"The Rabbit-Proof Fence"
By Gabrielle Reilly

Ohhhhh, I just finished watching an Australian movie called “The Rabbit-Proof Fence,” a movie everyone must see to remind us how political decisions impact families. “The Rabbit-Proof Fence” is a true story about an Australian government policy that lasted up until 1970. The government ripped “half-caste” children (half Aboriginal, half Caucasian children) from their parents to take them to a compound to teach them how to be “civil” so they could go on to be housekeepers in Caucasian homes. Could you even imagine having your child pulled from you or being the child being torn, kicking and screaming, from your parents who cherish you?

This true story is about three Aboriginal children aged between 8 and 14 who walked 1,000 miles home after running away from the compound to find their Mums. I guess the story really hit home with me after growing up in harsh conditions with Aboriginal children from missions in the Outback, Australia. I know without question that if I had been separated from my parents as a child I would have searched to the ends of the Earth to find them. There is nothing that compares to the love from a devoted parent.

It is amazing the level of arrogance from the “authorities” to believe these children were better off without their parents purely because of the tone of the color of their skin. Abusive families are a whole different matter; we are talking about dragging Aboriginal children from a family unit.

I walked away from the movie hoping that we base our decisions in the future, not on what we judge to be “right” for people, based on our beliefs, which is incredibly arrogant, but that our only interest is in defending people from threats as we saw on 9/11. I highly recommend the movie to everyone to remind us we are all humans first and foremost and live with the most basic needs... part of which includes a family wherever possible. We all rock our babies the same no matter where we are from. May the pain felt by all the Aboriginal families who were separated throughout this time be healed. A part of me will always share in your pain.

END

To anyone in the Northern Territory… I have been wondering about two of my Aboriginal friends from primary school (elementary in America), Judy Bailey and Margaret Fuller, who where in about Grade 6 with me at my local Catholic school in the Outback. If anyone knows their whereabouts, please let me know. I would love to know they are safe and well.

ACTIONS

The world can only be grasped by action,
not by contemplation...
The hand is the cutting edge
of the mind.

- Jacob Bronowski