The truth about native Australia

There is definately a mentality among a percentage of aboriginals (mostly the younger ones) that they can do what they want. My parents have worked in numerous high schools, and dad in particular has always had alot of troubles with aboriginal kids (NOT all, just a disproportionately large percentage). There were numerous times (4 I can think off off the top of my head in the last 9months), where a few aboriginal boys at the public school he works at, smashed school windows, hit and spat at teachers, threw rocks at cars driving past the school, then turned around and laughed at the teachers, taunting them, saying things along the lines of "you can't touch me you white ****, I'm aboriginal". (alot of them seem to like the 'c' word for some reason?)

It's not an issue of being racist. I think it's more to do with 'do-gooders' telling us what we can and can't do, especially when it comes to (shock! horror!) dealing with other races. Younger aboriginals today are raised, being told by the media their race has been mis-treated in the past, that they are special, that people should take special consideration for them because their great-grandparents were treated like crap.

They earn more on the dole than regular aussies, they get cheap government housing ($200pw) in the inner-city, in areas where other people have to pay $500pw for the privilege. They get subsidised education, the government make it easier for them to stay on the dole than regular australians and teachers have to be carefull punishing them/what they say to them so as not to provoke claims of racism etc.

Granted taking a bigger view of the world, this 'do-gooder' attitude is causing issues that extend far beyond specifically aboriginals, but this thread isn't about the bigger picture, it's about just a small slice

I have narrowly avoided fights with numerous aboriginals, usually started along the lines of me walking past, and the individual in question yells out, I look around, and recieve the standard "what the ##$# are you looking at me for? what's your problem? you wanna fight? come on ###$!" torrent of abuse followed by me walking away as quick as I can, finding a nice big group of people to mingle with, or crossing the road to avoid things getting worse.

A few years ago a friend crashed in the back of his (locked) car after a house party. He was woken a few hours later to the sound of his side window being smashed, was dragged out of his car, and attacked by 20-30 aboriginals. Once he'd almost been beaten unconscious, the group stopped and walked away, laughing and having a good ole time. 50 stitches, a metal plate in his skull & jaw, a broken arm and two missing teeth later, he filed a police report but was told it would be unlikely anyone will be caught, and because they are aboriginal the police probably won't be able to do much in the way of laying charges, due to anti-racism laws (I never got around to asking the specifics of WHY they didn't think they could lay charges due to the race of the attackers). So you tell me, is this an issue of racism? Or do-gooder 'think of the children!' attitudes gone beserk?

[edit on 2006-11-22 by wecomeinpeace]

Originally posted by Agit8dChop

FACT:
Something you never hear of in Australia.

Deep in central australia, there are small aboriginal communities.
My brother works for a company that builds housing for them in these communities.
The aboriginals , one these houses have been built FOR FREE for them..
rip up the wood floor boards and use them as fire wood.
they smash these houses up, let the dogs live in in them.. while they light bonfires in the loungeroom floors.

Whats worse?
Aboriginals walk around, during the day.. with a tin can, IE baked beans can.. full of petrol.
its tied around their necks.
so its convenient that they only have to tilt their head down, to get a wiff of petrol... so they can walk around in a daze for the next few hours.

What a disgrace.

Yes Agit8d this does go on and the Aboriginals have been burning government housing long before I was born (I am 50). Petrol sniffing I think is a more recent habit.

Young Aboriginals in Redfern (inner city Sydney suburb) have resorted to territorial type gang actvity and the community in which they live is like a compound. It is a slum and the government wil not fix it for them. They will just trash it again. There have been many riots and killings there.


It is fair to mention that although there is this disturbing trend amongst some of these people there are others who choose to live offf the land just as their ancestors have done for thousands of years. They choose to keep the cultural heritage alive and are employed in the arts and even parks and wildlife services.
They successfully live in two worlds...they choose the better option for themselves and their families.

I do not know what the solution is ? I think our government wants them to die out naturally and that is why they do not care and only do the bare minimum so they look like they care about them. They are human beings for God's sake.

