So another country, another form of racism. Not that I can offer any defence or particularly insightful comments on where I come from either, it's just in other people's country's there is the ability to be the outsider looking in and so is possibly a more objective view...??
In Broome I have seen more Aboriginals than further south in Western Australia and yet they are no more integrated into this society than the very white one further south. And disappointingly I have yet to meet an Aboriginal or chat to one for more than a nod of the head. From what I understand there has been a lot of past misdeeds directed at the Aborignal population; the initial settlers aiming to annihilate them being rather a major misdeed. Uncomfortable thought really.
In recent times the governments of the day have tried to rectify the wrongs of the past, but seem to be going about it in such a way is to keep Aborinals and white Australians totally alienated from each other. There are, of course, no easy solutions but it seems that man's inhumanity to man continues in its current guise resulting in not being able to reconcile differences and move into the future together. I think I may be rather an idealist in this respect, but here's hoping.
As a traveller there seems very little difference that I can make for the short period of time that I am here. Visiting their National Parks (now leased back to the Government though) and buying directly from them seems to be about the sum of it. How can I, as a foreigner, help them integrate into a society which isn't even one that I belong to? And more to the point, why should they integrate into a relatively young society when their's has been in existence for centuries? Issues of equality and culture seem to raise more questions than it does provide answers. Maybe once I've left the country I'll have the benefit of hindsight and objectivity and be able to see things in a different light.
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