6 August, 2003 5:20 PM
What a day! My head is full.
This morning I spent 3 hours listening to Gerard Kelly speaking on currents that the church is currently facing. Its interesting to hear someone from the other side of the world speak on something that we're finding right here in Australia to be true.
Whilst most of what he said was things that I've heard talked about numerous times before through my training with Forge and in my reading of books, blogs and other online resources - it was great to hear it again from a different persons lips.
Not sure I can really put into words just yet what the challenges that he's left us with. I'll attempt to do so tomorrow after spending another day with him in both a seminar and then in a small group 'round table' discussion with the Forge crew.
This afternoon I left Gerard's session early to get to my college class (The multicultural church). For the first hour of class we watched a video talking about Australia's immigration policies from 1945 to the 1970's. It left me feeling quite ashamed of my countries approach to other cultures. The lecture that followed didn't leave me feeling much better as we talked about the century or so proceeding 1945 and the time since.
I am disturbed by the foundations that my nation has been built upon since the European invasion 200 or so years ago. The way we treated this lands indigenous people - the selfish approach to who we will allow in since this time with our 'White Australia Policy' (which was only disbanded 40 years ago) and in more recent times our approach to refugees.
Yes we have become a multicultural nation in the last 30 or so years - but this afternoon I feel such a mix of emotions. Shame, anger, grief and distress just to name a few.
Comments
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I guess I always thought North America was the only region colonized by Europeans to the great detriment of the native peoples. I was fortunate enough to see the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence" at a local community college, with a large group from the community, including many Native Americans. The comparison was clear between the Native Americans and the native Australians (what's the current term?) that were pushed around when the whites came. Their stories left me speechless, and with no desire to defend the actions of, as you rightly put it, the European invaders.
Justin Baeder » 7 August, 2003 1:40 AM