Notion of supremacy

I WRITE in response to letters by Patrick Hopper and Chris Bradley, (CP, 12/06).

Patrick says, “I can’t fathom our indigenous people asking for so much all the time”. Paddy, everybody’s wealth comes from the earth. If you claim everything that people own you leave them in a situation where they have no way in which they can sustain their lives. The British have claimed this whole continent as their own. It matters little, if anything to them, that they have left indigenous Australians without the ability to sustain the lives of the members of their communities because they have taken their lands by force. Our communities have been left in situations where we have to beg, borrow or steal to maintain our lives.

Chris Bradley says Captain Cook was not a racist. What we see of Captain Cook is he sailed up the east coast of Australia, seeing the evidence of occupation of the land by black people then when he arrived at Possession Island he planted the British flag and claimed the east coast of Australia. He did not know nor care that the people he saw had a 65,000 year history with the place.

This alone points directly to a notion of supremacy by Cook and the British over people of colour. A notion which is clearly evident in many Australians today as we indigenous battle for true land justice in our homeland. This battle will never stop until just outcomes are achieved by all indigenous groups throughout Australia.

Danny O’Shane, Holloways Beach 1920: The first radio broadcast of live music takes place from Chelmsford, England, featuring Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba.

1944: US forces begin invasion of Japanese-held Saipan Island in the Marianas in Pacific. It becomes a base for bombing raids against Japan.

2016: Murder accused Oscar Pistorius shuffles without his prosthetic legs through a Pretoria court to demonstrate how vulnerable he is without his artificial limbs.

2017: Australian actor Rebel Wilson (above) wins a month-long defamation battle against Bauer Media over a series of articles she says damaged her career by painting her as a serial liar.

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