Paleface Dreamtime

An SBS a program discussed Aboriginality, and Dallas Scott took part:

Insight – that Aboriginality show

Now that the dust has settled a little after the airing of the show [Insight on SBS], I’m ready to once again throw my 2c into the mix.

When I was approached to do the piece with Insight, what initially made the offer attractive was the chance to have an open debate on the issue. The part that sealed the deal was knowing I would get to hear arguments on both sides. For so long now I’ve been waiting for that opinion or some wise words that will let me finally understand where ‘the other side’ is coming from. I’ve heard it all from the ‘coffee in a cup’ argument to the ‘it’s a spiritual thing’ spin. Unfortunately, nothing I heard that night changed my mind.

What I did witness was an amazing display. I watched young, white identifiers roundly proclaim their connection to, and knowledge of, their ‘culture’, then turn around not five minutes later and abuse Aboriginal culture by speaking over an Elder.  I don’t know what this mystical ‘culture’ is that these identifiers are on about, but if they were hoping to display an innate understanding of Aboriginal culture that night, then they missed the mark by a mile.

Once upon a time, the paler activists were an asset to the Aboriginal cause. Now, they have become a liability. Sprouting bullshit such as ‘our white skin is a result of the rape of the colonisers’, they are no longer laughable and tolerable in small doses – they are promoting a view of life that just continues to perpetuate the victim mentality and does their cause no favours. When you point out to them that their identifying side of the family have continued to choose to marry white people willingly for longer than their living lifetime, and not as part of some forced assimilation program, you will be met with astonishment or indignation. They don’t like the facts getting in the way of a good catchphrase, and it is this sort of lazy indignation that has to go.

The other reason the pale activists are well past their use-by-date is their lack of caring for the big issues.

Read the complete article at The Black Steam Train blog