Aborigine walking to Canberra to seek better deal
CANBERRA: Aborigine Michael Long had been to yet another black funeral and was angry that his people kept dying, often 20 years younger than white Australians, so he just started walking – walking to see Australia's prime minister.
Long left the southern city of Melbourne on Sunday bound for the capital Canberra. By yesterday he had covered about 100km and attracted many others, with several keeping him company for a few hours at a time.
“I'm sick of going to funerals,” said Long, a top aboriginal sportsman, on his 700km walk to Canberra to raise the plight of Aborigines with Prime Minister John Howard.
“We're almost a dying race. If we don't do something now, there won't be any uncles and aunties left in 40 to 50 years,” he said as he walked.
The Australian national newspaper depicted Long and his walk as akin to US black civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man galvanised the American civil rights movement in the 1950s.
Aboriginal leaders were trying to quickly catch up with Long, organising march permits and plotting his route.
“I can stand in his shoes, where you have just gone to another funeral of a relative who is too young to die ... and you just think where on earth is this going to stop,” said aboriginal politician Linda Burney.
“I think his walk will galvanise support for social justice. I think he will have an army of people by the time he gets to Canberra,” Burney said.
Australia has about 450,000 indigenous Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, many of whom live in remote and isolated communities with limited access to health and education services.
Thousands of Aborigines were massacred when white settlers first landed in Australia in 1788 in what Aborigines call “the invasion”.
Aborigines have a life expectancy 20 years less than other Australians, as well as higher rates of imprisonment and welfare dependency.
Long spearheaded the fight against racism in Australian football during his career as a player during the 1990s and said he simply wanted to ask Howard for a better deal.
“We want to be part of Australian society,” Long said.
“We want to walk together and this is probably part of that. We want John Howard to recognise that and if he is a great leader, we ask him, let us come with you.”
Long expects to arrive in Canberra on Dec 2.
But whether Long can have the same impact as Parks, or even get to meet Howard, remains to be seen. – Reuters
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