How non-indigenous people can support a Makarrata
Louise Togo
The
Uluru Statement from the Heart seeks constitutional reform to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have a say and be involved over matters that impact their lives. What that means is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are seeking an enshrined voice that is protected in the constitution.
The true history of colonisation and the impact that it has had on our First Nations peoples has often been kept out of the history books or romanticised by missionaries promoting the idea that Indigenous people were a ‘dying race’ and it was their place to help ‘smooth the dying pillow’. They believed that eventually Aboriginal people would be ‘bred-out’ and those remaining would ‘assimilate’ into mainstream society.