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Quoted By:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/12/australia.aborgines/index.html
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound GRIEF, SUFFERING and LOSS" on the country's Aboriginal people.
New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "STOLEN Generations" of CHILDREN who were taken from their families.
"To the MOTHERS and FATHERS, to the BROTHERS and SISTERS we say sorry. And for the INDIGNITY and DEGRADATION on a PROUD people and a PROUD CULTURE we say SORRY."
For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian GOVERNMENT took mixed-RACE Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.
As a result of the policy, "stolen" children LOST contact with their families and heritage, received POOR education, lived in HARSH conditions, and often endured ABUSE.
"There is nothing I can say today that will take away the PAIN... Words are not that POWERFUL," Rudd said in the Australian Parliament.
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound GRIEF, SUFFERING and LOSS" on the country's Aboriginal people.
New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "STOLEN Generations" of CHILDREN who were taken from their families.
"To the MOTHERS and FATHERS, to the BROTHERS and SISTERS we say sorry. And for the INDIGNITY and DEGRADATION on a PROUD people and a PROUD CULTURE we say SORRY."
For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian GOVERNMENT took mixed-RACE Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.
As a result of the policy, "stolen" children LOST contact with their families and heritage, received POOR education, lived in HARSH conditions, and often endured ABUSE.
"There is nothing I can say today that will take away the PAIN... Words are not that POWERFUL," Rudd said in the Australian Parliament.
