The Stolen Generations

 I watched the Netflix movie The Sapphires the other night and was aghast at the racism against indigenous peoples and some of the horrific practices carried out for decades.  Actually, the movie was excellent and I do recommend it, but it sure got me thinking, about the sins of Australia, and of course, the sins of America.

Between 1910 and the 1970's, many First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of various government policies in Australia.  The generations of children removed under these policies became known as the Stolen Generations.  The removal of these children left a legacy of trauma and loss that continues to affect Indigenous communities to this day.  Policies focused on assimilating children into white society.  Children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and white parentage were particularly vulnerable to removal.  The government though because of their light skin they could be assimilated more easily into white society.  Children taken from their parents were taught to reject their heritage and forced to adopt white culture.  Their names were often changed, and they were often forbidden from speaking their native language.  

You can only imagine the affects of this practice on the children, the parents and the community.  Many were psychologically, physically and sexually abused while living in state care.  The effort to make stolen children reject their culture often created as sense of shame, and an inability to pass culture on to the next generation.  The children generally received a very low level of education, which had lifelong economic implications.  Grieving parents often turned to alcohol.  Most never recovered from the trauma of having their children removed.

A report issued by the Australian Government in 1995 estimated that between 10-33% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were separated from their families between 1910-1970 and that this was a breach of fundamental human rights.  

I have been reading a lot about racism recently, and the utter racism of this practice really got to me.  Sometimes we think we are the only ones with racist thoughts and practices, but then we learn of the Stolen Generations. At another time I will examine some of our racist practices over the years.  There are many, and it's a complicated topic, but I will show you some of the things we have done in the past that we should be ashamed of.