In colonial times they tried to wipe them out - genocide and very well documented if you wish to do a search for material. And then they tried to make them act like white people...these victims are called the 'stolen generation'. "Yeah let's take the little black babies away from their families and educate them to be white trash. Let's sexually abuse them while we are at it"! God damn Imperilists.

www.usyd.edu.au...

This link gives population figures for indigenous Australians as at 2006.

When you look at these figures bear in mind that alcoholism, drug taking, murder,
suicide and diabetes amongst other diseases (same things that afflict white people) are on the increase and it would not take very long before there are no more Aboriginals left.

Shame on Australia...I am raving sorry


In Peace Always
resi

Originally posted by resistancia

Originally posted by Agit8dChop

FACT:
Something you never hear of in Australia.

Deep in central australia, there are small aboriginal communities.
My brother works for a company that builds housing for them in these communities.
The aboriginals , one these houses have been built FOR FREE for them..
rip up the wood floor boards and use them as fire wood.
they smash these houses up, let the dogs live in in them.. while they light bonfires in the loungeroom floors.

Whats worse?
Aboriginals walk around, during the day.. with a tin can, IE baked beans can.. full of petrol.
its tied around their necks.
so its convenient that they only have to tilt their head down, to get a wiff of petrol... so they can walk around in a daze for the next few hours.

What a disgrace.

Yes Agit8d this does go on and the Aboriginals have been burning government housing long before I was born (I am 50). Petrol sniffing I think is a more recent habit.

Young Aboriginals in Redfern (inner city Sydney suburb) have resorted to territorial type gang actvity and the community in which they live is like a compound. It is a slum and the government wil not fix it for them. They will just trash it again. There have been many riots and killings there.


It is fair to mention that although there is this disturbing trend amongst some of these people there are others who choose to live offf the land just as their ancestors have done for thousands of years. They choose to keep the cultural heritage alive and are employed in the arts and even parks and wildlife services.
They successfully live in two worlds...they choose the better option for themselves and their families.

I do not know what the solution is ? I think our government wants them to die out naturally and that is why they do not care and only do the bare minimum so they look like they care about them. They are human beings for God's sake.

In colonial times they tried to wipe them out - genocide and very well documented if you wish to do a search for material. And then they tried to make them act like white people...these victims are called the 'stolen generation'. "Yeah let's take the little black babies away from their families and educate them to be white trash. Let's sexually abuse them while we are at it"! God damn Imperilists.

www.usyd.edu.au...

This link gives population figures for indigenous Australians as at 2006.

When you look at these figures bear in mind that alcoholism, drug taking, murder,
suicide and diabetes amongst other diseases (same things that afflict white people) are on the increase and it would not take very long before there are no more Aboriginals left.

Shame on Australia...I am raving sorry


In Peace Always
resi

Particularly; "They successfully live in two worlds...they choose the better option for themselves and their families. "

The best option, and representative of a Choice of Symbiosis over Acculturation.

I made that choice for myself whan I was around 12, realizing the Truth that I didn't have to give anything of my cultural heritage up in order to live and work in open society.

Resi, the problems you state above are about universal among Native people in mixed societies worldwide. We have them here, and the violence seems to center on the younger generation. My own generation was the last to be completely segregated. I believe that segregation had it's benefits and, to a degree, still does for minorities. I believe that integration has had an overall negative effect on minority populations in the free world countries in which it has been initiated. That may sound strange to many of you, coming as it does, from a past "victim" of desriminatory practices. To further explain my point of view regards this, let me offer you the following:

I am, of course, a firm advocate of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities, yet, I feel that those higher mores can be achieved without forced Integration. Forced integration, in any of it's forms, suspends the right and Liberty of Free Choice for the affected population; a Right basic to any Democracy and Free People. For instance, (and the scenario is a true one), Students who attend predominately minority community school "X", are forced by integration policies to begin attending predominately "white" school "Y" across town, to which they must be bussed 15 miles one-way. Certain "white" students are, in turn, bussed the same distance to from school "Y" to predominately minority school "X". Now, though this may seem "fair and equitable", it is far from it. The eventuality is that both the Majority and Minority loose control of their Schools, their Communities, and even their Churches. They also loose supervisory control of their kids, who undergo very stressful times with Culture Shock due to the instantanious change in their Lives. This can lead to voilent reactions such as those in Oz, and such as we have had and continue to have in the US.

