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Showing posts with label indigenous Australians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indigenous Australians. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2018

Archie Roach - "Took The Children Away" (with information About Australia's Stolen Generations)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the Australian song "Took The Children Away" by Archie Roach

The lyrics of that song are included in this post along with selected comments from that YouTube sound file.

The Addendum to this post presents information about Australia's child removal policies that resulted in what is called "stolen generations" of indigenous Australians.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Archie Roach for composing and performing this song. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

****
LYRICS- TOOK THE CHILDREN AWAY
(Archie Roach)

This story's right, this story's true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep.
Said to us come take our hand
Sent us off to mission land.
Taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away,
Took the children away,
The children away.
Snatched from their mother's breast
Said this is for the best
Took them away.
The welfare and the policeman
Said you've got to understand
We'll give them what you can't give
Teach them how to really live.
Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
Taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice.
You took the children away
The children away
Breaking their mothers heart
Tearing us all apart
Took them away
One dark day on Framingham
Come and didn't give a damn
My mother cried go get their dad
He came running, fighting mad
Mother's tears were falling down
Dad shaped up and stood his ground.
He said 'You touch my kids and you fight me'
And they took us from our family.
Took us away
They took us away
Snatched from our mother's breast
Said this was for the best
Took us away.
Told us what to do and say
Told us all the white man's ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
As we grew up we felt alone
Cause we were acting white
Yet feeling black
One sweet day all the children came back
The children come back
The children come back
Back where their hearts grow strong
Back where they all belong
The children came back
Said the children come back
The children come back
Back where they understand
Back to their mother's land
The children come back
Back to their mother
Back to their father
Back to their sister
Back to their brother
Back to their people
Back to their land
All the children come back
The children come back
The children come back
Yes I came back.

Songwriters: Archibald William Roach
Took The Children Away lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos

From

TheRaaaaw, Published on Apr 27, 2010

Für alle, die es wie ich verzwifelt gesucht haben.. aber nur solche blöden Versionen gefunden haben ;)
Sehr cooles Lied, ich glaube die meisten hier kennen es aus dem Englisch Unterricht :D
-snip-
Google translate from German to English: "For all who desperately wanted it like me .. but only found such stupid versions;)
Very cool song, I think most of you know it from English lessons: D"
-snip-
Here are some comments from this sound file's discussion thread, with numbers added for referencing purposes only:
1. Alissa Xo, 2012
"Such a beautiful song that touch's the soul and such a blessed voice luv he's music =)

**
2. TheMimifur,2014
"This is not just a song. It's Archie's story and his life. The music was used in a film called Rabbit Proof Fence - a story about these children. This happened in our life time. Be outraged."

**
REPLY
3. Glenda Pospisil, 2017
"Yes certainly in my time but I was totally unaware of it and grew up beside an indigenous family. They were very close friends of mine."

**
REPLY
4. Anythya Silvadragon, 2018
"My great grandmother was one of those children stolen, I'm proud to be Koori, but sad that they white washed us."

**
5. Rebecca Jones, 2016
"my kids play this song all the time it makes us cry all the pain that our children have because they took way from there morther and farther this is never go to end"

**
6. Russell Lean, 2016
"I met Archie in 1993 at the last ever Maleny festival. What a beautiful voice, beautiful generous spirited man. Such stories of truth. The history white Australia doesn't want to hear. the stories we need to hear. Blessings Archie."

**
REPLY
7. Erin Redford, 2017
"im an Aussie and we learnt about this song In school!"

**
8. sallie6, 2016
"children (black and white) are still being taken from their families without realising the long term effects when these children become
adults"

**
9. Marche Singleton, 2016
"The sad thing is this is universal. In America it was the American Indian children. Now it is African American and Spanish. Social service will pay an unfit foster parent to raise someone's child, but will not give that same help to the parent. Sex, money and abuse too often falls on the child. You have to wonder about the evil intent of this madness."

