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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lLong walk to freedom starts with a single manBy Martin Flanagan
27 November 2004 - A man on a mission, Michael Long is proudly Aboriginal and is challenging thinking and beliefs as he marches towards his past, writes Martin Flanagan. Michael Long is an Aboriginal man. The temptation with Aboriginal Australians who succeed in non-Aboriginal Australia is to lose sight of their Aboriginality. With Long, that's a serious mistake. He's deeply, seriously Aboriginal. His father, Jack Long, was stolen from Ti Tree, north of Alice Springs. Aboriginal law is still strong there. A couple of years ago when I spoke to Michael about it, he was wanting to go back to his father's country and deepen his relationship with that law. He's also unlike most non-Aboriginal Australians in that his walk to Canberra is not a question of ego, or not in the sense that we understand that word. This is about his responsibility to his community. David Wirrpunda from the West Coast Eagles said Michael Long's stand on racial vilification in Australian football "made tomorrow a little easier for all those who came after him". Michael Long is a legend of football known throughout Aboriginal Australia. Both his parents were stolen generation. That's why when John Howard and some of his ministers began floating the idea that the Stolen Generation was a myth, Long reacted by writing Howard a letter. He had it in his pocket when he went to Alcaston Gallery to meet one of the old Aboriginal artists such as Ginger Riley, who influenced him so deeply, both to take up art and in his understanding of his culture. tRobin Usher, an Age arts journalist, happened to be at the gallery. Told about the letter, he asked to read it. Having done so, Usher asked if he could show it to the paper. The next day on the front page of The Age, Michael Long called the Prime Minister a cold-hearted prick. The Prime Minister's office, I am reliably informed, went berserk, but it was too late. The act was done. One day, someone writing a history of Australian with an informed Aboriginal perspective will use this incident to help explain why Michael Long stands as tall as he does in Aboriginal Australia. Michael Long "made tomorrow a little easier for all those who came after him".So an Aboriginal man walks through a landscape known to Aboriginal people for thousands of years in symbolic, as well as practical, terms to meet a man who has never been a friend to black Australia. Howard opposed the introduction of their flag, he sidelined their great leader Patrick Dodson and the work of national reconciliation Dodson had begun, imposing his policy of "practical reconciliation". The essential difference between Patrick Dodson's idea of reconciliation and "practical reconciliation" is that the first says that Aboriginal issues and issues of Australian history are inseparable. "Practical reconciliation" eliminates historical issues altogether, thereby taking us back, in a single blink, to the attitude generally held during John Howard's boyhood. What's changed is that a young Aboriginal leader, Cape York's Noel Pearson, is now advocating social remedies that are in keeping with Howard's basic political beliefs. But do these have the support of Aboriginal communities across Australia and what happens if, as I suspect, they are implemented without their agreement? Earlier this year, a former adviser to the Victoria Police on Aboriginal matters, Kirrae Wurrung man Len Clarke, issued a warning to non-indigenous Australia. He sees the clock being turned back in race relations and his point was simple: this generation of Aboriginal kids are not like his generation. They're into the internet. They're taking their view of what's going on in this country in part from what's going on outside it. Clarke saw the Redfern riots as ominous. A national newspaper admonished Long earlier this week for sending "a signal to other Aborigines that there's a prospect for progress outside the political system in symbolic gestures". Most people throughout history have thought that, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill among them. But this was the editorial's main point: "Practical reconciliation is now the main game'. And so, an Aboriginal man walks through towns where he is known as an Essendon footballer, best on ground in the '93 grand final. Who can forget it? He dominated the grand final like few players ever have and then a few years later he did something else besides. I started going to the footy in Melbourne in '85. I heard the racist abuse Aboriginal players copped. I never thought that could change, but it has and, more than any other person, Michael Long changed it. Most non-Aboriginal Australians don't known an Aboriginal person, but everyone in the footy world knew Longie. They'd sensed his depth as a player and, then, as the controversy deepened, saw his silent dignity as he bent the AFL to his will. Michael Long changed the game and what it said about us as Australians for the better. Go, Longie!
