Assimilation is genocide

Submitted by Abdul Rahman Reijerink (Australia), May 28, 2006 at 09:33

For the record I am a WHITE australian of mixed parentage ie; my father arrived here fortyfive years ago as a free migrant from a nonenglish speaking european country, my mother's family can be traced back to 1826... about as far back as you can go and still be white (convict too!).

I am married to an Indian woman who migrated here to study, she is an Australian citizen.

We have a daughter. An australian. Anyone who says otherwise, well they're just stupid.

I speak no dutch because of racist attitudes in this country when I grew up... "speak English" was a common refrain. And gaelic, the language of my mother's family? forget that paddy. That is the cost of assimilation.

My daughter is being taught to speak gujjarati. This is integration.

Many of the racial ghettos are a problem because people wont integrate, its easier to speak Vietnamese (insert any other llanguage here... especially Arabic) and share your culture, than mix.

If you are a citizen and want to be a part of this country, not just live here, then you are an Aussie.

ex-Aussie, racism does still exist here, but it is not insurmountable, many Aussies I know and love speak Greek, Mandarin, and some are even shock horror, black, and no-one disputes their right to be known as an Aussie. except the occasional fool.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".