Repairing Broken Dreams

Can you imagine how you might feel when you know you are a person, because you look like one, you walk, speak, act, eat ,sleep, work, hope, love, dream ... like one, but in the eyes of the world and all governing laws, you are not even considered exiting human beings? And your fathers, grandfathers and the ones before them, neither? Going as far back as 40,000 years, the Australian aborigines are the most ancient civilization of the planet, still living. Some of them took part a few years ago in Sydney in the worldwide celebration of the Day of the Youth, with the visit from the Pope Benedicto XVl present. They were not even recognized as human beings until as late as 1967!! Only then the referendum decided to include the aborigines in the census for the very first time. With some adjustments, the census concluded that the indigenes population was of 461,160 people, which represents 2,4% of the world's population. After this first and rather belated grant of citizenship, an open apology was effected by the Australian authorities to their compatriots, who were inhabitants of the islands even long before the colonization. On that scandalous late date, merely on the 13th of February 2008, the Prime Minister of the labour party, Kevin Rudd, presented an apology to the indigenes in the Parliament in Canberra. HIs predecessor, John Howard of the conservative party, eluded 10 whole years to do so. The official apology asked for forgiveness of the compatriots, 'for the laws and policies of the successive parliaments and governments, which had inflicted deep pain, suffering and loss '. He didn't add the part that such oversight had lasted centuries, historically termed as ' the bobbed generation ', from 1910 to just after 1970. During that 'lost' period, more than 50.000 aborigines children were practically yanked from their mothers' arms, to be taken away from their legion, and to be educated out of their culture, brought up by whites families and institutes. Totally pulling them out of their roots, wiping out all traces of their backgrounds. May the next 40,000 years be the peaceful and prosperous ones for everyone of them. Tags:aborigines,indigenes,Australia