As to the diseases, we have the same problem among Natives here. Much of that is Genetic and based in food changes that are incompatible with Native genetic constitution. Alcohol and drug abuse is a major problem related to both genetics and Identity loss. Alcohol affects Native Americans in the same way that Cocaine affects Whites. Our rates for all of the diseases you mentioned, is 50 - 70% higher than that of whites. The instances of Suicide among Youth is 80% higher.

The Maouri, who have a strong sense of Community, and strong Cultural Identity and reinforcement for it, as do the Aboriginal Elders and others who have encompassed both Worlds, proved that Choice is the key, and not Forced Mandate of any kind. It works and works well.

The other side of it is Identity and Cultural Loss--and that is likely the case with the Ab Youth in Oz. They have been Mainlined into a culture thay do not understand and that does not understand them. Couples closely is that they do not understand themselves, either. This, unfortunately, amost always leads to Violence, and attempted dominance through the formation of Gangs--and Identity, but a poor excuse for one.

Either way, Violence of this type needs to be dealt with, regardless, as there is no excuse for it. The initiation of violence is always a wrong Choice.

Place yourself in indigenous shoes for a moment:

Knowing how the ancestors existed in relative harmony to the natural world, why would you want to engage in a society of corporate greed, mortgages, sitcoms, fast food, internet porn, and institutional corruption? What spiritual and moral incentives are there to believe that the 'white' way is the right way? What is so damn fantastic about our increasingly fascist society that those who know better should prostrate themselves to it?

---------------------------

Do you love your job? Are you satisfied commuting through peak hour traffic jams to pay the rent & shovel in pizzas? Do Hollywood Schlockbusters and Amercian Idol satisfy your thirst for entertainment? Happy with the 2 party 'democracy' delivering such A-grade morons as Ronny Reagan & GWB? Congratulations on living at the pinnacle of your 'civilisation'.

The way of the West is kitch consumerism based on fabricated history, wholesale genocide and subjugation of the rest of the world. The epithet is squandered opportunity. Look at how a few hundred years of the 'white' way has absolutely devastated the planet, to the point of no return.

So rather than pointing the finger at dwindling minorities reeling under the weight of a world gone mad, some of you indignant suburban kids posting here should start asking yourselves a few deeper questions about how we go about things in our society. Stupid white men.

Yes, it's all the fault of our corrupt society...they have it so bad off that they have no other choice but to go out and steal, rape, assault, kill, etc. Shifting the blame away from the individual is the only defense for a true criminal...so I take it you are not "white"? Do you have a criminal record? Don't you think it's possible to make the best of your terrible situation and not resort to violence in order to somehow get by or make yourself feel better? The system can be partly to blame, but if I get mobbed by a group of misfits and beaten to a pulp, I want to go get the bastards. And if they can't even be fairly prosecuted under the system, then maybe it's stacked in their odds in one regard, and against them in another. Still doesn't make their crimes justified. Although I think there is probably some stereotyping going on here, and that maybe these acts don't represent the majority of the group being discussed, but I don't live in Australia so I can't say for sure.

Originally posted by Shar_Chi
Place yourself in indigenous shoes for a moment:

Knowing how the ancestors existed in relative harmony to the natural world, why would you want to engage in a society of corporate greed, mortgages, sitcoms, fast food, internet porn, and institutional corruption? What spiritual and moral incentives are there to believe that the 'white' way is the right way? What is so damn fantastic about our increasingly fascist society that those who know better should prostrate themselves to it?

---------------------------

Do you love your job? Are you satisfied commuting through peak hour traffic jams to pay the rent & shovel in pizzas? Do Hollywood Schlockbusters and Amercian Idol satisfy your thirst for entertainment? Happy with the 2 party 'democracy' delivering such A-grade morons as Ronny Reagan & GWB? Congratulations on living at the pinnacle of your 'civilisation'.

