Discrimination African-americans in I Have a Dream

For many decades African-Americans have had many rights of their own suppressed since the arrival of white settlers on American soil. This is much like the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders here in Australia. Many Aboriginals had their own children taken away from them to be ‘white washed’ and to grow up in a white community, where they will forget about their long-established and historical traditions and learn new traditions to somewhat fit into white society.The sentence could be improved by rephrasing it as "Similarly, in Australia, many Aboriginals had their children taken away from them as part of a policy of forced assimilation, known as the Stolen Generation."

Close Comments These people were known as the stolen generation. In America many of the African-American population tried to make a change in the ongoing racism against them. Later on, parties that took part in the struggle to achieve equality, were called activists. Activism is ‘the use of direct and noticeable action to achieve a result, usually a political or social one.’ The activism and civil rights movement in the 1960’s in America greatly impacted Australia in the fight for civil rights for Aboriginals. Despite this, the influence of the US civil rights movement has not been entirely successful on the impact of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in achieving change for their rights overall in Australia.

The Civil Rights Movement in the US started around 1954 after Rosa Parks refused and denied the request to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman.The paragraph could be improved by adding a transition sentence at the beginning to connect it to the previous paragraph, for example: "While Rosa Parks is often credited with sparking the Civil Rights Movement, it is important to note the role of other activists, including women."

Close Comments This was one of the first steps towards the movement to help put an end to segregation in the US. As a result she was later arrested. This was one of the major events that led to a push towards the Civil rights movement and was the first large scale of activism against segregation. For many African-Americans doing basic things such as getting home from work was a struggle. Rosa Parks mentions that when she was on the bus ‘All I was doing was trying to get home from work.’ After the arrest of Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King became the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, and created the ‘I have a dream speech in 1963 on August 26th. This was significant in growing activist groups for their rights as a population. Although King was one of the most significant figures in the US Civil Rights movement and is most likely the most talked about, the start of the civil rights movement was started by Parks but this is not recognised enough. During this period women were most likely more suppressed than men as sexism was very prominent at this time. Although both African-American men and women endured pain during this time, women are not mentioned as often as people who helped the civil rights movement. The great struggle for women to lead movements was often dominated by men and consequently men became the major figures in history.

The major successes from US Civil rights movements influenced the Australian civil rights movement. It also had motivated non-indigenous Australians to take action against the suppression against Aboriginals. Jack pattern was a major influence to the movements. He organised and created political groups and also published the first Aboriginal newspaper, which would inspire many people, and in 1938 he was also the first person along with his work partner to go to the prime minister and to show their 10 point plan for their rights. The Wave Hill Walk-off was also another significant movement that happened in Australia.The sentence could be improved by rephrasing it as "One example of this is the Wave Hill Walk-Off in 1966, where Aboriginal workers went on strike to protest unequal pay."

Close Comments This had happened because Aboriginal workers were not getting paid the same amount, despite a law coming out earlier stating that they would get equal pay. Vincent Lingiari went and led 200 people it took place in 1966 on the 23rd of August.The sentence is a bit unclear and could be rephrased to better explain the significance of the event: "Vincent Lingiari led the protest, which was a powerful symbol of resistance against the ongoing brutality and oppression of Indigenous Australians."

Close Comments this was 80 years after his homeland was invaded by the British and where his people had been tortured and treated poorly but Lingiari decided to take a stand for all aboriginals suffering from the white mans brutality. 9 years later the prime minister at the time, Gough Whitlam, gave back their land and marked a significant day for the indigenous people in gaining something that had already been taken away from them.

The 1967 referendum was another major turning point for indigenous Australians. It was a landmark for aboriginals and getting their land back and it allowed aboriginal people to take part in the census. Prior to these laws Aboriginas were not allowed to own any land Except for in New South Wales and South Australia.The sentence could be rephrased to avoid using the phrase "prior to these laws" and clarify what the laws were. The paragraph could also benefit from a transition sentence at the beginning to connect it to the previous paragraph.

Close Comments In America in previous years (1964-1968) African-Americans were given the right to vote, an end to segregation and banned discrimination against them. This would greatly impacted the 1967 referendum. Although the US movement was able to impact Australia in a way that allowed them to achieve change for the greater good there was also limitations. In 1997, the prime minister, John Howard denied an apology speech and said that an official apology to the indigenous people was not needed.The sentence could be rephrased to better explain the impact of John Howard's denial of an apology speech.

Close Comments 2 years after, he did say that he was sincere and regretful for the brutality against the Aboriginals but still did not provide an apology. Within a week of being elected as prime minister in 2007, kevin rudd apologised to past aboriginals. Many Indigenous Australians had never been apologised to which would’ve had a major impact on them. There are still changes that are required to be made for aboriginals today in order to reach the equality that they deserve for decades of brutality and racism.

The extent to which the US civil rights movement has affected the Australian civil rights movement has been successful in some areas but still has limitations.The sentence could be improved by changing "successful in some areas but still has limitations" to "had some successes but also faced limitations".

Close Comments Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King helped in influencing Australian activists such as Jack pattern and Vincent Lingiari who helped in the final push for changes to be made in the constitution for rights for Indigenous Australians and to be given there land back. Since the start of the stolen generations. Now many Indigenous Australians now are able to do activities without having restrictions. Although they are still discriminated against, people can create awareness of it and the hardships they have endured and to empower people to do the right thing, because they are the original owners of this land and people need to respect them as human beings. “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.”-Rosa Parks