Resentment
By Greg Spearritt
A sentiment that comes up repeatedly in the Voice debate is resentment at the apparent ‘privileges’ given to First Nations Australians. The proposed Voice is seen as (‘yet another’) example of “special treatment”.
Paul Kelly belled the cat on this concept some thirty years ago:
I never spoke my mother’s tongue
I never knew my name
I never learnt the songs she sung
I was raised in shame
I got special treatment
Special treatment
Very special treatment…
Growing up in the 1960s I was blissfully unaware of the special treatment that had been, as was still being, dished out to First Australians. Our forebears stole their land, their languages, their autonomy, their dignity, their children and their wages.
How is it possible for non-Indigenous Australians to feel aggrieved about a group of people whose gross mistreatment they have directly benefitted from?
Possibly many are still simply ignorant of one of the key reasons we actually are a ‘lucky’ country. Luck has little to do with it. At base, the colonial project is “despotism with theft as its final object”. 1. Yet so many of us resent the people whose land, labour and resources have helped to make us a particularly wealthy nation.
Is it ignorance? Repressed guilt? Or both?
- George Orwell, Burmese Days
Disclaimer: views represented in SOFiA blog posts are entirely the view of the respective authors and in no way represent an official SOFiA position. They are intended to stimulate thought, rather than present a final word on any topic.
Photo: Riotgrrll, CC BY-SA 4.0
Slander against, and hatred of, First Nations runs parallel with our high rates of domestic violence and femicide. We pick on the person or group we perceive to be the weakest target; we load our self-hatred on to them, then attack them for making us feel so bad about ourselves and the way we treat them.
“Now Look What You Made Me Do”.
Signs of moral cowardice all round. I fear humans are retreating to our Heart of Darkness. My current reading material includes Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko and The Nine by Gwen Strauss (WW2 concentration camps). Netanyahu on the news every night doesn’t help. Where has our joy and compassion gone?
Unfortunately time cant stand still for ever and at some point we do have to move on and come together without divisiveness. Its articles like these that create more division.
I would much rather hear positive stories about how some things are working better. Or how to improve things that are not working ie diabetes in aboriginal communities or violence in communities.
Truth doesn’t have to be divisive, but it is important. For a positive view (and some suggestions) on the value of truth-telling, the Ration Shed at Cherbourg is well worth a visit. (See https://sof-in-australia.org/article/a-visit-to-the-ration-shed/)