The way of the West is kitch consumerism based on fabricated history, wholesale genocide and subjugation of the rest of the world. The epithet is squandered opportunity. Look at how a few hundred years of the 'white' way has absolutely devastated the planet, to the point of no return.

So rather than pointing the finger at dwindling minorities reeling under the weight of a world gone mad, some of you indignant suburban kids posting here should start asking yourselves a few deeper questions about how we go about things in our society. Stupid white men.

Shar-Chi--

This is the second of your posts I have read. You are obviously dissatisfied with the status-quo, and really good at "bringing out" negative qualities inherent in
Western Culture for hundreds of years; in other words, matters of common knowledge.

Certainly modern society is based in Illusion and is an artificial construct. But, we already know this. Next time, try thinkng of solutions to these problems, and posting them.

Hollering "FOUL!!" at Social Injustice never got anthing done about it.

[edit on 22-11-2006 by Ed Littlefox]

We have the same problems in the US between whites and blacks, although not to the scale Im sure us going on in Australia. I hope Australia moves away from the death that PC is very soon.

The real big difference between the US negro population and the Aborigine one here in Australia is that ours were here before the white race arrived. There isn't a feeling of ok lets get our rights and we can all get along if we are treated equal, its more along the lines of "you are occupying my country and I hate you for that".

There is a deep resentment and it will never go away until the half castes ( 99% of the problem ) have been bred into full white. This sounds totally racsist and you can condemn me for that but its fact and any PC person who lives in the clouds will never understand what is going on at the coal face.

The full bloods as they call themselves have no problem with their identity and I know many that are decent people without the massive chip on their shoulder that the half castes trying to live the white mans way but with one foot in the indigenous camp to get the free money ( they call is sit down money ).

The full blooded Aborigine is a fantastic race and are very peaceful and know their cultural identity but the others are confused and perhaps need to either assimilate and contribute to the society they choose to be in or become extinct.

I make no apologies for the comments I have made as they are total fact and for the do gooders...do some good for a change!

Stupid white men ?


Look mate...
I agree that this world is fuk't up due to corporate greed..

but todays aboriginal youth have no justification in bashing up someone simply for the fun of it, then blame it on white mans existence.

Yes, what the europeans did to MOST cultures back in the day, isnt fair.

But todays aboriginal youth are being given the chance that ALL the youth before them never had..
If they went to school, obeyed the law, and loved thy neighbour.. they'd end up in a nice house, with a nice family, earning an income... they'd be a pinnacle member of society much like ANY white man can do.

They choose not to.

What happened to their GREAT GREAT GREAT Grandparents was wrong..
but they shuldnt blow the opportunities they have now, that theyre Greats never had.

The Black man in america isnt sitting on the corner gang bashing people then declaring it the whitemans fault because of the laws back in the 'white V color' days.

I see more black americans being famous and respected than ever. because they took the opportunities given to them, their past family never had.

Yes, back in primitive days when natives ruled their land life was good.
but unfortunately, a few hundered years can dramatically change things.
We arent locking them up and exterminating them are we?
they can eat from the same table we eat from, they can drink the same water i drink, they can see the same movie in the same cinema.
they have everything at their fingers that I do.

Me being succesful has nothing to do with me being white.

Im sure their are heaps of aboriginals out there working hard, earning a living and loving life.
Its unforuntae the handful that are beating people up for no reason shed such a bright light on that race.

Mazzroth--

Though a few may be surprised, I can see no reason to condemn your comments.

When we speak of Racism and Racists, we are speaking mainly of persons who subscribe to BS concepts about another Race which have no basis in fact. In your case, unfortunate as it truly is, your opinion is based in some hard facts and is not Raciest by any means--it's just true.

Though far less violent, mixed blood Natives that are not Federally Recognized in the US also present problems, as well, and on both ends. For what it's worth, we haven't brought up American Black Culture, at least yet, in this thread. What many of us who were raised within the Culture do in the US is to offer the serious mixed bloods the opportunity to learn about the Native aspects of their Heritage so as to better understand who they are as individuals. Many of these people feel that something is missing in their lives, and they have a rright to fill in the gaps. It makes them better people. (JMHO) Maybe a similar effort would help quell the trouble in Oz? It may be worth a shot.


