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I think pigeon holing people is often done and can be helpful and harmful .. all depending on situation.

@eth Sorry you were assualted. Am I getting this right it was by caucasions opposing land rights ??

@utopia Good luck with your book. I have just started searching facebook differently. I have only been on it a short while, but it is a good hint, to gradually do your own research into indigenous cultures and gradually get involved.

Hey @Owlunar @Faith-and-Hope

These issues touch us all.

On the way up on my recent train trip I mainly interacted with men. At my weekend and on the way back. I mainly interacted with women. Up and down I sat next to a very dark skinned persons who were not indigenous - a male and a female. All travelling companions were respectful and pleasant to sit with in the close confines of long distance carriages. One fellow of middling meditterannean colour was closer to the itinerant non working type, but he liked my company and became more and more polite and friendly and positive as we went along, made a thing of shaking my hand as he left.

We do need to be able to use some terms to distinguish between differences .. it is all very delicate though.

I hope I have not offended anyone.

No offense at all @Appleblossom

No offence taken @Appleblossom

When I was in Canberra I had the chance to have a short conversation with some aboriginal women - they were pleasant and friendly and answered my tourtist's questions and had a little laugh because the book shop had been gone for so long they have forgotten that even though the sign was still there

But in Lakes Entrance I was walking back to my motel along one of the Lakes and there was some young aboriginal men drinking and I chose to walk back a bit and cross the Princes Highway and walk back on the other side

I felt bad about that but thinking on I realised I would cross over if any young men were drinking

So it's not what people look like but rather what they are doing -

One of my stories - all our stories make up a life. It's a good think to examine our lives and our motives

Dec

Thanks for sharing that. @Owlunar I can relate to inner reflections like that.

Once a lady from Sri Lanka expostulated at me about skin colour. I dont think it was anything I said or did, I think it was more from her, She snapped at me that she was brown and I was white.

That and a few other interaction make me think about these things and

also a tendency these days to call out .. "racism" a little prematurely.

The very dark skinned woman was one of the most elegant women I have seen in a long time, She had a mild well spoken Australian accent. We spoke briefly, mainly slept (or tried), and connected well and gently. I have no idea where she was from. She could have been Tamil or African ...

I also know an Indian lady who grew up here but was called aboriginal a lot as a child and felt traumatised by that ....

The work comes by telling the stories IMO

not sweeping them under the carpet.

Hi @Appleblossom hope today is starting well for you and to any others here today.

No Appleblossom I was assaulted by people from another aboriginal group that didn't want to share the title claim with other clans who could also prove their history in the area. That group ended up succeeding in the claim and the ladies I was supporting were excluded. And I ended up with PTSD, compounded by a subsequent DV incident that effects my life hugely to this day.

😔💜 ..... @eth that is heartbreaking, but I think it is also an important truth to tell (yours, and if you are prepared and able to share it, as you have). There have been immeasurable costs to our history, even as there have been immeasurable costs in the traumatic histories of other countries,

Something that stands out to me is that you have been able to retain your core values ..... and the power of that is also immeasurable.

Good morning and thankyou @Faith-and-Hope. Hope you are well today and find some me time along the way x

Planning to take things a bit slowly today @eth ..... take care of you ❣️

Thank you too @eth That is a very sad story but makes sense.

I understand even better the depth of your commitment to your values despite being hurt.

I hope it did not retrigger you too much in telling it.

I hope there in some therapuetic value, being heard, in the long term.

Native flowers by Margret Olley