Editorials
Wednesday, May 21, 1997FROM 1918 until the 1970s, Australian aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their parents under the belief that Aborigines were doomed and saving the children was the only solution. Light-skinned children were given to white families for adoption. Dark-skinned children were placed in orphanages. Now a government-appointed commission has pronounced that policy a form of genocide. "Some of these people are absolute wrecks, through no fault of their own," Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Mick Dodson said. "They live each day the trauma of what happened." Australia should make
amends for ‘genocide’There are 303,000 Aborigines; they comprise only 1 percent of Australia's population. In a 1994 survey, the government found that 10 percent of Aborigines older than 25 had been separated from their parents in childhood. Other surveys put the figure as high as 47 percent. More than 500 Aborigines told the inquiry that they had been separated from their parents, at least half of them between the ages of 1 and 5. One in six reported beatings and excessive punishment by care givers, while one in five reported being sexually abused in foster homes, orphanages or work places.
The report recommended that Australia observe a national "sorrow day" for the tens of thousands of Aborigines who were affected and called for government compensation for the victims.
Unfortunately, Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government isn't expected to approve. It has reduced funding for aboriginal health and welfare programs, even though the death rate for aboriginal babies is twice that for the general population.
The intentions of those officials who instituted the policy of taking aboriginal children from their parents may have been good although their tactics were cruel and the results disastrous for many.
In that respect it resembles the notorious Tuskegee syphilis study, in which 400 black men were denied treatment so that scientists could observe the progress of the disease.
The project continued until 1972, when public outrage shut it down and produced $9 million in damages for the victims and their families. President Clinton apologized last week to the survivors for what he called an "outrage." The same label could be applied to the Australian policy. The government should admit its mistake and do what it can for the victims.
HAWAII'S overcrowded prison system sent 300 inmates to Texas facilities in December 1995 but the state retains responsibility for them. State officials need assurance that inmates are at no greater risk in a privately operated Texas facility than they would be in a Hawaii prison. For this reason, Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro's planned trip to Texas to observe conditions is appropriate. Inmates in Texas
WHAT a concept! With a Hawaii woman crowned Miss Universe last Friday, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau is trying to bring the Miss Universe Pageant here next year to open the new Hawaii Convention Center. Officials have been talking up the idea since October 1995, but Brook Mahealani Lee's victory makes the idea even more appealing. Miss Universe
Having Hawaii's Brook Lee giving public appearances as Miss Universe would help drum up interest in a pageant held in Honolulu. Go for it!
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
