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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: People Power
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 17:55:15 -0500
It's true that the aboriginal cultures of both Australia and North America
have faced difficulties coping with the influx of people from all over the world.

As for the Australian natives, I would ask our own resident Aussies just
what the tribese there are facing. The Navajo, Cherokee, and other tribes
that are here have managed to obtain a degree of autonomy, with tribal laws
and customs existing, and tribal law practice being used instead of
standar law practice. For instance, the Cherokee only recently held the
first Cherokee jury trial, using their laws and procedures, to try a case
that did not involve the "outside world".

J Roberson
Message no. 2
From: Colin Smith <csmith@*****.CIT.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: People Power
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 17:04:29 +1000
One Australian Aborigine, coming up ...

The Australian Aborigines are facing a crisis of land rights issues
at the moment in a nationwide conference called Mabo. It's not really going
all that well in the natives' favour, really. Speaking from an Aboriginal
point-of-view, some of the land claims made by alleged tribes over the years
have been fairly ludicrous. The tribe of the central Brisbane area (of which
my uncle is an elder) recently had a claim made upon them by outsiders,
who claimed to be members of the tribe. The claim was for the entirety of
the Brisbane CBD. Darn stoopid, if you ask me.

The culture of the Aboriginal still survives, but it's mostly
ceremonial to the point of novelty. "Oooo, kids, look at the black people
dance! Aren't they funny?" Sometimes I wish people would lay off. But,
anyhow, private ceremonies are far and few between, as far as I know. We're
generally treated with charity and even contempt in some areas, because we
are a minority race. The tribal elders are definitely serious, but nobody's
taking them that way. Yet. Things might just change, as they did for the
Amerinds.

But, don't bet on it ...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Colin Smith <csmith@*****.cit.gu.edu.au>, Griffith University, QLD., AUST.
"He said, 'Burn, baby, burn'
'Til the street samurai
Said to my face that
Any flag that's worth a shit
Was woven from fire in the first place."
--"Satanic Reverses", The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprosy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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