I am reposting a disturbing news story from Australia, currently circulating on Facebook, about two Aboriginal Elders who were racially vilified, then pepper sprayed and arrested by police in the foyer of the Cambridge Hotel, in Sydney, where they were staying whilst taking a Business Governance Course for men from the "Stolen Generations".
Both the men had, as children, endured the abuse of removal from their families and placement into the notorious Kinchela Boys Home- and one was holding a placard referring to this (as shown in photo below). They were taken from their families as children, as part of Australian "assimilation" of Aboriginal people, into "white Australia" and placed in the notorious Kinchela Boys Home, which has since been revealed as a place of extreme inhumane abuse of children.
The assimilation policies known as "the Stolen Generations" were part of the White Australia policy that was designed to eliminate the Aboriginal peoples. It worked on the false and racist premise that Aboriginals were a dying race, and tried to do all it could to make this happen, by removing Aboriginal children from their mothers and families, and placing them in homes as wards of state, and in adoptive families. It did this also through the rape of Aboriginal women; as the policy was designed to be able to remove all children who were not "full blood" Aboriginal people. These policies were designed to eradicate the Aboriginal languages and culture. Children taken from their mothers and families suffered extreme pain as a result.
Yet this has not destroyed the Aboriginal peoples in this country.
As a culture and as a society in Australia we need to support those who had, and still have to, bear the pain of the worst abuses of "assimilation" of the white Australia Policy that was dropped in the 1960s.
We need to apologise as a culture and society to those who were wronged and whose childhood was stolen by these now defunct policies.
And we need to respect and support the survivors of these policies which were harmful to so very many.
We also need to acknowledge that the people who have had to live with this abuse all their lives need more open support and public understanding, for the deep suffering this has caused. As a society we all have to work together to move beyond such abuse, and support those who have suffered the most- Aboriginal peoples and all of their descendants, which may include far more of us than we know.
80% of all Aboriginal people do not have official records to prove their descent. This is because the official records were destroyed, falsified or not kept.
This is a photo of the two Aboriginal Elders from the Stolen Generation that were excessively arrested. Both men were staying at the Cambridge Hotel in Surry Hills for their Business Governance Course that was being held there for 4 days where a large group of Stolen Generation men from 3 different states of Australia were undergoing their studies. Mr Egan was racially vilified by the desk manager at the Cambridge Hotel which then Mr Egan stood up for himself and voiced his opinion to the manager and the police were called upon and the situation transfered over to the police outside the hotel.
Mr Egan (bottom) holding the Kinchela Boys Home Sign was thrown to the ground with extreme force and his head had come in contact with the hard cement pavement.
Mr Ridgeway (Above) sitting behind Mr Egan in the photo came to the aid of his fellow Kinchela Boys Home Brother and stood up to the police officers and voiced his strong opinion on his mate's treatment dished out, in no way what so ever was Mr Ridgeway a threat to these two young white police officers one male and one female who were then joined by several other officers to apparently subdue both men, one 65 yrs of age and the other 59yrs of age, Mr Ridgeway was then Pepper Sprayed in the eyes by the female officer and manhandled with force when he was arrested. Mr Ridgeway if had been tazered would not be alive today due to his very serious heart condition.
Please go and like and share the page around to spread the word both nation wide and internationally about the police's treatment of our people. THIS HAS TO STOP NOW!!!
www.facebook.com/stolengenerationpeppersprayed
1 comment:
I am an Aboriginal women I study in Sydney at the Aboriginal Health College. As alot of people know students who study at the health college stay at the Cambridge Hotel. Myself and another student in a different class them me have put a petition together to had to the college over this incident as we all feel that the collge should not use the services if this is how our elders are going to be treated. we have got 36 signatures already concidering we only wrote this up at 3 pm this afternoon 30/4/13. We feel that the college should be awear of the incident even if these elders didnt have anything to do with th college. Its about respecting us as people. The cambridge hotel gets alot of buisness through the college, concidering its not cheap so they are getting a big pay check at the end of a week from the college. We as students feel we would not like to use the service if they treat our people this way and would like the college to take their buisness to another hotel in which our people are treated with respect and treated like people.
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