Proud Wiradjuri

I am lucky to belong to the greatest mob in the world, the Wiradjuri people of Australia. I thought long and hard about this last year when my life was in transition. I am the luckiest man in the world to have the oldest continuing culture running through me, teaching me, fathering me, growing me & speaking to me. I realized others in Australia do not have this privilege, they have mixed history, turmoil, European or overseas refugee status of some sort. We have not migrated to anywhere but remained here all our being as a people. Not many can say that. That is so special. And that means I am black, not in skin but in soul. Deep to have knowledge, patience and respect for it, while deep to be accepted by my Elders and peers to also recognise that I am black, my soul is to their liking and values. I talk each night with my First Nation friends throughout the US, they call themselves Aboriginal and look to our developments as I look to their developments in their too. I find it so similar at times, that their lives are affected by the non-Indigeous world in the same way that ours is. I mean Aboriginal people when I say us, not a little bit Aboriginal people, not partly Aboriginal people, but pure black soul Aboriginal people, the ones who have every single part of their being is made up of a proud bones, ash, dust, wind, stories, songs, galleries, water, grasslands, carvings, scars and blood from the Gamilaroi, Yort Yorta, Tharawal, Wiradjuri etc etc. That means they are affected by a system of oppression in the same manner that we are, except theirs has continued for almost 500 years. We will hopefully not be in an oppressed position much longer. But young souls need time to know, need time to listen, need time to respect. Not sure if any such values exist here. I do agree that we need to work together but Aboriginal people have come too far one side towards the European way and its about time Europeans came back someway to accept Aboriginal people as who we are, what we are and be proud to have us as neighbours, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands and friends. I hope all of our next generation will have that same love and desire to grow together, grow as one, be a greater nation than the one that is running at this divisive pace now...