WHO AM I? Shura Steven Whitaker

ETH 125

March 30, 2012

Lorrie Douglas

IDENTIFYI identify who I am based on who my

parents were and are. I inherited my physical traits from your parents. My build, my skin color, my eye color and shape, the shape and sizes of my ears, nose, feet, and hands, my hair color and texture straight and curly.

My deceased father was an Italian and White Australian.

My mother is an Aboriginal and White Australian.

RACIAL GROUPSRacially I see myself as what my parents

were and are. Some ask what I am and some just assume.

White Aborigines Italian

ETHNIC GROUPSMy parent’s ancestry is my ancestry. White / English ancestry Italian ancestry Aboriginal ancestry Asian ancestry

EXPERIENCED DISCRIMINATION As stated in (Australians.Culture., 2012). “Aboriginal

people who resided off reserves, and who were not assimilated into white society, were relegated to fringes of country towns and ghettos like Redfern and South Brisbane. They were assigned a welfare/charity role that encouraged their being pitied as "victims of their own inadequacies". In rural areas the women were exploited sexually and the men utilised as seasonal workers. In both city and rural areas, they were marginalised.”

As stated in (Gooda, 2010) “historically, in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have endured generations of systemic discrimination.” Throughout many decades laws, programs, and policies, programs were set to treat Torres Strait Islander people and Aboriginal people with less equally than any other Australians.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MY ANCESTRY AND RACIAL, ETHNIC, OR CULTURAL GROUPS

Even though my ancestry is White / English, Italian, Aboriginal, and Asian and I identify racially as Aborigines, White, and Italian; I was raised by my White and Italian father along with my White stepmother in a White society. My father and stepmother were White and all of my friends were White. Even as an adult now the majority of my friends are White.

ENDURED DISCRIMINATION“Myall Creek was the tip of the iceberg of frontier violence

against Aboriginal people.” —Prof. Rhonda Craven, Centre for Educational Research, University of Western Sydney

The Myall Creek massacre was one of the worse acts of discrimination and violence against Aboriginal people. Leader John Fleming and his stockmen road into Myall Creek Station to kill all Aborigines people they came across. They tied the Aborigines men’s hand behind their backs while they were made to watch the Aborigines women get repeated raped then killed. The Aborigines children were next as they were buried in the ground with only their heads above ground. John Fleming and his stockmen took turns seeing who could decapitate and knock the children’s heads off the furthest in the air. This was not the first nor last massacre of Aborigines people.

RESOURCE PAGE Australians.Culture. (2012). In

Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Gooda, M. (2010). Real People Affected by Racist Taunts. Aboriginal & Islander Health Worker Journal, 34(4), 19.

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/massacres-Myall-Creek-1838.html#ixzz1qaJ1kB3P