First Nations justice leader rejects constitution recognition

We the First Nation peoples of this ancient land were not recognised in 1788 so why "Recognise" us now in 2014? 226 years later!

Kerry Blackman, First Nations Justice Leader
www.firstnationstelegraph.com 13 August 2014

On what basis does the "Recognise" committee put forward to support their "Recognise" campaign?

If the "Recognise" committee cannot put forth a solid argument built on truth then they are supporting the lie of 1788. If it is not built on truth then it will be a compromise of the truth rather than true justice as the core ingredient to produce true reconciliation. A true justice that will demonstrate white Australia is an egalitarian society premised on the establishment of a just, participatory and sustainable society that promotes and facilitate self determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

And one that allow our mob to make decisions that affect their lives and to share in Australia's wealth and political life. We need to see in our lifetime full recognition of our Indigenous cultural heritage and rights and recognition by way of just compensation through a "Treaty".

When this country is built on truth it will lay a solid foundation for the nation to come to maturity and accept the past, deal with it, and then find it within their hearts to pay respects to the First Nation people as equals and not an imitation of the 1901 model of the master and slave relationship.

What we as First Nation people don't want is a group of token blackfellas on the "Recognise" committee promoting the soft option to appease their white bosses who wish to be cleansed of their past treatment of our people.

Those white bosses know implicitly that their forebears breached our "Sovereign" borders in 1788 by a boat load of convicts who perpetrated unspeakable violence against the First Australians in hoisting their Union Jack and in the maintenance of the myth of terra nullius. Generations of our mob who've endured mission settlement life, a lived experience of being members of the Stolen Generations and the subsequent aftereffects of all White Australian governments' failed social policies is the coloniser's legacy today.

The beneficiaries of that brutal colonisation process allowed the British settlers to squat on our lands then change, through political strokes of their pens, their title from squatters to pastoralists. Those early colonisers have passed their ill-gotten gains down through generation after generation to today's rednecks that occupy seats in parliament and they in turn make racist policies that mirror their forebears efforts from their founding documents.

I would encourage and urge the token blackfellas on the "Recognise" committee to get some guts and demand that the White Australia apartheid Constitution be dismantled and rewritten which includes how we owned Australia's land, wealth, resources and had our political structures that sustained us for aeons. We don't want their soft option Constitutional changes being sown into a piece of British cloth imported in the lie of 1788 and weaved into the 1901 White Australian apartheid Constitution.

The soft option is the one that supports the First Nation people as an after-thought rather than at the forefront and put into the hearts and minds of all Australians in a new Constitution and with full "Recognition" of our rights, cultural heritage and laws and customs.

The shameless blackfellas on the "Recognise" committee know a lie when they see one because they all know the universal word gammon (a fake). I appeal to those opportunistic black brothers and sisters on the "Recognise" committee to stop this gammon party and stop wearing the gammon "R" t-shirts and start the real party without the colonial "Masks" and show us the real Aborigines who stand for true justice that will make the First Nation people and their Ancestors proud.

Rip the "R" t-shirt off your backs and get back to your grass roots and show the battle scars of the struggle and the fight for justice for the last 226 years. Don't grow faint hearted and take the soft option of "R" to "Recognise" us, because you have no mandate from your mob where you come from.

I say to my black brothers and sisters on the "R" committee and Reconciliation Australia that First Nation people don't want the "pie in the sky" - we want to eat the "pie in the sky" - the "whole pie".

When we die we will be known for two things: the problems we created or the solutions we created. We need to leave a legacy for our future generations - both black and white - and to leave this country in a better state then 1788 and 1901.

The soft option will show you had an opportunity to be a champion for your mob but against your better judgment you readily assumed the mantle of an "Uncle Tom" because you were more concerned about your status and position gained by selling your people out.

I wish to take a quote from Michael Mansell's APG model when real change is effected:

There is no compromise to Aboriginal sovereignty or self-determination. Under this model, Aborigines give up nothing. Under this model, white Australia gives up a great deal of control over Aborigines and gains respect for having done so.

"The model takes the rich historical, cultural and aspirational values that makes up the identity of the Aboriginal people and treats them as assets, not liabilities. It provides an outlet for the free expression of those values, clarifies and consolidates our relationship with Australians, and gives, for the first time, great hope for the future.

Michael Mansell is a proven Aboriginal Justice Leader who also concurs that Constitutional "Recognition" will do absolutely nothing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples.