[edit on 23-11-2006 by Ed Littlefox]

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Yes, what the europeans did to MOST cultures back in the day, isnt fair.

But todays aboriginal youth are being given the chance that ALL the youth before them never had..
If they went to school, obeyed the law, and loved thy neighbour.. they'd end up in a nice house, with a nice family, earning an income... they'd be a pinnacle member of society much like ANY white man can do.

They choose not to.

I don't know much about the current relationship between Australians and aboriginals, but I think this applies to every formerly oppressed people everywhere. What's past is past, it was inevitable that as technology, industrialization and trade was mastered by anyone, they'd influence the entire world. Don't cry over spilt milk if you happened to be born into a culture that wasn't part of this revolution, rather take advantage of all it has to offer.

You have voted Agit8dChop for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.

Australian society is made up of a wide variety of groups. These groups of people have different cultural traditions and economic and social background. The success of the communication and interacting of these groups depends largely on the attitudes, values, and behaviour of people towards different groups.

Racism is probably the first form of discrimination we think of. It is the belief that some races of people are inferior to other ‘races’. Racism usually involves negative acts against the group of people considered inferior. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of a whole race or ethnic or religious grouping of people. The impact of racism on the Aboriginal people is not just horrific but genocidal. Racism is a problem for Aboriginal Australians. This includes occupation of Aboriginal land under the ‘Terra Nullius’ principle, assimilation, the stolen generation, and Aboriginal Australian’s health.

Before the arrival of European settlers, Australia was probably inhabited by as many as 500 different tribal groups of Aboriginal peoples. Many of these groups, their cultures, and their languages have been wiped out by white settlement.

Aboriginal Australians traditionally owned land on a group or tribal basis according to birthright. Being a member of a tribe entitled an individual to dwell on a certain designated area of land and to utilise the natural materials from that land.

The land was inalienable, that is ownership could not be transferred, because no one really ‘owned; the land in the European sense of the word therefore disputes about land did not arise between Aborigines. Upon European settlement in Australia, all useful available land was carved up by the settlers according to the notion of possession of land based on English law. This division of land failed to recognise any land rights held by the original dwellers. Dispossession had a devastating effect on Aboriginal society

To the Aborigines the land was part of their very being. It had a special religious significance and they believed there was a direct relationship between the spirit and the site from which the spirit came. That place was the person’s life force and that person was inseparable connected with it and these sites were considered sacred.

Within a generation of the first white settlement, many tribal groups were decimated or wiped out. By the 1850s many were on the point of extinction, others were extinct. In the Port Phillip area, for example, government records show that a pre-contact population of about 10000 was reduced to less than 2000 in only eighteen years. White violence was mainly responsible for this appalling death rate.

From peace to slaughter. A quiet rural settlement in Queensland; the first contact with British settlers’ and then, Truganini who was the last female left in Tasmania after the black population had been wiped out by whites (she died in1876). Therefore it is evident that the impact of racism by the Europeans who claimed the land to be ‘Terra Nullius’ is not just horrific but genocidal.

In the second half of the nineteenth century many of the remaining Aborigines in the eastern colonies were ‘rounded-up’ and kept of reserves, which were often administered by Christian missionaries. Both Church and state were anxious to ‘Europeanize’ native peoples. The establishment of reserves made it possible to enforce this policy of ‘assimilation’.

The lives of Aborigines were heavily regulated and controlled by white ‘protectors’ on reserves throughout the colonies. Aborigines required a permit to enter. Children became wards of the state and could be removed from parents by white authorities (stolen generation). The rights to consume alcohol control one’s own financial affairs, or to vote were denied those detained on reserves. These reservations governed the lives of a large number of Aboriginal people for generations.