**
REPLY
10. Gabby Thommo, 2017
"indigenous baby's got taken away for no reason"

**
11. Michelle Gillam, 2016
"where is the justice for children taken away in the 1970s because mother was single"

**
REPLY
12. TRACEY HANSHAW, 2018
"and in the 60s because their mother was single and their father was white ? Same sh&t* different decade. Nothings changed 50 years on"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this post.

**
REPLY
13. Michelle Gillam, 2016
"i Know what its like they took my baby .White mother.Single 1970 unmarried mother they just took Queen Victoria Hospital She never came back. How about the white children they took away"

**
REPLY
14. Kenneth Kelly, 2018
"Im sorry you lost your child. As an Aboriginal son whose dad was Stolen from his mother I understand your loss. This song is for you as well."

**
15. Meri Rowe, 2017
":'( Deeply damaging to the First Nation. Thanks for the honesty in your music , Archie. I'm sorry my people did such evil to your people :'("

**
16. colin macdonald, 2017
"stumbled upon this, done lots of homework,so sorry to the peoples who were bellonging for 60,000 yrs maybe longer
please do keep singing THE TRUTH."

**
REPLY
17. Ty, 2018
"Same things that happened in Australia happened in North America, look up ‘My Country Tis Of Thy People You’re Dying’ by Buffy saint Marie, if you change some words it’s similar to Australia’s story. I think y’all should start standing up for aboriginal Australia and raise more awareness about the history, that’s what I’m doing for my tribe, good luck from the Syilx tribe of the Salish Nation of Canada!"

**
REPLY
18. Leonard Carr, 2018
"Tyler 1/32 Ngai Tahu NZ Maori,nearly makes me cry.54 yr old biker looking fella!😢"

**
19. ritenrong jusayen, 2017
"I was taken,so yeah,this,I,do relate to.thanks for sayen&singing how it is.love u brother.still crying.."

**
20. Darren, 2017
"What a disgraceful part of this nations history. Good on you Archie for writing this song."

**
21. David Barker, 2018
"My Dad, and 3 Aunties were stolen. Because they lived the old ways and the government came and said it was child abuse?! Living the way that sustained our people for 1000s of years having strong families, food and shelter since time began was all of a sudden unacceptable for our people?! And the results of their so called actions for the health and well-being of my Dad and Aunties turned out to be the most damaging and abusive things that ever happened to them!
They elders and ancestors had it way harder than we do now... But they would curse us from the dreaming if we didn't continue to stand strong against todays continued injustices! Their lives are fuel for our spirits to continue holding people accountable..."

**
REPLY
22. Angie pangie, 2018
"@David Barker I'm so sorry for what happened to your family. My sons are damaged too.politics in my state told me oneday I'm not of aboriginal decent, when I grew up in the community😞 then they took my boys. I try so hard to remember all that elders taught me as a kid so I can help my boys now they home after being abused in care. I get scared that I will forget all that the elders taught me as I try to keep it alive for my healing sons"

**
23. Delleise Exton, 2018
"love this song always brings me to tears....love my people n love this song."

**
24. Barry Brown, 2018
"Im so sorry for all the hardship u indigenous ppl of australia suffered,even tho im a native of new zealand we had similar experiences maybe not as hard but we still had to fight for wat was originally ours and we still fighting we ended up getting a treaty and are the only indigenous to have so but our land is not as vast as yours and the minerals and treasures god gave australia was incredible so the british just had to have it unfortunately and take the whole lot there"

**
25. Amanda Crocker, 2018
"My kids dad dad is 1 that was taken back in the day I do not know a lot about this but I am getting there as my kids need to know where family come from"

**
26. Anythya Silvadragon, 2018
"My great grandmother was one of those children, stolen from her family and forced into a girls camp to grow up without her mob, so this resonates with me. I'm Proud to be Koori, even if i'm milky. Lol"

**
27. Super Bolt, 2018
"I'm aboriginal like u brother"

**
28. TURN DOG QUICK TV, 2018
"Playing this song on 26th January 2018 when Aboriginal children are still being taken by the Australian Government."

