During
all this “Black Lives Matter” protests there is a shining light
among aboriginal people and her name is Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Now
here is a lady who is not afraid to speak the truth and I have
nothing but the utmost respect for her.
I
am including Jacinta's comments from June 11th below and also a video with more of her words.
I
woke up this morning to witness the following latest garbage coming
from the mouths of the uninformed.
A
petition to pull down the Captain Cook Statue in Cairns that has
10,000 signatures. One woman states that it represents the genocide,
the stolen generation and the loss of culture that occurred because
of this explorer.
Warren
Entsch, the member for Leichardt, can be applauded for his response
to the news, “Well let's get rid of the pyramids while we are at it
as it's the same sort of nonsense”.
Another
young woman said her Grandmother lives out near the statue and is a
constant reminder of the stolen generation.
Well
we can't have her being reminded of Australia's history so lets stop
all the billions of dollars of fortnightly payments going to
aborigines from the white racist Australian taxpayer, as surely this
is the biggest reminder of their loss of culture.
Jacinta
Price this country needs your voice to be heard and I am including
your words here now and I quote:
“Given we are
continually being denigrated as a nation and bombarded by accusations
of racism and bigotry, I felt it wasn’t only necessary to defend my
home and the country I love but to also provide the overwhelming
evidence that demonstrates these accusations are lies.
If we can’t
have pride in our own nation how are we expected to evolve
successfully? If we keep telling a particular demographic they are
victims of others of a certain skin colour we are effectively
removing that demographic’s agency and that, to me, is completely
un-Australian.
Here is a list of our
nation’s achievements toward Aboriginal Australia and dare I say
there’s very likely a whole lot that I have missed but we have to
start somewhere right?
1856 – In South
Australia all Men including Aboriginal Men were given the right to
vote.
1896 – In South
Australia all Women including Aboriginal Women were given the right
to vote, 32 years before Women in England were given that right.
1948 – It is not
well understood but no one in Australia was an Australian Citizen up
until this year. We were regarded as British Subjects until the
Citizenship Act was passed. Citizenship Rights were being extended to
Aboriginal Australians gradually throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s
by Coalition Governments’.
1962 – Aboriginal
Australians were granted the Right to Vote by a Coalition Government.
1964 – Aboriginal
Australians were virtually granted full Citizenship Rights under a
Coalition Government when the Aboriginal Ordinance was repealed.
1967 – The
Referendum went through with overwhelming support of well over 90% of
Australians voting to allow Aboriginal Australians to be included in
the Census and for Aboriginal Affairs to become a Commonwealth
responsibility. Another successful Coalition Government initiative.
1968 - The Equal Pay
decision was applied by a Coalition Government.
1970 - A state
Coalition Government in Victoria handed back the Lake Tyers reserve
to the Aboriginal community.
1971 - Senator Neville
Bonner, a Liberal, became our first Aboriginal Parliamentarian. Since
then there have been 43 Aboriginal MP’s throughout state and
federal Parliaments in Australia. To add to this 8 MP’s have
recorded Aboriginal Ancestry but have not been identified as
Aboriginal. The Northern Territory gave us the first and only
Government, at any level, led by an Indigenous Australian. This is
not widely known or celebrated because Chief Minister Adam Giles was
with the Country Liberal Party.
1976 – The NT Land
Rights Act was passed by a Coalition Government. Under this Act
around 45% of the land and 80% of the coastline of the NT has been
handed back to traditional owners, I’m one of them.
1992 – The High
Court overturned the Principal of Terra Nullius with the Mabo
Decision.
1993 – A Labor
Government passed the Native Title Act.
In Australia today we
have experienced historically significant acts of symbolism that
include the 1991 Reconciliation Walk Across Sydney Harbour Bridge.
For six hours 250,000 Australians of all backgrounds walked together
to demonstrate the fact we are not racist but are overwhelmingly in
support of Aboriginal Australia. We have spent a week every year
since commemorating this event and what it means.
A Labor Prime Minister
said ‘Sorry’ on May 26th 1998 in recognition of the impact of the
policies of forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
children from their families. These days and others are commemorated
every year to recognise historical injustices and to demonstrate that
everyday Australians DO care for the plight of Indigenous
Australians.
We spend days and
weeks each year recognising Aboriginal Australia in the following
ways:
National Apology
Day
National Sorry Day
National Close the Gap Day
Anniversary
of the Referendum
Reconciliation week
Mabo Day
Coming of the
Light
NAIDOC Week
National Aboriginal and Islander Childrens’
Day
International Day of
the worlds Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous Literacy Day
Anniversary
of the UN Declaration of Human Rights of Indigenous People
Throughout Australia
‘Welcome to Country’ or ‘Recognition of Country’ is applied
as standard ritual practice before events, meetings and social
gatherings by governments, corporates, institutions, primary schools,
kindergartens, high schools, universities, work places, music
festivals, gallery openings, conferences, and so on and so forth.
Aboriginal Australia
is a part of the daily life of us all in some way shape or form and
yet we are still facing accusations of racism in our nation. We have
been hoodwinked into believing that somehow reconciliation means
appeasing the aggrieved, those who refuse to forgive, and we are held
to ransom every time the goal posts are shifted.
The good will and
support of the Australian people is always on display and it has only
gathered momentum along the way.
It’s time now to
recognise the efforts of thousands of Australians throughout our
history who have done what was in their power to support Aboriginal
Australia including those who are not Aboriginal but who call us
family. It’s time to recognise that we cannot possibly be a racist
country if over 87% of people who identify as Aboriginal in
non-remote areas of Australia are in fact married to non-Aboriginal
Australians.
We must also remember
that our nation is not only simply black and white. We are rich with
the contribution of Australians of many backgrounds and this is one
of our greatest strengths as a nation. What of the 30% of Australians
who were born overseas, from every country on earth. Are they all
racist too?
It’s time to stop
feeding into a narrative that promotes racial divide, a narrative
that claims to try to stamp out racism but applies racism in doing so
and encourages a racist over reaction. Yes, it is time for some truth
telling.
We should be
celebrating what we have achieved together before the good will of
the nation runs out.”
More on Jacinta: CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO