Intolerance
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 by fikalo
This is an excerpt from a poem, “Intolerance,”* by Indigenous poet Oodgeroo (1920-1993).
Dark children coming home in tears, Hurt and bewildered by their jeers - I think Christ weeps with you my dears. People who say, by bias driven, That colour must not be forgiven, Would snub the Carpenter in heaven.
This poem just about left me in tears…
I first read My People back in my second last year of high school. It is an anthology of poetry by an Indigenous Australian (Aborigine). I recently picked it up again and felt profoundly impacted by the powerful words of tis woman who stood strong and proud for her people.
It was a challenge to me to discover the cruelties done to Indigenous Australians in the name of my Lord and Saviour. It appalled me that “Christians” came, armed with evolutionary anthropology, and murdered my homeland’s native peoples. It is truly sad.
This year I will be privileged to study under Indigenous Australians as part of my university Sociology degree. The subject is “Politics and Indigenous Australia,” and I hope it will create in me a greater understanding of my nation’s first people.
More Information:
Close the Gap - Indigenous Health Equality
Australians for Native Title and Reconcilition
Reference:
*Noonuccal, O. (1990), My People, Milton: The Jacaranda Press, p. 28.