Another Aboriginal Justice Leader that stood on the front line with the late Charlie Perkins, Gary Foley, once said: "Who gives a damn about whether we're mentioned in the Australian Constitution. What real difference will it make? It's a grand token gesture and will mean nothing in the long run, so it's a waste of time for people to be even talking about it".

I hope the "Recognise" committee will take up the challenge and push the real agenda for change not the gammon one dressed up by excuses in a skin of reason.

Stop supporting the master and slave model where they are accepting another crumb off the master's table. And stop showing support for the White apartheid Constitution 1901 and the lie of 1788. This is the greatest opportunity to lay it all on the line as we got nothing to lose. But as Michael Mansell said the "Nation has a whole lot to gain by doing what is morally right; the soft option is not truthful and continues to perpetuate a lie".

The fire in the belly has completely gone out in some of the old fire brands but don't worry there is a new crop of fire brands that will make a promise and a commitment to their people and to the struggle and that the fire will never go out it will be an eternal flame which will burn forever a fire which the oppressor will snuff out in a 1,000 years.

All Australians including us, the First Australians, need to return to the scene of the crime in 1788 and the "lie" which led to the brutal colonisation and genocide of our people which then led to the writing up of the White Australian apartheid Constitution in 1901 and has undergirded and driven Federal White Australia's policies since.

Recognise committee. Image: recognise.org.au
www.firstnationstelegraph.com
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I note we have only been "Recognised" as citizens, normal human beings, since 1967 in our own Country that speaks volumes of another crime perpetrated against us.

In the modern day setting for a return to the scene of the crime means the negotiating table called true Reconciliation based on a 50/50 outcome a win/win for each party is the preferred position to achieve a meaningly resolution to our political impasse with full "Recognition" of all our rights and payment of unpaid rent (a % of the GNP) and for the destruction and decimation of our people - as opposed to the model of master-slave that the "Recognise" committee accepts without question. The "Recognise" committee's inept, hare-brained public campaign is a total waste of tax-payer's money and will result in another failed project.

What we need is a new model to ensure the "Bus" is big enough to give the First Nation peoples proper "Recognition" a seat in the front row to put us at the "Forefront" as we don't want to be left "Bus" stop again like White Australia did in 1901 and 1967 both important land marks!

The first victory to the First Nation People over a racist White Australia policy is the dumping of the changes to the Racial Discrimination Act by the Abbott Government last week that, if it would've had legislative bi-partisan support, would have fertilised more of the bigotry by white redneck politicians and redneck journalists against our people.

The next victory will be when the "R" team drop-kick the "Recognise" campaign to the sideline by giving it the big "A".

The writing is on the wall for this campaign to fail as the voices of the mob is growing louder by the week to the extent where even mainstream media is talking it down.

Our mob know all the coconut blackfellas on the "Recognise" committee and who their foot soldiers are around the nation and when their campaign fails - which will be sooner than later - their names will be indelibly imprinted in our minds as the 21st Century version of the "Native Police" doing the dirty work for their white masters. However, I am aware that there are some of our mob on the "Recognise" committee who have contributed significantly to our cause in the past as well as the present. It's hope the growing chorus of public remonstration of the "Recognise" campaign by their own mob will have them questioning whether it's worth staying with the movement, whether they choose to put pressure on the organisation to change course or whether they take the logical route and make an emphatic public statement by stepping down from the committee.

Finally this is my Recommendation; I propose that we demand a Formal agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the States be established on behalf of White Australia and the First Nation people's the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

As per recommendation in Australia's Challenge 5 & 6 of the final report in 2,000; Two key recommendations of the report (Australia's Challenge) to "Unite All Australians" stated:
5. Each government and
parliament:
• recognise that this land and its waters were settled as colonies without treaty or consent and that to advance reconciliation it would be most desirable if there were agreements or treaties; and • negotiate a process through which this might be achieved that protects the political, legal, cultural and economic position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

6. That the Commonwealth Parliament enact legislation (for which the Council has provided a draft in this report) to put in place a process which will unite all Australians by way of an agreement, or treaty, through which unresolved issues of reconciliation can be resolved.

Tony Abbotts "God of Justice" hopefully is the same "God of Justice" that will deliver justice to the first nation people's of this Ancient Land sooner than later.

I have learnt through my life's experience I leant though the wheels of justice turn slowly they turn JUSTLY.