Source: The Age Messages of support for Michael Long 27 November 2004 - The messages of support and solidarity for Michael Long in his quest to highlight Aboriginal disadvantage are coming in thick and fast. Here is a selection received by NIT. Dear Michael All the good in the world to you Michael. This country needs people
with compassion and the ability to care, and in every step of the your
walk, you are showing you do. We need to be united in looking after
each other and country. Each step of yours is in the right direction.
Enjoy the walk and those you meet along the way. I only hope that they
listen when you get to their door. Dear Michael, the news of your walk reached Italy, too, and from Italy
I want to send you my support. You are doing something important and
necessary. The little I know about Aboriginal culture makes me feel
it would be a horrible loss for all human beings if Aboriginal culture,
tradition, art and feelings and identity were lost. And I weep for the
sadness and the grief and the humiliations Aboriginal people have been
suffering in the last 200 years and are continuing to suffer. I truly
wish Aboriginals are granted the dignity and pride, and the rights they
fully deserve, and I wish that more about your rich and beautiful culture
was better know by everybody in the world: I think we all have a lot
to learn from you. I'm a non-Indigenous, non-footy freak Australian (is it possible?!)
and great cheers to Michael Long. May John Howard hear you. I'd walk
with you if I could. Good on you Micky! GO MICHAEL!!!!!! I am with you every step of the way. I've been on
"Sorry Marches" before and if I could be, I would be with
you this time. I will be with you in spirit and watching with pride.
I "pray" that thousands march with you and that you can make
a difference. Sometimes in your life you feel like you should stop feeling angry
about injustice and oppression and get off your arse and do something
about it. I feel that Michael long has inspired me to do this. Instead
of fighting other people's battles around the world let's look at what
we can do to fix injustices against Aborigines in this country. Thank
you Michael Long. Go for it Michael! You are a remarkable human being. I have just read your story on the web - didn't even know about it
until just now and I wish I could come and join you. I send a heartfelt
message of support to you and your family and the many, many millions
of Australians who do recognise and respect Indigenous culture is a
precious part of our shared history and our shared, stronger future. Dear Michael and all who walk with you, Thankyou michael long for a beautifully graceful and generous gesture
of concern for the welfare of our communities. You are a truly admirable
ambassador - one to make all Australians proud of our nation. I have
written to the prime minister urging him to greet you with the respect
you deserve in Canberra, and to accept your gracious apology for an
angry comment that I feel was justifiable. Best wishes on your journey. Also in Italy, Florence, we support Long and the fight for the Aboriginal
people. Go to Canberra for us, for all Indigenous people. I want to express my admiration for Michael Long on his courageous
and inspiring walk - I'm sure many many Australians just like me support
what you are doing and wish that the government would take the issues
your are highlighting more seriously. I congratulate Michael in his long walk. My husband joined him yesterday
for the day in Victoria. He is the assistant secretary of the plumber's
union in Melbourne, he was proud to walk a mile with Michael, and I
am proud of him walking the distance with a great advocate for aboriginal
affairs, as Michael Long is. We're Territorians who are very proud of Michael Long for taking a
stand - both for his people and for the rest of Australians who support
the future of Indigenous Australia. Michael thank you for having the courage to take a stance against the
social injustices in this country. I think what Michael Long is doing to publicise the plight of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people at the hands of the NEOCONS in Canberra
is very important. Let their rightwing or dare I say it FACIST agenda
be exposed as the racist, hatemongering travesty that it is. If possible, please pass on our sincere good wishes and support to
Michael Long on his walk to Canberra. The old Irish blessing sums up
how we feel about his journey - 'May the road rise to meet you, May
the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon you face,
And the rains fall soft upon your fields, And until we meet again, May
God hold you in the palm of His hands.' Being a 'white man' I can never understand or appreciate how indigenous
people really feel, after all I haven't been treated like a second class
citizen (or worse) for 206 years. I can however appreciate that 'you'
have been treated unfairly after the invasion and should be given the
recognition and respect as the true inhabitants of this country. It's
time that the government, on behalf of the white people, said sorry
and put 206 years of effort (right now) into fixing the issues that
plague indigenous people and give them the respect they are due as the
rightful owners of this nation. Hi Michael, just wanted to offer our support and encouargement for
this very worthy cause. What you are doing is nothing short of inspirational
and we are with you all the way!
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