Sorry Day

Today is Sorry Day in Australia. It's an unusually named holiday for a very serious issue. Today is a day of recognition of what is called the Stolen Generation. This was the systematic removal of Aboriginal--and mostly mixed descent Aboriginal-European--children from their families to be raised by "superior" white families. This was done up until 1972. In 1995 a formal inquiry began to look into this part of Australia's history, and in 1998, Sorry Day was first observed. It is not a national holiday, and many people, both pro and con, have an issue with it. But the idea behind Sorry Day is that it is a step towards reconciliation of past offenses.