Where next for Indigenous youth?

Well thank you.

The thing is many decades ago we were like you are now.

We would throw a kid into prison and the kid would just come out more violent than when he o she went in.

We came to the understanding that the amount of money spent on jailing and prosecuting and the inept social programs that went with this cost far more money that simply dealing with the root of the problem and that is to make parents accountable.

Now we certainly are not perfect and we really need to do more especially for the adults in jail but as far as kids...we are headed in the right direction and all it took was for a single U.S. state to start such a program and when the other states saw that the program worked and saw how much money we were saving they too developed similar programs.

We still have a LOT to do as this is a massive nation with over 320 million people and we are the most culturally diverse nation on planet Earth.

But it's a start...and it works.....and all it takes is a couple of people to start it.

AA

 

Its a difficult question to answer, but we also must not forget these kids are not the innocent "little saints" the ABC is making them out to be.

 

That is why I believe we as a collective must change the actual way we view violence and our apathy toward it. Only then can we move forward with enough pressure to exact real change in terms of policy and law. Simply blaming a government and screaming at them to change something, will solve nothing as the real problem is rooted in society. Within us as a people.

As you said it only takes a few to start change, I am not sure if Australians can change, as they are too selfish. As long as it doesn't affect them they are happy to let things roll.

 

whether they are angels or not isn't the point really. You can not treat violence with violence. You have to remember that most of these kids have grown up only ever knowing violence and neglect. Some adult beating down on them is like you giving your child a cuddle to them. It is the only attention they know. So they learn nothing from the exercise, to them they got what they were craving, someone giving them attention, albeit violently.

As you said there is no easy answer, but does that mean we stop trying to find one? One thing I know for sure is if we keep looking to government to find the solution, keep offloading the responsibility of the issue, we will be still running in circles long after I am gone.

 

Way beyond my pay grade, and knowledge of such matters.

 

Well eventually it's going to bite them in the ass and then they will have no choice but to do something.

Sort of the way we have all these people who refuse to accept the fact of Global Warming as they scream it is not happening yet water levels continue to rise and now every shoreline U.S. City is spending Billions of Dollars to combat the problem.

It took a storm surge from Super Storm Sandy that flooded a lot of New York City for people to start realizing something needed to be done.

Same thing with this problem.

AA

 

It's not you know. This is why I asked the question.

You already know that what happened was wrong. YOU already know that it must change. You stated "Not on MY watch", but the truth is....it is on your watch, and mine, and every other person on this forum.

If we are to change it, WE all must stand as one against it. Not just what is happening in a detention center in NT, but violence in general.

Bennelong stand up to it, don't pass on the responsibility to someone else, otherwise we may as well give up now

 

"Well eventually it's going to bite them in the ass and then they will have no choice but to do something".

That seems to be exactly what happens in OZ.

 

LOL!!

Plus you have to watch out for those Aussie women.

They can really mess with a guy's head.

AA

 

And our Government throws tens of millions of dollars towards controlling domestic violence, all the
while blaming men and men only......pft...

 

First of all who's government because I don't know if your talking about the U.S. or Australia.

And yes....women are just as bad as men in that case.

AA

 

Mate, its Australia....according the published stats, 40,000 cases of domestic violence are reported
in each state each year...to the extent that courts have been established where they deal with dv only...
all day.....whilst I dispute the figures which reduce down to 800 per week, per state, dv is now...or can
be as little as raising your voice....its gone mad....fair dinkum....

 

Yeah....it's unfortunate that is happening.

There are the idiots who beat the hell out of their women.

Then there are those women who use the system against their men.

How can anyone be so cruel?

AA

 

It isn't in "your name" so you have no right to insist the men and women who risk their lives and have to deal with these incarcerated cases, their constant threats, violence and bodily fluids should deal with it in "your way". "Your way" and in "your name" were proscribed for these kids by a magistrate over a dozen times and every time "your way" in "your name" failed miserably.

The ABC showed only one side of the story as they normally do and it is always from the left and defended by the left.

 

While that sounds great, the problem is far deeper than that. The issue of violence is considerable and what you say is indeed a beginning but we need to encapsulate many things.

For example, Drug use. Abuse of drugs assists in violent behaviour in many ways. However, when your sporting bodies which the younger generation look up to see their favourite sports stars getting caught drug cheating and taking recreational drugs, we slap their wrists and send them back out to earn the millions of dollars roll modelling for the kids of today. Do you really think, those kids are not affected by the news of the drugs???

This is a generational change that needs addressing many issues. Possible the most important issues the address is taking responsibility for one’s own actions, and rewarding decency, not applauding depravity.

 

There are some good kids still

 

Nobody said there wasn't. Nobody suggests that all kids are turning evil and all family units are failing. everybody is suggesting to address the failures of society for the betterment of the community.

