End Of Days

THE METROPOLITAN » FEBRUARY 14, 2008 » A8

insight End of Days

KRISTI DENKE [email protected]

A debt to our children The eviction was in no way fast, at least for those watching. Pieces of furniture and personal effects started to pile into the parking lot one at a time. The man being evicted carried out the more personal items himself. At first, black garbage bags containing clothes, followed by dresser drawers, a ladder, and wire-shelving units. A bed, a washing machine and dryer were the last to join the contents of the apartment on the sidewalk. Any witness to an eviction can tell you it’s a very private matter carried out in a horrifically public manner. The apartment management at least planned this eviction at midday, when few would be present to be witnesses. Hours later, the task complete, the evicted man stood beneath a tree on the sidewalk in front of his possessions and rocked back and forth. I backed away from sight at any moment I thought he might look up. From the third story of the apartment complex, it had the makings of voyeurism. Understanding that eviction is becoming more common than I’d like to think about, that bothers me. It’s not just single old men. It’s women. It’s children. It’s young. It’s old. It’s the new class of transparent poor that permeate our culture, wandering through our lives while giving us little knowledge of their struggles until they appear in a parking lot, surrounded by all of the things they’ve ever owned at an absolute end. I say transparent poor. They can be educated. They can be professionals. They might even be highly respected in their community. But the burden of debt hangs on their minds. Their clothes might not show it, and you might not even see it in their eyes, but it’s there. It’s the eighthundred-pound gorilla in the room that has eyes for only them. They might be just a month away from the street—all it takes is a late rent pay-

EVICTION Continued on A17»

Written by GEOF WOLLERMAN » [email protected] Illustrated by ANDREW HOWERTON » [email protected]

Sorry is just the beginning Apologizing isn’t always easy. Especially when you wait 200 years to ‘fess up for inflicting “profound grief, suffering and loss,” not to mention stealing thousands of children from their families. Even Hallmark doesn’t make a card for that. The Australian government, however, recently decided it was time to swallow its pride. Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology before the country’s parliament to the indigenous aboriginal population of Australia. “For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendents and for their families left behind, we say, ‘Sorry,’” Rudd said. “For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say, ‘Sorry.’” The first day of the 2008 parliament session was opened with an aboriginal welcome and ceremony. Rudd said afterward, “Today we begin with one small step to set right the wrongs of the past.” For those who may not be familiar with the history, just imagine a late starting story of Native Americans, but on an island continent in the South Pacific. The first ships of settlers/exiled criminals landed in Australia in 1788 and eventually pushed the indigenous people into reservations. In order to “civilize” the wild natives, they decided that kidnapping their children and letting white people raise them would be the best idea. The “stolen genera-

tions,” as they are called, were forbidden from speaking their own language or practicing their culture and traditions. They were often beaten for any infraction. Only in the 1960s did the government finally stop the practice of taking aboriginal children. However, the native population remains isolated on the reservation, marginalized in Australian politics and largely suffering from the extreme poverty in which it is forced to live. An apology, one might say, is in order. The problem, according to many aboriginal leaders, is that the government failed to back up the apology with any compensation for the victims. “People get paid crimes compensation for victims of crime,” Lyn Austin, head of the aboriginal rights group Stolen Generations, told a local radio station. “You are looking at the gross violation and the act of genocide and all the inhumane things that have happened to our people.” Still, it is a step, and a step that no previous Australian administration would take. The former Prime Minister, John Howard, refused, saying it wasn’t his fault personally. And the polls say around 30 percent of Australians agree with Howard. No one ever said reconciliation was easy. Metro adjunct professor of Native American studies Kori Guy says an apology has never been given

ANDREW FLOHRSPENCE [email protected] to Native Americans for what they went through, but that, “It is sorely needed.” Guy said that Richard Nixon came close, acknowledging, “The first Americans – the Indians – are the most deprived and most isolated minority group in our nation,” in the introduction to the 1970 Indian SelfDetermination Act. But a “sorry” for hundreds of years of oppression, it was not. Guy, whose first language is Navajo and whose family lives on the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona, said the living conditions on the reservations would shock most Americans. “The biggest problem right now is diabetes and heart disease,” she said. Limited access to health care and education, combined with the poor

quality of food available, have caused a health crisis among Native Americans, she said. As far as Native Americans one day receiving a similar apology, Guy said, she is not holding her breath. “It would be nice, but, because of the past, I am slow to have hope.” And she does have a point there. Many people, however, such as Australia’s Howard, maintain that they themselves had nothing to do with the injustice, so why should they have to say sorry or pay reparations? But life, like making amends, just isn’t that easy. We may not have taken part at the time, but we take advantage today of the land, money and position that those dark days have afforded us. The big issue, however, is that right now we are still oppressing these people, be it through refusing to give them the right to govern themselves, or through annexing their land whenever it is economically convenient. The health, literacy and employment statistics for American reservations speak for themselves. The U.S. should follow Australia’s lead and apologize to Native Americans. (And, perhaps, a few other groups?). We should also back the words with action and funding. Righting past wrongs – especially when those wrongs include robbing a whole people of their land and culture – is a painful process, but it is the right thing to do. A point that the U.S. should hurry up and learn.