****
ADDENDUM- INFORMATION ABOUT AUSTRALIA'S STOLEN GENERATIONS
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations
"The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905[1] and 1967,[2][3] although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.[4][5][6]

Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

Emergence of the child removal policy
Numerous 19th- and early 20th-century contemporaneous documents indicate that the policy of removing mixed-race Aboriginal children from their mothers related to an assumption that the Aborigines were dying off. Given their catastrophic population decline after white contact[7], whites assumed that the full-blood tribal Aboriginal population would be unable to sustain itself, and was doomed to extinction. The idea expressed by A. O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines for Western Australia, and others as late as 1930 was that mixed-race children could be trained to work in white society, and over generations would marry white and be assimilated into the society.[8][9][10]

Some European Australians considered any proliferation of mixed-descent children (labelled "half-castes", "crossbreeds", "quadroons", and "octoroons",[9][11]:231, 308 terms now considered derogatory to indigenous Australians) to be a threat to the stability of the prevailing culture, or to a perceived racial or cultural "heritage".[11]:160 The Northern Territory Chief Protector of Aborigines, Dr. Cecil Cook, argued that "everything necessary [must be done] to convert the half-caste into a white citizen".[12]

[...]

Feature film and television drama
The Australian film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), directed by Phillip Noyce, was based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It concerns the author's mother and two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls who ran away from Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, and returned to their Aboriginal families. In a subsequent interview with the ABC, Doris recalled her removal in 1931 from her mother at age three or four, and subsequent rearing at the settlement. She was not reunited with her mother until she was 25; all those years, she believed that her mother had given her away. When the two women were reunited, Doris was no longer able to speak her native language and had been taught to regard Indigenous culture as evil.[79]”...

****
From https://www.australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/stolen-generations The Stolen Generations
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families.
"Between 1910-1970, many Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of various government policies. The generations of children removed under these policies became known as the Stolen Generations. The policies of child removal left a legacy of trauma and loss that continues to affect Indigenous communities, families and individuals.

What happened and why?
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families was part of the policy of Assimilation. Assimilation was based on the assumption of black inferiority and white superiority, which proposed that Indigenous people should be allowed to “die out” through a process of natural elimination, or, where possible, should be assimilated into the white community.[1]

Children taken from their parents as part of the Stolen Generation were taught to reject their Indigenous heritage, and forced to adopt white culture. Their names were often changed, and they were forbidden to speak their traditional languages. Some children were adopted by white families, and many were placed in institutions where abuse and neglect were common.[2]

Assimilation policies focused on children, who were considered more adaptable to white society than Indigenous adults. “Half-caste” children (a term now considered derogatory for people of Aboriginal and white parentage), were particularly vulnerable to removal, because authorities thought these children could be assimilated more easily into the white community due to their lighter skin colour.[3]

Assimilation, including child removal policies, failed its aim of improving the lives of Indigenous Australians by absorbing them into white society. This was primarily because white society refused to accept Indigenous people as equals, regardless of their efforts to live like white people.

[...]

What has been done about this?
In 1995, the Australian government launched an inquiry into the policy of forced child removal. The report was delivered to Parliament on the 26th May 1997. It estimated that between 10 per cent and 33 per cent of all Indigenous children were separated from their families between 1910-1970.

The report, Bringing Them Home, acknowledged the social values and standards of the time, but concluded that the policies of child removal breached fundamental human rights. The Keating government commissioned the inquiry into the Stolen Generations, but the Howard government received the report. Howard’s government was skeptical of the report’s findings, and largely ignored its recommendations.”...

****
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Sunday, November 18, 2018

Coloured Stone - "Black Boy" (1984 Australian music video, lyrics, & information about this music group, & selected comments )

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the Australian music group "Coloured Stone" and showcases their 1984 hit song "Black Boy".

