INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE
Generations of my extended family and friends have been involved in the struggle that Indigenous Australians have had since the lands of Indigenous Australians were taken over by armed force by people who believe Indigenous Australians should not be allowed to own their own lands.
The friends and families I write of are mainly people of North Queensland. These people have completely opposite perspectives to that of Jacinta Price (CP, 22/1).
Why should the Cairns Post print opinion pieces by people who do not go anywhere near close to expressing the views of local Indigenous people? Expressing views that are aimed at the white readership, looking for that pat on the back from them and ignoring those issues that continue to effect our lives.
The reason why we oppose the idea of Australia day on January 26 is because it is the date on which the British began their colonisation of Australia.
Such a choice is a Euro-centric perspective of Australia. A perspective that can never be shared by Indigenous Australians.
It is this white supremacist perspective that cannot be carried forward in the hope of a united Australian nation.
The US is going through the same challenge of destroying the notions of white supremacy and creating great divide within itself.
We wish them well in that challenge as we continue our challenge in this land.
I say to Jacinta Price, a good healthy, thinking mind, cannot believe in a lesser people as her opinion piece appears to portray.
Danny O’Shane, Holloways Beach.