Similarities between Australian Aboriginal and Native Americans

The term ‘Indigenous’ brings a lot to the table. It is used to describe such a diverse group of people that differ ethnically, culturally, and economically but are supposed to be looked upon as ‘one’. But are we really ‘one’?

Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans have all seemed to make great strides toward equality in the past 200 years. After 200 years one would think that the people of Australia and America would be able to set aside their notions that people of different races are not really that different. Yes, science has proven some physical differences but none that make one inherently better than the other. The problem, as I see it, is that the people of Australia and America choose to look at the problem of racism as something that will never change. Many believe that racism exists and always will, and trying to change will be useless. . This is definitely not the case. Look at the tremendous advances the Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans have made in the past 200 years. Today there are Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans in the government, boards of companies, and top quality universities all over the world. Not bad for a people that only a short time ago were not allowed to learn to read or write.

How can we overlook races that have been on this planet far longer than anyone else? Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans are our history. So why are issues associated with them often put on the back page of the paper or later in a newscast? Because that is the way the government wanted it! They knew there was no possible way that they could ever justify what they inflicted upon the Aboriginals and the Indians long ago. The government simply took there land. There was no debate. Putting Australian Aboriginals in missions and Native Americans on reservations was just a way for the governments to have a level of control over what they thought were savage people. A wonderful way to thank a race that helped Europeans settlements survive in a harsh new land.

The Australian Aboriginals and the Native Americans resisted the surrender of their homeland. The Australian and American government simply used superior military power to evict them. The Europeans knew nothing of the new civilizations they encountered. Australian Aboriginal tribes and Native American tribes viewed the lands they occupied to be no one man’s property. They believed that they were both allowed to occupy it.

Another major factor that helped develop the discriminatory views against Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans was the Aboriginal and Indian religious practices. The Europeans settlers’ during1700’s and the 1800’s were mainly Christian fundamentalists. They viewed the practices of the Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans such as dances and other religious ordinances against traditional Judeo-Christian ethics. The Europeans would recognize these dances as acts of evil. They did not take into consideration the Australian Aboriginal and Native American religious beliefs of harmony, unity and equality in all things.

As you can see Australian Aboriginals and Native Americans are very much similar in the way in which there land was taken away from them and the way in which they where treated after white man invaded there land.

The interests of these people must no longer be ignored by the masses. It is only then that we can truly look upon this great world as ‘one’.