Selected comments from this video's discussion thread are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Coloured Stones for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the producer of this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
This post replaces a pancocojams post on this subject that I published in 2012.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT COLOURED STONE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloured_Stone
Coloured Stone is a band from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. Their sound has been described as having a unique feel and Aboriginal (Indigenous Australian) qualities. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada (gong stone) and clap sticks – to play traditional music such as the haunting "Mouydjengara", a whale-dreaming song of the Mirning people.

Background and members

Bunna Lawrie (Feb 2012)
The original Coloured Stone band members were three brothers, Bunna Lawrie (drums & lead vocals), and Neil Coaby (rhythm guitar & backing vocals) and Mackie Coaby (bass & backing vocals), and their nephew, Bruce (aka Bunny) Mundy (lead guitar & backing vocals). All are from the mission settlement of Koonibba, South Australia. Bunna Lawrie is the leader and singer of the band and he was also their original drummer.

Bunna Lawrie is also a member and respected elder of the Mirning Aboriginal tribe from the Coastal Nullabor, South Australia. He is a Mirning whaledreamer and songman, medicine man and story teller of his tribe. He is Coloured Stone's founding member and chief songwriter.

The band's single, "Black Boy" was a success when first released in 1984 -it became the number one song in Fiji and it sold 120,000 copies. It was followed by "When You Gonna Learn" and "Dancin' in the Moonlight". The lyrics of "Black Boy" included the line "Black boy, black boy, the colour of your skin is your pride and joy," which was a somewhat revolutionary sentiment for Aboriginals of Australia in the 1980s. It moved black audiences to increase their dancing each time it was played at an early gig in Alice Springs."...

****
LYRICS: BLACK BOY
(Bunna Lawrie)

Verse 1 :
A shy Black boy you came to the city.
To learn about life and how its people are .
He's very stubborn. He's just a child.
And now his life is mystified.

Chorus :
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
The color of your skin is your pride & joy.
Black boy, Black boy,
Black boy, Black boy,
Your life is not destroyed.

Verse 2 :
He didn't know school but they called him Black boy.
He hardly talked to the girls and boys.
Don't be a fool. Just obey the rules.
Cause you'll just learn the truth.

CHORUS

Verse 3 :
And one day you'll grow up to be a man,
To learn and live and understand
Sticks and stones may break your bones
But names will never hurt you.
You'll be the one who's having fun.
So you just keep learning on.

CHORUS

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/coloured-stone-black-boy-lyrics.html

Submitted by Thunderoad on Sat, 10/09/2016

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"



Yuggera Thompson, Published on Jan 28, 2012

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are given in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first, except for replies. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
1. James Stephens, 2014
"Rocked out to this song last night in Maningrida with the community! Coloured Stone were deadly."

**
2. Gum Nut, 2016
"I remember when if first heard this on the radio in '84, I was hooked, and bought the single. One of Australia's best songs for sure. But I like "I'm Going Back to Alice Springs" even more."

**
3. Captain Morgan, 2017
"the colour of your skin is your pride and joy, teach that to your kids, don't let them feel bad because of their skin colour like i did growing up, one of 3 black kids in my class"

**
4. SketchIs Boss, 2017
"Chor my uncle used to sing this to us all, reminding us to never forget were we come from! Kuku Djugan, Tagalaka, Mamu, Narrabulan, Wakawin."

**
5. John Que Noy, 2017
"I wads the Only black boy in my class reminds me when I was a little black boy in room full of white kids"

**
6. grace rigney, 2017
"proud Aboriginal"

**
7. Phillip John Oppermann, 2018
"the classics."

**
8. bradley lane, 2018
"too good coloured stone true 1 still today they the best"

**
9. Jordan Anderson, 2018
"this song has great beat , rhythm and beauty"

**
10. Will Purdie, 2018
"old school love it"

****
RELATED LINKS
Here are three links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"

http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."

**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"

****
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Visitor comments are welcome.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Deconstructing The Stereotype Of Black People As Apes & Monkeys

Edited by Azizi Powell

I was motivated to publish this post as a result of reading about the Australian football (soccer) player Adam Goodes who was called "monkey" by a 13 year old girl during a game during that nation's week dedicated to honoring indigenous athletes.