Today, in all but a few isolated parts of Australia, only remnants of traditional Aboriginal cultures, social practices and languages remain, and these are still under constant threat from European pressures. Yet some Aborigines have survived and some tribal groups have retained their cohesion, despite the horrors of the nineteenth century and the racism they have encountered.

Statistics on Aboriginal health reveal most clearly the neglect and racism from which these people have so long suffered. European colonization introduced new diseased, notably leprosy, syphilis and trachoma. Since then inequality, poor social conditions and vicious cycle of poverty and government failure to provide accessible medical service have all contributed to this situation. Today, Aboriginal life expectancy is only about 50 years. The number of infant deaths is at least three times higher for Aborigines than for whites. Aboriginal children are many times more likely than white children to suffer serious diseases.

Other problems include the law, housing, and even political participation. But, things have been done to overcome this and other problems just mentioned above.

Since the 1967 Referendum gave the Commonwealth government greater powers over Aboriginal Affairs, many changes have taken place. The years of the Whitlam Labor government, 1972-75 greatly increased spending through a new Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Land Rights Councils were set up and the National Aboriginal Consultative Council gave Aborigines a voice, even if it was an advisory one, n determining government policies. Some improvements in health care, education, and housing have resulted, but as the above facts indicate, much remains to be done.

In recent years Aboriginal organisations have begun to pay and increasing role in society. Some examples are: Land Rights Councils, the ‘Tent Embassy’ outside Parliament House in Canberra, the Aboriginal voter-registration drive in Western Australia, formation of Aboriginal dance and theatre groups, urban renewal programs by Aboriginal communities, notably in Redfern, Sydney, and the emergence of community groups which aim to improve such things as access to education and revive traditional Aboriginal learning, culture and languages.

The demand for land rights and genuine ‘self-determination’ is the most obvious example of the desire of the Aboriginal community to overcome the disadvantages they encounter at present and of the past.
CONTINUED

In conclusion, the effects of racism by Europeans through assimilation, the stolen generation, Aboriginal Australian health, education and law have not just been horrific and destructive but genocidal as the evidence show above suggests. The Aborigines face problems in their struggle for equality of opportunity and toleration. Generations of Europeans have attempted to exterminate the Aboriginal Australians or to exclude them from the mainstream of Australian society. The Aboriginal people have revealed considerable resistance and cohesion and laws introduced by Europeans has helped to create and preserve the present condition of Aborigines, and changes to that condition depend largely on changes to the law and its administration.

Sorry but copied this from somewhere else just thought it might shed a little light on the Why?

Source

[edit on 23-11-2006 by reaper2]

Reaper

Noone is going to argue what you have said above mate, but I ask you this..My family was sent here on the First Fleet as prisoners so am I to blame Mother England for ever and my children ad infinitum for sending us here for small petty crimes ?

No I get on with reality and stop blaming things on a generational level as this is just plain stupidity and would show me up to be fool to myself and my family. This generational spurned hatred is why Palestinians and Jews will never see peace ok, you see the parentage pass on their prejudices and its a never ending cycle.

Mate I have to say I totally agree with you Agit8ed

What really gets me is how an Aboriginal runs from the police and impales himself on the fence. All of a sudden... it's the cops fault. I mean come on!

When are people going to realise that Aboriginals were granted EQUAL rights. Not the right to go around doing whatever the hell they want to whomever they want.

Makes me sick.

Originally posted by mazzroth
Reaper

Noone is going to argue what you have said above mate, but I ask you this..My family was sent here on the First Fleet as prisoners so am I to blame Mother England for ever and my children ad infinitum for sending us here for small petty crimes ?

No I get on with reality and stop blaming things on a generational level as this is just plain stupidity and would show me up to be fool to myself and my family. This generational spurned hatred is why Palestinians and Jews will never see peace ok, you see the parentage pass on their prejudices and its a never ending cycle.

Agreed mazzroth

But although this is about the wrong behaviour of the idegenous population, we must not forget that they have been marginalised and left behind not through choice i belive but by overt and covert prejudices.

Trauma

Now their population has recovered to 4,000, but she told the conference how the survivors had been traumatised by the collective effects of two centuries of racism.



