White against black,
civilization against native,
the battle for Aboriginal culture
to become vegetative.
Over a hundred years,
aborigines constantly afraid,
it marks an era
where the indigenous were betrayed.
Imprisoned by laws,
laws created by the whites,
aboriginal people
forbidden of their rights.
Snatched from their mothers,
flowers forbidden to bloom,
these children were doomed
right from the womb.
Stolen, abducted,
taken away,
thrown into white homes
where they had to stay.
Forced to fit in,
into a world of white possess,
their Aboriginal culture
which they must suppress.
Treated like dogs,
taught and trained,
how to behave
and how to be reigned.
Placed into institutions,
emotionally and sexually abused,
whites ruled the land
as Aborigines were used.
“Assimilate,” “integrate,”
they’re euphemisms for show,
how this era lasted so long
I don’t quite know.
Full blooded, half blooded,
what should it matter?
people should not be
picked from a platter.
White and black,
it’s just the color of our skin,
what matters the most
is what lies within.
Love, childhood, culture,
it’s all been abducted,
experiences of human life
that cannot be reconstructed.
Decades among decades
that will forever haunt our nation,
the dying Aboriginal culture,
the Stolen Generations.
Michelle Cox is an accounting major in her senior year at SJSU. She is from Sydney, Australia, and is on the SJSU Softball team.
The Bolt Magazine 