deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Farscape (Aeryn))
deird1 ([personal profile] deird1) wrote in [personal profile] lirazel 2010-02-24 08:36 pm (UTC)

Just by the way (because it's important), you guys have both said "aboriginal", and it absolutely needs a capital.


Mini version of my rant:
I went to a presentation yesterday, and the first speaker started by saying "Firstly, I'd just like to acknowledge that this land is, and always will be, the home of the Aboriginal peoples. I'd especially like to acknowledge the C_____ tribe, and welcome any of their descendants who are here today." - and no-one saw anything the least bit unusual in that, because it's reasonably common practice around here.
And as I said to [livejournal.com profile] molly_may, doing anything remotely Aboriginal would generally involve us checking with tribal elders to make sure it wasn't disrespectful first. For crying out loud, we don't even climb Ayers Rock without checking with the tribal elders, and that's one of our biggest tourism industries!

We do have some horrible problems with racism towards Aborigines - but that generally involves believing that they're all drunks/slackers/uneducated, and ignoring them. It does not involve disrespecting their culture. Ever.

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