Monica Morgan: Aborigines were "brainwashed" and "violated"

Her own generation has been marked by the removal of Aboriginal children from their families, the so-called "stolen generation".

Some 100,000 children were taken from Aboriginal families throughout Australia - including Monica Morgan's own family.

She described the impact on her family.

Monica's story

"The removal of children from their families affects every member of the indigenous community in Australia today.

"Every one of our families has been directly involved, or has people who have returned home after being removed.

"In my own family, the father of my children was removed from school at 10 years of age. He and seven of his brothers and sisters - five at school, one who was in hospital, two who were in camp with their family members - were removed and placed in a jail cell and transported to places known as detention centres or homes, where they were trained to be domestics, brainwashed to be assimilated, and violated.

"In every one of our communities now we are having our people return to us, broken, feeling rejected, hopeless and without any justice."

Monica Morgan - and the other Aboriginal people of Australia - are calling for an apology and compensation for the years of suffering.

And this was not many moons ago, this qoute was taken in 2001. It would be un-prudent to think that whites do not attack Aboriginals. and ill qoute agan.

The Big Picture
There is little information available specifically on Aboriginal and Torres Strait
women and the law. This in itself is symptomatic of the issues relating to Aboriginal
women and the law, and for this reason, numerical data does not form a major part of
this paper.
Statistics show, for instance, that in 1989, Aboriginal women represented some
16.3 per cent of the female prison population, compared to the figure for Aboriginal
men of 14.1 per cent of the total male prison population, indicating that the situation
for women is worse than for men. These figures depict one day of the year only,
however, and caution should be used when looking at them. For instance, in the
Northern Territory, Aboriginal women represented 100 per cent of the inmates at the
time of the census, an appalling distribution you might think, until you see that this
actually represents three women in total. The number for Aboriginal men was 240.
Indeed, the numbers are so small it is hard to gain an accurate or reasonable
picture. According to the National Prison Census 30 June 1990, there were 105
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women out of the total female prison population
of 778, a decrease from the 1989 figure of 111. This represents 13.5 per cent and 16.3
per cent of the total female prison population respectively. (There were 2,041
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men at the time of the National Prison Census).
The most frequently committed offences usually involved non-payment of fines,
drunkenness (or the new improved, disguised lawful means of arresting for
intoxification) and social security fraud¾ the result of extreme poverty.
In terms of recidivism, Aboriginal women (75 per cent) again rate lower than
Aboriginal men (80 per cent). Compared to non-Aboriginal men (48 per cent) and
women (29 per cent), the rate is substantially higher. Aboriginal women also returned
to prison sooner than non-Aboriginal men and women (Broadhurst 1988).
Notwithstanding the available data, there is a deficiency of conclusive statistics to
accurately portray the position of Aboriginal women in relation to the law. There is a
need rather, to rely on anecdotal evidence and first hand accounts, such as those
mentioned in the Discrimination in Government Policies and Practices Report where
grave allegations were made relating to 'the sexual harassment and rape of Aboriginal
women and girls by police while in custody' (Equal Opportunity Commission 1990)
and the investigations carried out by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in
Custody.
THE LAWS¾ Aboriginal Women and the Law
67

Needless to say this was not many moons ago either and if you dig deep enough you will find that racist attacks by whites against Aboriginal is an everyday occurance. Not to mention as above attacks of rape and abuse by white cops.
Not fiction this is fact and ongoing,

Equal opportunity's in word but not in deed......

Well, I'm not trying to excuse these people, but you should also consider another angle...they most likely do not have the same opportunities or chance at success as others, simply because of the yearly household income in their family, and their family's net worth. These are two deciding factors, at least in the united states, of whether or not you will "make it", because it does take some initial capital to go to a good school and get the degree...or else you have to be pretty damn determined to get the money somehow through scholarships, working constantly, loans, etc.

There's also the increased stress on the family unit, when the parents are probably both off working 60 hour weeks, and don't have time to take care of the children, more than give them money for food. And then there's the inherent "lower class culture" that they get sucked into, because it's the only support structure available to them.

