Imaginif

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd, will deliver the Australian Parliament’s “sorry” statement to all those affected by Australian policies that pursued the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. Why were the children removed from their families? Because they were black and “blacks” were seen as inferior and incapable of decent and moral parenting or of rearing good citizens.

This act of a public parliamentary sorry is a first step in recognising that archaic white Australian child protection policies were not child protection centric. Many of the children forcibly removed from their family, their country, their culture, were placed in nice white homes where physical, emotional and sexual abuse or exploitation became their childhood. Further, for those children placed in large church run institutions, ritual abuse, all in the name of God, was often perpetrated on Indigenous children. Shame on those who did this to our Indigenous children. No amount of “sorry” words can take away the pain that these children endured.

A citizen led, grass roots campaign is chalking up a notch for alternative ways to say sorry. The following viral campaign states:

From: David Shirley <david.shirley@layer8.com.au>
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:47:28 +1100
To: David Shirley <david.shirley@layer8.com.au>
Subject: Write ’sorry’ on your footpath.

Finally….the time has been booked for the Australian Government to say ‘sorry’ to the Stolen Generation. I know the Government is representative of all Australians when this apology is made on Wednesday at the opening of Parliament, but I think we all individually need to take this another step further.
 
Like ‘Eternity’ was written on our footpaths I am suggesting that for Wednesday ‘sorry’ be written on footpaths – everywhere. So buy yourself some chalk and on Wednesday morning when you walk out your door to go to wherever you go – take that short time to make an apology to our native Australians that make up the Stolen Generation.

Sorry,
David

I’m off to buy some chalk. It is one thing I can do to recognise that child protection statutes have not always been helpful. To children everywhere, black, white and brindle, I am sorry that we keep hurting you. There are some people who care.