Here's a video of an interview of that player in which he talks about that incident:

Adam Goodes response to a racist taunt, unedited.



Published on May 25, 2013

20 years after Nicky Winmar took a historic stand against racist taunts from the crowd, a spectator again hurled racist abuse at AFL star Adam Goodes.

It happened a day after the Australian Football League launched the indigenous round, intended to celebrate the role of aboriginal players.

This was Adam Goodes' response. This video is the unedited news conference.
-snip-
In that interview Adam Goodes talked about how hurtful it was to him, his family, and other Black people to be called ape or monkey. He repeatedly thanked his fellow players and others for the support that he has been given and asked for support for the 13 year old who called him an ape. Goodes indicated that he thought that the girl was repeating what she had heard and didn't understand what such a taunt meant.

Click http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/adam-goodes-full-racism-press-conference-transcript/story-fni5fan7-1226650424034 for a full transcript of that interview.

Click http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/27/1211965/-13-yo-Australian-Spectator-Thrown-Out-of-Football-Stadium-For-Racist-Remark for a discussion about that particular incident & about other incidents in which Black or Brown people are called apes or monkeys.

****
That incident motivated me to surf the internet to find information about the history of the stereotypess of Black peopel as apes & monkeys. Here's an excerpt of one article that I found:
From http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/african/3-coon/6-monkey/
"A hateful association of Blacks with apes and monkeys was yet another way that the antebellum South justified slavery. Blacks were considered by some to be more simian than human, and therefore had no self-evident rights including freedom…The general acceptance of the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin were easily twisted into a means of identifying further “evidence” of the primitive status of Blacks...

The depiction of Blacks as apes and monkeys found expression in mainstream popular culture around the turn of the century*, especially in post cards. Often it was the zip or urban coon that was being caricatured, for the amusement of white consumers. Note the simian appearance of Black Americans in each of the postcards to the left, and how they have been dandified. These images are intended to be ironic, and to cater to the notion that Black coons are too stupid to understand that their efforts to assimilate into white culture only emphasize their inherent inferiority."
-snip-
No century was specified in that paragraph, but given the references to the late 1800s, I think that that sentence refers to the 20th century.

****
There are numerous online documentation in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere of Black people being depicted as apes or monkeys, beng called apes or monkeys, and/or having banana peels thrown at them, alluded to this ape/monkey stereotype. Here's an excerpt from one website:
http://blackathlete.net/2012/11/king-kong-nuthin-me-monkey-business-sports-politcs/
"...this type of blatant in your face racism, especially coming from England, where the 2012 Olympic games were held, is almost the norm.

Just consider the racist history of how Black athletes are mocked, especially Black soccer players during soccer matches in England,Italy and Spain, when they are insulted by fans, who make monkey chants while they play.

Matter of fact, just last year, the Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos walked off the field when a banana was thrown toward him at a league match in Russia.

This is racism in its purest and rawest form.

Unfortunately, however, this evil practice and behavior of throwing bananas at Black athletes has even occurred during a NHL (National Hockey League)game as well.

For instance, a spectator threw a banana at Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds during an overtime shootout attempt during a the Flyers’ preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario.

This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident.

Why? Because former Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Kevin Weekes had a banana thrown at him during a 2002 playoff series with the Montreal Canadians in Montreal as well.

Yeah, the more things change; the more they stay the same.

Because, unbelievably, just this year, during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, it showed up again, when Patricia Carroll, a Black camerawoman who works for CNN had peanuts thrown at her by two Caucasian males, who shouted at her “this is what we feed animals.”...

the real source of this fear of the Planet of Apes, is Barack Hussein Obama, who has had to experience the same type of racist name-calling that Black athletes like Jackie Robinson had to endured when he integrated Major League in April 15, 1947.

Obama, in fact, was called Curious George, who is cartoon monkey by South Carolina political consultant, Sen. Diane Black on Twitter the day after the election in 2008.

