Now that the Sydney Olympics are over and the fresh ink is nearly
dry in the journals of athletic success, it is time to reflect
about more than the number of gold medals and the seconds shaved
or inches added. In addition to the competition, the 27th
Olympiad provided the world an opportunity to get to
know more about Sydney and Australia in general-the good and
the bad. What struck me the most was the issue of
Australian racism and the so-called Stolen Generation. Growing
up in America, racism is an issue and has been with us since the
first slave came unwillingly to the shores of this land of the
free.
It was with some interest that I learned more
about Australia's unique version of racism meted out upon
the Aboriginal people. For years, the Australians had been
looking for a "final solution" to their
"Aboriginal problem". In America, we segregated
Blacks, Hitler committed the Jews to genocide, but the
Australian's ethnic cleansing was one of the strangest
things that I have ever heard. To remove the
"inferior" Aboriginal presence in Australia, they
kidnapped Aboriginal children-especially those with mixed
blood, from their parents and gave them to white Australian
families.
Australia's approach to racism causes me
bewilderment. Beyond the sinfulness of bigotry, what
were
those Aussies thinking? If Aborigines didn't match up
to white standards, why in heavens name would they ever resettle
the children in white families? As many as a tenth of all
Aboriginal children were taken from their parents. If
whites viewed themselves as superior to the Aborigines, why
attempt to assimilate them? White ethnic purity would be
compromised. Why did they mix their blue-bloodline with
Aboriginal blood? When the Aborigines grew up, they married
into white society. With this process, whites played an
ironic joke upon themselves-white blood mixed with
Aboriginal blood forever. And all this was done in the name
of ethnic cleansing! Go figure. I guess that the
Australian experiment proves again just how stupid racism
is-no matter how or where it is practiced.
While the Australian government recognizes the
unconscionable nature of stealing generations of Aboriginal
children from their families, they are balking at saying that
they are sorry to the Aborigines for the years of racism and
especially for the Stolen Generation. Why would that be so
difficult to do? Starting in 1910 and not ending officially
until 1971, the Australians kidnapped kids from their parents!
Apologize? For a moment, try to think what you would feel
if you had been taken away from your parents or imagine how you
would deal with seeing your children taken from you never to be
seen again.
Having said this, the picture of Cathy
Freeman, the Aboriginal gold medalist, lighting the torch will
remain for all times a symbol that racism doesn't work and
that it is wrong. With grace and determination, she showed
Aussies and all others that humanity will ultimately triumph over
hatred and bigotry no matter where it is tried. Freeman's
(what's in a name?) witness to our common humanity is the
same as Jesse Owens' witness against Hitler's version
of prejudice in the Berlin Olympics a lifetime ago.
The Olympics also spoke to all Americans
(whether of color or not) about our shared history of racism.
How many gold medals did African-Americans win? Much can be
said about the commercialization of the Olympics. However,
for a few days this fall, humanity outdistanced itself. It
added inches to the long road that must be traveled before all of
God's people are free at last from the chains of racism.
All people suffer from this plague upon our world-both the
victims and the oppressors. None of us will be free until
all are free. Several weeks ago, all humanity got a glimpse
of the gold that lies ahead for all of God's children when
we reach the goal of equality, justice, and freedom for all.
Then and only then will we be truly cleansed-once and
forever.

This article appeared in the Dixon Telegraph
on 11/23/00.
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