have a limited relationship with Aboriginal communities at the best of times. Most city dwellers have encountered marginalized Aboriginals in parks or on the streets - often asking for spare change - after which the opinion is formed that Aborigines are riddled with alcohol and substance abuse problems.
It’s something that is hidden away in the recesses of our minds. But for the most part, sadly, this is the reality for many Aboriginal people, and for the most part, sadly, this is the way many white Australians perceive our Indigenous ancestors. There is a real distance that an apology will not be able to bridge.
The sexual, physical and substance abuses are an iron spike driven into the heart of Indigenous culture. Engagement with the Aboriginal elders reveals a chorus of voices –repeating the same mantra: Aboriginal people have lost touch with their own culture and indulge in myriad destructive replacements to fill a gigantic void.
In my own suburb of Redfern, I see on a daily basis the degradation and almost abject hopelessness of many Aboriginal people. At all times of the day crews of lost souls wander the streets looking for a drink to skull, a drug to shoot, or a person to rob.
Only last week I was the subject of a vicious bashing by a group of Aboriginal men outside my home. Luckily, I got off lightly and didn’t sustain any major injuries. But as I regained composure and dignity: After pulling myself off the ground it really made me think an apology will do nothing at all. An apology, in the proposed state of its presentation, is like putting a band-aid on a disembowelment.
An apology won’t stop the desperate rage locked inside a drunken Aboriginal man who has lost his ground and his connection to his culture. An apology won’t heal a child-rape victim who in the vicious cycle of abuse will in turn commit the same acts upon the next generation. And an apology won’t heal the disastrous effects of substance abuse that has riddled the Aboriginal community.
If Australia is to extend a hand, it must be a true one. It must include a realistic, proper look at the problems faced with Indigenous Australians, and a proper engagement with the spiritual leaders of the Aboriginal community, for the underlying problem, in many ways, is a spiritual one.
If the Rudd government is truly serious about repatriation with our Indigenous people, it needs more than a simple public relations campaign on one day. Real, grassroots initiatives in education, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, community resources and skills development are required to encourage Aboriginal people to reconnect with themselves.
But in addition to this, the Aboriginal community really must be able to see that its current path of abuse and violence will only lead to its own destruction. A perpetual cycle will not be broken by hand outs, or government assistance, but by a real commitment to driving out the demons that plague the culture.
