How long before The Greens AKA 'The Party for Pedophiles' wants our historic statues torn down?
America tears down its racist history, we ignore ours
I passed by Hyde Park this week in the heart of Sydney and looked again on the statue of Captain James Cook. It has pride of place, a monument to the man who in 1770 claimed this continent for the British crown.
On the base of the statue is an inscription in bold letters:
DISCOVERED THIS TERRITORY
1770
It has stood since 1879. When it was unveiled more than 60,000 people turned out. The procession at the time was the largest ever seen in Sydney.
No-one present then questioned that this was the man who founded the nation.
But think about that today. Think of those words: "Discovered this territory."
My ancestors where here when Cook dropped anchor. We know now that the first peoples of this continent had been here for at least 65,000 years, for us the beginning of human time.
Yet this statue speaks to emptiness, it speaks to our invisibility; it says that nothing truly mattered, nothing truly counted until a white sailor first walked on these shores.
The statue speaks still to terra nullius and the violent rupture of Aboriginal society and a legacy of pain and suffering that endures today.
I have certainly been thinking about that this week as I have watched the spectre of American history cast a dark shadow over that nation.
I have pondered the questions of heritage and hate.
Statues are coming down, old flags of division are being put away and the country is tearing itself apart.
Fascists, neo-Nazis and klansmen who wrap themselves in the flag of the Confederacy are reigniting the old grievances of the civil war.
We must learn from history
Sara James grew up in Virginia with a Southern father and a Yankee mother. She says America's history is about much more than the Civil War.
Charlottesville, Virginia, which has become a battleground for white supremacists, met with the resistance of anti-fascist protesters and it has ended in violence and death.
The world has witnessed the disgrace of an American President parsing his words and finding excuses for people who chanted Nazi slogans and vowed that "Jews will not replace us".
Where other political leaders on all sides of American politics have called this evil by its name, Donald Trump has looked for blame "on both sides", his press conferences betraying just how indebted Mr Trump is to the forces of extreme right, white-hate groups who have helped put him in the White House.
As The New York Times editorial read: "There's a moral awakening taking place across America, but President Trump is still hiding under his blanket."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/america-tears-down-its-racist-history-we-i...