I love Aboriginal men!
Now do not let your mind stray some where you can't tell your mother. It is not for the reasons you are thinking
a young Aboriginal woman might like men.
I am sure that you have heard of men talking about how dogs
or even children attract women. Aboriginal men do not need to talk about it; they
do it naturally. Despite the negative media stories about Aboriginal men,
Aboriginal men are loving family men.
I have noticed that it is more common to see an Aboriginal
man with a child or even children, then non-Aboriginal men. I do not mean the
men at Coogee pushing their child’s stroller and trying to look “cool” by pushing it
with one hand but never looking at the kid. Or the husband of my non-Aboriginal
friend told me about who comes home from work, “exhausted” and needs “time to
him self” before spending time with their kids.
I noticed a large number of our men and boys at the Koori Knockout last year with children, sometimes one on the hip and another
holding their hand. It was as common to see the men and boys looking after kids,
as it was the women. The child could be theirs, their niece or nephew,
grandchild, cousin or even a mates. Whatever their connection was with the child,
they would probably call them “Uncle” as a mark of respect. I made a comment
along these lines to a colleague and she had noticed the same thing. At the
footy carnival in Port Lincoln in South Australia, I also noticed the amount of
our men looking after children.
One of my brothers, at the hospital with his best mate,
demanded he hold the newborn, of which he has the self-declared, “Godfather”.
He has also declared himself the Godfather of the older brother. Because of the
way our Culture places a high value on family, our men have always been around
children, so for an Aboriginal man to hold a newborn is natural. Non-Aboriginal men rarely seem so natural with a newborn. By the way "family" is often used as a term used to include people we care about. For an
Aboriginal man to care about a child that is not his is natural.
On the weekend at breakfast, I was talking to a friend and
he mentioned that at a footy game a mate brought his new baby. When my mate
asked to hold the kid, the rest of the team looked at him as if he was crazy! Crazy?
Really? What is more natural than holding a child?
This phenomenon is not unusual. I regularly attend
Aboriginal community events, either as a community member or in a work capacity
and always notice the way our men take care of kids. I have many male friends
who are proud and dedicated fathers, brother, grandfathers, uncles and
“godfathers”. If I thought you would
continue to read my blog, I would recount story after story of how Aboriginal
men are amazing.
Our men are often generous, tender, caring, thoughtful and
considerate. For their children or children in their circle (and the circle are
often quite large), they are involved in raising them and embody these values.
If you are not Aboriginal, I hope that the Aboriginal men I
describe, do not contradict the image you have of our men, however I am not sure
that it does not. It is unfortunate that most non-Aboriginal people do not get
to see what I see. If they did, they would realise why I love our men and why I
am proud to be Aboriginal.
So for the single ladies reading this I hope I have made you
consider an Aboriginal man. The saying “once you go black you won’t go back”
rings true for me. But not for reasons, your dirty mind, is thinking of.
a large number
