[Linux-aus] Acknowledgement of country

[James Turnbull]

> I don't see why you should. Are you treating them any different to, say,
> members of an evangelical church who might have some interesting thoughts
> on community leadership to share?

Yes - because both groups have differing amounts of power. Evangelical
Christians wield enormous economic and political power in Australia.

Indigenous groups are thrilled if people remember they exist. Poverty,
disease, institutional racism (c.f. the incarceration rates of
indigenous Australians), radically shorter lifespans all remain
documented problems for those communities.

> (At least, treating them any differently in any way other than choosing
> where to direct /your/ time and focus, for which you're certainly allowed
> to be as biassed as you like)
> 
> I mean consider what Noel and Brent actually said on the principle
> rather than the actions to be taken:
> 
>  Noel: "there is no them and us, no black and white,
>         we are all Australians"
> 
>  Brent: "Indigenous Australian recognition is a given"
> 

Which is the usual statement from folks who either don't have empathy
for or don't understand that those statements are simply not true as
experienced by indigenous Australians.

This is a systematic problem in Australia. Maybe a "welcome to country"
won't solve it but it's a step towards ensuring we don't assume the
problem is solved because we feel like "all Australians are equal" when
reality suggests otherwise.

Regards

James Turnbull

-- 
* The Art of Monitoring (http://artofmonitoring.com)
* The Docker Book (http://dockerbook.com)
* The LogStash Book (http://logstashbook.com)
* Pro Puppet (http://tinyurl.com/ppuppet2 )
* Pro Linux System Administration (http://tinyurl.com/linuxadmin)
* Hardening Linux (http://tinyurl.com/hardeninglinux)