Looking out: Ruddock's Racist Rhetoric
“If you look at a generation, you are looking at all people of that
age. The question is do you allege that all of a particular age were affected
by these measures? The actual answer is no” — Philip Ruddock.
Before Philip Ruddock became minister for immigration and multicultural
affairs, as a backbencher, he and I corresponded for about three years.
You see, as a US contributor to Green Left Weekly for the past 10
years, I have developed a keen curiosity for all things Australian. During
the sporadic course of our correspondence, I found him to be instructive,
personable and even amicable in his letters.
However, as time has passed, news accounts began carrying less than
amicable statements attributed to Mr. Ruddock, especially those having
to do with his points of view regarding Australia's indigenous population.
In some of those statements his insensitivity is rivalled only by his audacity,
in that his attitude seems to have more of a One Nation bent than a “multicultural”
one.
Alison Dellit's Green Left Weekly article “Philip Ruddock: minister
for racism” (January 24) reveals a lot about him. The quote from her article
that heads this space is a classic example of how presumptuous he can be,
and his words also represent the view of more than a few of his political
colleagues, who can be equally presumptuous.
When a white Australian politician answers the question of the impact
of Australian government's policies on its indigenous peoples, there is
an overt piling of even more injury onto them. If politicians are not indigenous,
I do not think they have the right to presume that they can answer that
question. Moreover, to frame such a broad question within in the limitations
of a mere generational context is to add an egregious insult to all indigenous
Australians' injury.
Lest we forget at the time that white people declared Australia their
own, it had been exclusively inhabited by indigenous people for about 40,000
years. Alas, now, instead of there being more indigenous Australians, there
are less than a million, and of the 18 million Australians of every race
and creed, most are white.
Racist rhetoric will not change that simple truth, Mr. Ruddock.
BY BRANDON ASTOR JONES
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes
letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address
on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can
be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic
& Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA, or email
<brandonastorjones@hotmail.com>.
Jones is seeking a publisher for his autobiography, growing down.
Please notify him of any possible leads. Visit Jones' web page at <http://www.brandonastorjones.com>.]