Plus, he was portrayed as a gorilla by NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas who depicted two policemen, one with smoking gun, standing over a dead chimpanzee with the words, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

****
COMMENTS ABOUT ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY INC AND THEIR UNOFFICIAL "APE" ICON
Given the history of Black people (and Brown people) being called apes and monkeys as a short-hand way of saying that we are more simian that human, it's surprising that the first historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternity that is still in existence Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has adopted apes as its unofficial mascot.

It's clear from watching videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (A Phi A; Alphas) step shows & strolls that persons associated with that fraternity consider apes as their unofficial mascot, symbol, or icon. That this symbolism is unofficial is underscored by the fact that there's no mention of apes being a symbol of A Phi A on that organization's website http://www.alpha-phi-alpha.com or on the Wikipedia page about that organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha.

Note this overview from that Wikipedia page:
"Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that soon followed in its footsteps. It employs an icon from Ancient Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza as its symbol, and its aims are "manly deeds, scholarship, and love for all mankind," and its motto is First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All."...
-snip-
Yet, the the fact that a number of Alphas associate "apes" with their fraternity is clear in a number of the Alpha Phi Alpha step show/stroll videos as well as in a number of comments in those video's discussion threads. Here's one video example:

Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic step show



Atlanta Greek Picnic, Published on Jun 17, 2012

Alpha Phi Alpha WIN 2012 Atlanta Greek Picnic $10,000 step show
-snip-
In a portion of that video (around 1:42 to around 2:10) & in some other A Phi A step routines, Alphas act mimic apes. They crouch down and jump up & down like apes. They hold their arms to the side like apes, hit their chest & hit the ground in front of where they are standing. And they make ape sounds while looking menacing. In some videos of Alpha strolls [party walks] one or more members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity wear a gorilla mask.

Here are two comments from viewers of the step show video that is featured above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjy2gHKIaqk
"MY BLACK MY BLACK MY BBBBBBBBBLACK!
A Phi to the Apes! Congrats bruhs!"
-Santwon Hines, 2012
**
"thats how APES do it . great performance PHRAT . you APES did your thing ."
PHROZEN spr' 12
Gamma Kappa
Miles College
-tri66z, 2012

Revision February 17, 2019:
Several commenters in discussion threads of videos of the Alpha's Ape Walk wrote that unless you are a member of this organization, you wouldn't understand what "ape" means to them. Consequently, I chose to delete my guesses as to why members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chose the ape as their fraternity's [unofficial] icon.

That said, even though the reason/s for this choice are a secret, what is done in secret can impact people outside an organization and because historically and in this present time apes, gorillas, and monkeys have very negative connotations for Black people, I continue to look side eye at Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity's choice of an ape for their icon, even though that icon is unofficial.

****
UPDATE September 2, 2016:
A passage from Elizabeth C. Fine's book Soulstepping: African American Step Shows quotes a passage in Howard University's 1988 Bison yearbook mentions apes in reference to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
P.40
..."One of the few descriptions of a different type of step show-the probate show-appears in the 1988 Bison. In “Probation prior to Vacation: Karen Samuels provides colorful details about the performances of five pledge clubs, demonstrating the importance of movement, song, and symbolic costumes....
There are also photographs of the AKA pledge club, the Delta pledges performing their ritual duck walk; and the “Nubian Apes of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc.” who “let out whoops and snatched members of the audience into their arms as they prepare to cross the burning sands into Alpha land.” [Samuel, Bison, “Probation Prior to Vacation” 14-15
-snip-
In a comment on a 2000 Greekchat.com discussion about pledging*, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. writes "Yes I know the secret of the ape and what the colors mean.".
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=2770
-end of quote-
I've read in a 2009 Geocities anti-greek forum that in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity pledge process, "a.p.e" means "almost pledged* entirely". http://www.oocities.org/glos_havebeenexposed/sin_and_shame.html don’tgogreek.com
-end of quote-

That may or may not be true.

