Sorry to the Stolen Generations

Finally, after centuries of bigotry and denial, the Australian government is set to formally apologize to the indigenous people of Australia for all the pain and suffering it has caused.

Guilt runs deep in the white community Down Under, which is why it has taken this long for the government to even acknowledge that its policies have had a negative effect on Aborigines since European settlement in the late 18th century. In one over-arching example, indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian government and taken to internment camps to Anglicize them, between 1869 and 1969. One hundred years of severed ties to family and culture resulted, which directly contributed to the poor educational and economic conditions in which most Aborigines find themselves today.

These so called "Stolen Generations" will finally be acknowledged and apologized to by new Australian PM Kevin Rudd (pictured above with Matilda House-Williams). It's log overdue, but finally the healing process can begin after being further stalled by the previous Howard Administration, which put Reconciliation on the back burner (and actually turned off the heat). Says current PM Rudd, "It's taken 41 parliaments to get here. We can be a bit slow sometimes, but we got here. When it comes to parliaments of the future, this will become part and parcel of the fabric of our celebration of Australia in all of its unity and all of its diversity" (Sydney Morning Herald).

Though modern Australian citizens were not present when James Cook first reached the eastern shores of Australia in 1770, nor are they directly responsible for "the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture" (Kevin Rudd, Sydney Morning Herald), they inherit the joys and the burdens of a past that made the nation what it is today. We Americans are no different. It's time for all us to own up to the past.