Celebrating Real Heroes Like the One We've Just Lost
If you want to meet the best Australians, meet Indigenous men and women who understand this extraordinary country and have fought for the rights of the world's oldest culture. Theirs is a struggle more selfless, heroic and enduring than any historical adventure non-Indigenous Australians are required incessantly to celebrate.
I know this to be true, because I have been reporting from and filming in Indigenous communities for most of my life. In 1984, I met one of the best Australians, Kwementyaye Randall.
Kwementyaye Randall was, like so many others, stolen from his mother. He was 7 when he was taken by the "authorities," and he never saw his mother again and grew up alone. Indeed, he felt the full force of Australian colonial brutality and duplicity most of his life; but he fought it and rose above it, and he never faltered in confronting the injustice imposed on Indigenous people. I mourn the passing of this old friend, a real hero in a nation that has yet to find the moral sense to honor those who courageously stand against oppression within Australia.
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Sitting in the shade outside his house more than 30 years later, he spoke eloquently about the love and respect for this land that he and Indigenous people felt. He was an educator and natural leader who taught people to reclaim the cultural identity that is Australia's singular uniqueness.
But mostly, Kwementyaye Randall was still angry and hurt. He described vividly how the Australian army had invaded his community in 2007 - "They pitched their tents right over there, without asking: Can you believe it? The Australian Army. We were being invaded."
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http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/30812-celebrating-real-heroes-like-the-one-we-ve-just-lost
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