*"Pledging" may not be always be the same thing as hazing". But it should be noted that hazing has been prohibited by members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council since 1990. And that greekchat.com discussion talks about "underground pledging" (as a way of getting around that hazing prohibition- although that process may still be quite common, it's definitely not legal.)
-snip-
Added to my guesses (shared above) as to what "ape" might mean to members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., I also posit that the word "ape" is spelled almost the same as "A Phi". And I wonder if Alphas promoted/promote the image of the huge, strong, burly ape as a means of counteracting the negative stereotypes of that fraternity's members being "less manly" than the brothers of certain other historically Black Greek lettered fraternities. Maybe that's just an ancillary benefit of that mascot/slogan or maybe that has nothing what so ever to do with "ape" and Alphamen, although the 1988 Howard University description of the Alphas whooping like apes and snatching women from the audience suggests that that action is modeled after the movie King Kong.

I understand that an organization's choice of its mascot/symbol is their members' choice alone. Still, even more so that what I wrote in 2013), I strongly question the efficacy and wisdom of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. choosing the ape as their mascot and I abhor that choice.

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Five Indigenous Australian Music Videos (Featuring Yothu Yindi, Coloured Stone, Warumpi Band, Gurrumul Yunupingu, & A Didgeridoo Dance Track)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Yothu Yindi - Treaty



Uploaded by ValorOfSoul on Mar 29, 2007

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This post features five selected videos of music that is performed by indigenous Australian artists or groups that include indigenous Australian artists.

My thanks to all featured artists, and to the featured videos' producers & publishers.

Enjoy & be inspired!

VIDEOS
[These videos are presented in no particular order.]

Video #1: Yothu Yindi - Treaty

This video is posted at the top of this page.
Here's some background information about that song:
"1988 marked the bi-centennary of British settlement in Australia, and it was in this year that Prime Minister Bob Hawke attended the Barunga Festival in a small Indigenous community south of Katherine. There, the Chairmen of both the Northern and Central Land Councils, Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Wenten Rubuntja, presented the Prime Minister with the Barunga Statement.

The Barunga Statement called on the Australian Government to recognise the rights of Indigenous land owners and to formalise a Treaty with them. It was bordered with Yol\u and central Australian designs, and was modelled on the Yirrkala Petition (1963) which the previous generation of Yolngu leaders had sent to the House of Representatives in protest against mining on the Gove Peninsula. Galarrwuy and Mandawuy’s own father was a signatory to this petition. On receiving the Barunga Statement (1988) at the Barunga Festival, Prime Minister Hawke vowed that his government would enter into a Treaty with Indigenous Australians by 1990. However, this promise would never be realised."
http://www.yothuyindi.com/music/treaty.html

-snip-
Click that link for more information about that song.

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Video #2: Coloured Stone - "Black Boy"



Uploaded by nzoz1984 on Aug 17, 2007

Coloured Stone's promo-video for the hit single 'Black Boy'. (1984)

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Video #3: Warumpi Band - My Island Home



Uploaded by nzoz1988 on Jan 4, 2008

Warumpi Band's promo-video for the single 'My Island Home' taken from the 1988 album 'Go Bush'.

Christine Anu made this song a hit when she did a cover of it in 1995.

-snip-

Editor: Here's the link to a video of Christine Anu's cover of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSFGK9HlEto&feature=related
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Video #4: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Baru



Uploaded by xxHideoutxx on Aug 8, 2011

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language

[Editor: From the video viewer comment thread, I gathered that this song was included in Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu's 2011 Rrakala album.]
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Video #5: Didgeridoo Dance Track



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RELATED LINKS
Here are threeo links to posts that focus on conditions of indigenous Australians particularly with regard to race & racism:

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=COXLmrCdt68CFYRM4AodIVLTkQ "Aboriginal Australians—The State of Play"

http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/on-being-black-in-australia-and-the-us/ "On being “black” in Australia and the U.S."

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/responses-to-racism-hildas-story.html "Responses To Racism In Australia - Hilda's Story"

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Thanks for reading this post.

Viewer comments are welcome.