 

First thing is to get rid of the rubbish surrounding social issues and find the unvarnished truth. I don't read The Australian but I have been keeping up with the row over Leak's cartoon. Was it vicious? Probably. Was it cruel? Probably. Was it racist? No. It reflects reality. Yes it's a stereotypical view but so is this:

[FONT=&quot]A woman walks into the downtown welfare office, trailed by 15 kids... "WOW," the social worker exclaims, "Are they ALL YOURS???" "Yep they are all mine," the flustered mumma sighs, having heard that question a thousand times before. She says, "Sit down Leroy. All the children rush to find seats.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Well," says the social worker, then you must be here to sign up. I'll need all your children's names."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"This one's my oldest - he is Leroy." "OK, and who's this one?" Well, this one he is Leroy, also." The social worker raises an eyebrow but continues. One by one, through the oldest four, all boys, all named Leroy. Then she is introduced to the eldest girl, named Leighroy![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"All right..." says the caseworker, "I'm seeing a pattern here. Are they ALL named Leroy?" Their Momma replied, "Well, yes - it makes it easier. When it is time to get them out of bed and ready for school, I just yell 'Leroy!' An' when it's time for dinner, I just yell 'Leroy!' an' they all come a runnin.' An 'if I need to stop the kid who's running into the street, I just yell 'Leroy' and all of them stop. It's the smartest idea I ever had, namin' them all Leroy."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The social worker thinks this over for a bit, then wrinkles her forehead and says tentatively, "But what if you just want ONE kid to come, and not the whole bunch?" "Ah, that's so easy," said the momma. "Then I calls them by their last names."

A grain of truth? Of course, or we wouldn't get the joke.

But there's outrage at Leak. This is where true political correctness gets massively in the way. Before you can solve a problem you first have to know what the problem is and then find the root causes. You can't do it if society won't let you define the problem in the first instance. The fact is that there is massive deprivation in many indigenous communities. Why? And from that we can work out what we're going to do about it. Screaming "heretic" is an old trick and a very damaging one, it shuts everyone up. And the problem festers.[/FONT]

 

Exactly. As usual well thought out commentary. Political correctness is as debilitating on society as domestic violence, drugs, and alcohol. Freedom of speech is the fundamental core of freedom, without out it we are entombed in a web of fear by our own design.

I found no offence in the cartoon, just a sad acknowledgment of the truth.

 

I also believe there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the reason why many young people turn into juvenile delinquents and turn to crime, is because they have had no supervision or sufficient discipline in their home environment as young children. When these young children reach the age of teenagers, they have absolutely no consideration or respect for authority, because they have been allowed to live as wild uncontrollable animals.

 

The problems of Australian Aboriginals are the same as those of American Aboriginals and American Blacks. They were excluded from society and shunned for more than a century and longer in USA. Then the society that excluded them announces we are now including you. However those are only weasel words and the exclusion is sticky and pervasive and insidious and continues in many hard and soft forms.

Australian society is still generally hostile to Aboriginals, and more so to full blood Aboriginals.

 

You're right. The sad bit is that many still don't understand the historical circumstances of our aborigines. There is a sense of freedom in knowing and understanding. I certainly don't know everything regarding the history but am certainly able to make a little bit of the sense of what has happened and connecting that with present day situation.

 

Well I can tell you this about anyone in the U.S. who has Indian blood.....they are WEALTHY NOW!! LOL!!

One word......CASINO!!!

AA

- - - Updated - - -

Exactly.

A kid needs a strong father figure or a loving and strong mother.

If they don't have this they act out in a way to get any attention they possibly can.

AA

 

What truth does it reflect slippery?

 

I bolded the bit I want to discuss because it's important.

The problem with much of the public discourse about Indigenous Australians is that it seems to be split between the Noble Savage and Savage views.

One the one hand we have a view put forward that the first Australians were Children of Nature who could do no wrong. Now "wrong" is subjective so I should be careful using the word. This mythologises Indigenous Australians and does them no favours at all.

What is true, I think, is that people on this landmass existed for 40,000 years and adapted to nearly every part of the landmass (I believe they did not inhabit Kangaroo Island in S.A.). That shows you the resilience and adaptability of our species. But life for many people back then was bloody tough and the rules reflected that situation. Occasionally we hear someone banging on about cannibalism and killing babies and the like. It was probably accurate for some regions, the ones that were arid and where life was difficult to sustain. They would be adaptive behaviours. I'm not sure it would apply in what we know now as the more fertile coastal areas where people could live a sedentary rather than nomadic existence.

To the other view. Savage. I'm referring to the contemporary stereotype. Like any stereotype there's a grain of truth to it but that's it.

Both views are unhelpful and totally inaccurate.

You don't have to travel, just watch NITV, to get an idea of the diversity of Indigenous Australia. And this is where I'm coming back to
tv's point. Like it or not we have to accept that Britain colonised an inhabited country as if it were uninhabited and that's where it started. I don't care if someone calls it "invasion" or "settlement" as they are entitled to their view, but colonised it was. And dispossessed were the original inhabitants. That's a fact Jack. And many of us have been averting our eyes from that for many years.

Time to own up and accept the reality, the truth of it. I'll have a bit more to say later, my battery's about to die on the laptop.