Dear Editor,
The recent news of an apology from the prime minister of Australia, must have come to a great number of people in all countries of the world, this writer included, as a most moving revelation of inhuman acts of racism.The Australian leader was apologizing for the legalized wresting from their parents of many thousands of indigenous babies and young children by order of the white leadership.
These ‘orphaned’ children were placed in orphanages prepared for them and, no doubt, given the necessary schooling at primary level obviously with the intention that any indigenous language or any other aspects of the culture of the indigenous people that may have been developed would be reduced to a meaningless memory and ultimately completely forgotten, to be replaced by an English language and an European/English cultural orientation.
This atrocious act, racially inspired, could only have been officially endorsed by the body of Australian elected representatives and the majority of the electorate that put them in government.
The Act was passed in 1910 and put into effect shortly after. From 1910 to 2008, however, public opinion in Australia on this race question must have received several bits of convincing information that caused a change in public and party attitude (to the race question), which seems to have affected the political parties in that continent.In these circumstances the Australian leadership deserves to be highly commended but one needs to know what is the situation now? How have the adult orphans been treated since the ‘revocation’? There are many more questions that could be raised.
Yours faithfully,
R O Westmaas