I don't know if this describes australia's situation at all, but it is a pretty accurate picture of many places here in the US. And getting the money for the degree will make or break you in our country...I still think these kids are scum for doing what they do, but there is at least some reasoning behind it, and I doubt they have the same opportunities for success.

A reply For doctorfungi

Less than three months ago, in beach-side Cronulla in Sydney’s south, white mobs chased and beat up youth because of their Middle Eastern appearance. The racist riot was openly built by Alan Jones, a powerful radio shock-jock who is a good friend of Prime Minister John Howard

“I’m the person that’s led this charge here. Nobody wanted to know about north Cronulla, now it’s gathered to this”, Jones boasted on his program on Radio 2GB.

Jones had been campaigning for weeks for a “community show of force” against Middle-Eastern youths who had allegedly assaulted a white surf lifesaver.

He read out a text message that had been flying from mobile phone to mobile phone: “Come to Cronulla this weekend to take revenge. This Sunday every Aussie in the Shire get down to North Cronulla to support the Leb and wog bashing day …”

Any ''wog’‘ was a potential target. Jones made it plain that he “understood” this incitement to racist violence

The gross divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is summed up in these shocking statistics:


Life expectancy: 20 years shorter than for non-Indigenous Australians and the gap is widening.

Infant mortality: Three times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians.

Health spending: Commonwealth spending 26% less per capita for Indigenous Australians.

Unemployment: 23% in 2002 (compared with an official rate of 6% for non-Indigenous Australians — the lowest since the 1960s).

Education: Fewer than 36% of Indigenous youth completed all secondary schooling compared with 73% of all Australian youth in 1998.

Housing: Only 30% of Indigenous families are buying their home compared to 70% of non-Indigenous families.

Imprisonment: Nationally, the Indigenous rate of imprisonment is approximately 15 times that of the non-Indigenous population.
This parallels the sustained relative privilege of Australians compared to the much poorer majority of the world’s population. Today, Australia has the seventh highest average income in the world. Australians are part of the one-fifth of the world’s population that gets 70% of world income.




Source

Originally posted by djohnsto77

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Yes, what the europeans did to MOST cultures back in the day, isnt fair.

But todays aboriginal youth are being given the chance that ALL the youth before them never had..
If they went to school, obeyed the law, and loved thy neighbour.. they'd end up in a nice house, with a nice family, earning an income... they'd be a pinnacle member of society much like ANY white man can do.

They choose not to.

I don't know much about the current relationship between Australians and aboriginals, but I think this applies to every formerly oppressed people everywhere. What's past is past, it was inevitable that as technology, industrialization and trade was mastered by anyone, they'd influence the entire world. Don't cry over spilt milk if you happened to be born into a culture that wasn't part of this revolution, rather take advantage of all it has to offer.

You have voted Agit8dChop for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.

Agit8dChop--

Yes, and that is the saddest part of the whole scenario. New Opportunity for some, becomes memory-motivated excess.

djohnston77--

I absolutely agree. What has happened in the past has happened, regardless of the reasons and injustices involved. At some point, we (Native People) have to bury the ax and move forward with our Lives, making of them what we wish. None of us can go backward in time and "fix" it--we, and only we Native People, can only fix it by moving forward. No-one else can do that for us, as, they simply don't know how; (a fact proven over a large amount of time in the US by the Bureau of Indian Affairs).

In the light of the Vollence in Oz, there are at least 2 messages that need to be sent. The first is that criminal acts and victimization of others will, in no case, be tolerated. Simply put, if you can't do the Time, then don't do the crime. That message belongs to the System. The second message should come from the Aboriginal Community (Full blood)--and it is "Come, Listen, Learn, and Remember who you really are."

[edit on 23-11-2006 by Ed Littlefox]

I think you are describing a 'class' issue rather than a 'race' issue per se. These groups being described are typically trapped in the lower class cycle. This induces anxiety and depression, which leads to drug abuse and crime.

I'm sorry but I feel a need to point out that this statement is a generalisation, and also an assumption when considering the correlation of these topics. It would also be hard to support that statement in a debate/discussion.