CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
A local UPF member has today declared that Aboriginal people should be thankful for white people did to them, while also stating that he can’t be held accountable for what white people did to them.
Kai Blottrell (32) a local car detailer who made heaps of coin during the Pink Batts fiasco, says that he doesn’t know much about his family tree given his estranged relationship with his father and general disinterest in his mother – but he presumes his family arrived in the First Fleet.
This wild guess at his family’s heritage makes him one of the most Australian people there is, and he won’t be made to feel ashamed about that.
However, as January 26th approaches, Kai is forced to confront the national dialogue currently surrounding the idea of celebrating the end of Indigenous sovereignty, and the unfair treatment of First Australians that followed his ancestor’s supposed arrival.
“I wasn’t there” he says.
“I had nothing to do with it. Why should I be made to feel bad about the atrocities they committed.”
However, while Kai grapples with the well-documented attempts at genocide and forced assimilation, he also can’t help but defend them.
“My ancestors didn’t steal Australia, they created it” he says, while contemplating whether or not he can continue with this new angle.
“And my family didn’t immigrate into an existing country, they built one – even if they still don’t have their own head of state and still answer to the Queen”
As Kai begins to lose his temper, the deep sadness inside his heart lifts slightly – which inevitably leads him to undermine every other coherent argument he has made throughout his entire tirade.
“They should be thankful” he says with a tear welling in his eyes, as he ponders on how long it has taken his dad to buy a packet of smokes.
