Why is Kevin Rudd saying sorry?
Kevin Rudd is saying sorry to indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and brutalised. The historical record is clear on this point. However, the question is whether or not his apology is too limited. In my opinion it is, and that it is reflects the constraints placed on him. Australia was a country forcibly taken by the British under a false pretext. Indigenous Australians were classified as fauna. Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were slaughtered, poisoned and displaced. There is ongoing racism in Australia which continues to oppress indigenous Australians. A recent study has underscored the fact that billions of dollars in wages, pensions, and other payments were witheld from aborigines and as a consequence many children were left to die from malnourishment. It is all on the historical record. Many misinformed people in Australia, mostly blinded by racism, have latched onto the argument that they were not responsible for what their ancestors per
