Australian Aboriginal leaders demand huge payout after 'Sorry' is said

which type of dollar? Australlian I assume. Well I would be pissed if I had my peoples land taken away. It could be argued that 1billion isn't enough.

 

Its pretty stupid.

Put it into context for us, if a homophobe bashed you then said "sorry", would you expect a huge pay out for that? I know I wouldn't. I'd be happy with the sorry, maybe even try to become friends with the person if hes bearable and maybe teach him about homosexuality.

 

But I doubt the australlian people back then just said something derogretory, if its anything like what i've learned about the black slave trade (treatment wise, not the fact that they were shipped all over the world), then i really do think that they deserve it. Also, wait... forgot what i was gonna say... urhmm... ah yeah i remember, i think your looking at it as giving 1billion to just a group of people, but its a whole race of people, so when the moneys spread around, its not gonna be a considerable amount really. Its like donating 2billion (dollars, pounds? whatever) to some african country. That money really wouldn't drasticly change things.

 

Sorry is only a part of reconsiliation

I dont think compinsation is what neccicarily should be done im sure that many australians not just pauline hanson would not be happy in compinsating aboriginal and toris strait islanders for somthing that we personly did...

But what we have done is ignored aboriginal australians in most areas expecialy in the areas of health and education whitch we must take responcibility for...

What is neccisry is improvements in indiginous health and education you just need to look at some of the statistics between people of indiginous heritige and those who are not they are shocking

This is what many people who are aposed to reconsiliation were fering that admiting that somthing wrong was done could lead to legal action but i belive in austrlia you can not sue the government

For those who dont know who pauline hanson is here is a passage from her maiden speach to parlement this section refers to her thoughts on indiginous australians...

 

Aboriginals get enough compensation just for being Aboriginals as it is.

 

note they are asking for compinsation for the stolen generation

goverments are compinsating former wards of the sate who were abused whilst in there care

they are not asking for compinsation for anything else i wouldent say that they get enough compinsation because they are aboriginal expecialy because the life exectancy of an aboriginal is significantly less than a non aboriginal or the rates of finishing high school are mutch less than non aboriginal

 

I'm sure that some our more learned Canadians on EC can say exactly what Canada has done to rectify the situation here.
We've had long term barricades on land settlement claims,blocking main highways and rail lines.People have been shot and killed.
We've created a new Territory called Nunavut.
There are those that say we owe a lot of "Sorries" to Aboriginal Peoples.

 

Canada has done precious little. I mean, they've done stuff, but it's been totally grudging and has never systemically addressed the problem.

As for "if you move to a country where you or your family didn't have anything directly to do with whichever cultural genocide(s) happened in that country..." that's pretty myopic thinking, ultimately. I mean, it makes sense on the surface, sure. But what people fail to see is basically the old adage that no one is free until everyone is. It's the difference between communitarian thinking and being in it for yourself (or, barely more palatably, you and your family).

That and I don't think most people have the capacity or the inclination to actually try to understand what it would be like to come from a group of people who were just--I mean, railroaded doesn't even BEGIN to describe it. Why should new immigrants to a country care about that country's bloody past and why should they contribute to reparations for it? Because ostensibly they've come to that country for a better life or because they believe in that country, so surely you'd want to contribute to making that nation better and making sure all the citizens of that nation are equal and honoured.

 

This argument could easily turn racist. Not that is should be. I think as a general rule people can't just expect all this money all the time, compensation has to end some where and people shouldn't just get if for everything. Everyone who claims compensation should actually think "Do I deserve this?" and "Can the person who's paying it really afford it?" "Will it make me feel better" and "Does this mean the person will have been served justice?"

Sometimes people claim compensation for the silliest things. I'm not saying that the aboriginals didn't go through a lot but just that Is this really going to help Reconciliation on a national scale or just worsen the situation. I mean look at some of the aboriginal communities at the moment. Some people are just taking advantage of the money they already get and not only not having a job but not helping their own community. I admit the last thing I said was a generalization but with everything that has happened in Australia's and other counties' histories you'd expect we wouldn't just be giving money out anymore. Money that could be spent on alcohol and drugs!

 

Obviously, the governments in countries like Canada, Australia, and the United States haven't done enough to help the native people who originally inhabited their countries. But on the other hand, it doesn't make any sense over two centuries later to decide to totally bow down to every single claim of land, or monetary request, they make. I believe, and this may only be me, that those kind of actions only further aid in keeping the natives isolated and unassimilated.

I remember two years ago a native group tried to annex prime real-estate located directly on the shore of Long Island. Not only was the tribe's territory located in Rockland and Westchester counties at the time of the English/Dutch settlement, they specifically stated that they wanted the land to build a casino. Allowing a tribal group to claim land that they never inhabited, and asking for a federal grant to build their casino on that land, would be totally ridiculous.

 

That is an article about a native tribe out west that has recently taken action against the U.S. government.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317548,00.html