it's all too easy to coast through occasions of historical importance. events creep up on us and we get jaded from the media saturation. the lead up to tomorrow's apology to the victims of the stolen generation is one of these events. it's been headline news for the past couple of weeks and the subject of redneck outrage on news forums since mr rudd announced pre-election that he would finally say sorry.for me, this is an event to savour. a number of years ago i was a member of ANTAR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) and was involved in a Sorry Day event in freo. at the time there was a lot of optimism but the howard government did much to deflate that with their refusal to embrace reconciliation and to say sorry. today's welcome to parliament by a local indigenous elder is a significant move forward and tomorrow's apology is a significant step in redressing the wrongs of the past.
i'm sorry for what was done to our aboriginal brothers and sisters by our governments of the past. i'm sorry for the devastating ramifications of these actions and the results that are still being felt today. i'm sorry that it's still so hard for an aboriginal person to get a fair go in our modern australian society. i'm not personally responsible for the wrongs of the past... but i am sorry.
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