I trust you, do you trust me?

[farri]

If you watch the clip to the end there is some text about 13 % of people who trust Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Yes Richard, just went to the end of the video, that`s correct.

 

If 13% of people trusted, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,in 2012, then, 87% of people didn`t......I wonder who went around asking," Do you trust, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?"...Fairdinkum!!!!!!!

 

 

[Teckair]

No-one asked me, did anybody out there get asked?

 

 

[Geoff13]

Yes Richard, just went to the end of the video, that`s correct.

If 13% of people trusted, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,in 2012, then, 87% of people didn`t......I wonder who went around asking," Do you trust, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?"...Fairdinkum!!!!!!!

The question of what %age of people trust Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people is only relevant when it is compared to how many trust any other group of people. Lets ask the same question except delete "Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people" and inset one or all of the following.

 

Catholic

 

Arab

 

Caucasian.

 

Asian

 

Protestant

 

etc, etc

 

Only then can the statement be relevant.

 

 

[dazza 38]

My grandmother and her sisters had to wear full lenght white gloves and wear plenty of white powder on their exposed skin when they were young. They also weren't allowed to go out it the sun much.

 

They were half Aboriginal and were thrusted into the white mans world as children and they were supposed to forget about their Aboriginal heritage.

 

 

[farri]

The exact statement at the end of the video: In 2012,13% of all Australians said they trusted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

 

 

 

Trust: Firm belief in the integrity,ability,or character of a person or thing;confidence or reliance.

 

The statement is, 13% of all Australians. ...Was a survey done and were All Australians asked?... I wasn`t.

 

They trusted, Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. All of the people or some of the people?... which people?

 

If we`re going to get serious about that statement, then I say it is incorrect and a nonsense, meaningless, really.

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

They were half Aboriginal and were thrusted into the white mans world as children and they were supposed to forget about their Aboriginal heritage.

dazza, that was absolutely terrible.

 

Our youngest daughter, is now 45 years of age. She has been married to the same man for 25 years. They have two daughters and two sons, ranging in age, from twenty to twenty six years. They have their own home. Our daughters husband is loved by everyone who knows him, he`s a hard worker and the most important thing to him, is his family, I couldn`t have wished for a better son-inlaw.Well guess what?. He`s aboriginal.

 

When I first met him, he told me that when he was young, he would scrub himself when he was having a bath, thinking he could make himself white. I listened patently, then I said, " Don`t you ever let me hear you say that again, you be proud of who you are."...It`s made emotional, just writing this.

 

Frank.

 

 

[frank marriott]

When I was about 8 years old,one of my best mates was an aboriginal boy. I would go to his home which consisted of a one room home built of corrugated iron with a dirt floor. I was welcomed there and I felt comfortable.

A long story so I`ll try and keep it as short as possible. I play electric guitar and I run my computer through my guitar amplifier, everything sits in the same room.... Fran and I had been out and when we got back, my guitar, with a $1,500.00 unit on it was gone,everything else was still there...WE did a bit of thinking and decided it could be someone from the indigenous people who lived up the road so we went to talk to them and told them what had happened....A young kid about 7/8 years old, said, " I saw a guitar on the seat of so and so`s car"....We phoned the guy`s mother and she told us to call the police as she couldn`t handle him anymore ( he was about 17/18 years old).

 

I really didn`t want to involve the police but based on what his mother had said, I decided to call them. The cop told me he had no chance of getting my guitar back, so that was that....Next day I decided to take one of the guys who knew the young bloke, who took the guitar and go to the guy`s house....I stayed in the car while his mate went into the house and within 10 minutes a young bloke, came out, head bowed low and stood beside my door window, I said, " Are you the guy who took my guitar?" he said, " Yes, do you want it back?" to which I replied "Yes please", he went and got it and brought it out to me. ( that`s exactly how it occurred)

 

When I got home, I phoned the cop I`d spoken to the night before, he was amazed and asked if I would press charges, I said I wouldn`t so he proceeded to give me an ear full of how he was trying to uphold the law and just because I`d got my guitar back, I didn`t care about anyone else...I told the cop that these kids needed help not prison!... he continued to give me an ear full until I finally told him to do what he thought was the right thing to do....He went over there and had the kid in court that afternoon. To the cop it was just another thing to pin on this kid.... I later learnt he did prison time.

 

This kid was from another town. It turned out, he was with his mother visiting some friends just up the road, he was fairly drunk, took his mothers car, drove to the end of the road and onto our property, went into one of the drains we have here, got stuck, came to the house for help, no one about, went inside, saw the guitar, took it, then went and got a couple of mates to get the car out.

 

To me, this incident was more about the cops attitude than this young indigenous bloke, who obviously had problems, to deal with.

 

Frank.

I guess the situation was drink drive, B&E/stealing, further drink drive. I guess it is a value call but (apart from an individuals attitude) but should anyone get away with this (no matter what race) is the bottom line, at least that's the way I approach these matters. A criminal is a criminal no matter what his colour/race etc. and should be dealt with accordingly.

 

If someone was injured/killed during the process would the outcome be more or less desirable?

 

 

[farri]

If someone was injured/killed during the process would the outcome be more or less desirable?

Frank, I understand what you are saying, but I differ, in principal, on, "A criminal is a criminal" bit. A lot of indigenous kids, have big problems caused by their parents and society.

 

I happen to believe that these kids need help, not prison. Granted,the particular kid I mentioned was out of control ( His mothers words) but I believe that to be a symptom of the problem.....of course I could be wrong, but is prison creating a better person or a more hardened criminal?

 

Frank.

 

 

[facthunter]

All you folks consider....... your family is starving..... Would you steal some food or let them starve? No if's no but's Just answer the question.. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

My grandmother and her sisters had to wear full lenght white gloves and wear plenty of white powder on their exposed skin when they were young. They also weren't allowed to go out it the sun much.They were half Aboriginal and were thrusted into the white mans world as children and they were supposed to forget about their Aboriginal heritage.

When people went to visit my cousins they used to put granny in the cupboard. We saw her only once or twice; a beautiful black lady with so much humanity. A generation or two later the truth is still rarely spoken.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I guess the situation was drink drive, B&E/stealing, further drink drive. I guess it is a value call but (apart from an individuals attitude) but should anyone get away with this (no matter what race) is the bottom line, at least that's the way I approach these matters. A criminal is a criminal no matter what his colour/race etc. and should be dealt with accordingly...

I agree Frank, but the reality is that for the same crime blacks tend to get gaol time and white fellas often get away with community service, fines or cautions.

 

Even Texas has finally seen the light and is changing its myopic focus on jailing criminals.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30275026

 

 

[David Isaac]

All you folks consider....... your family is starving..... Would you steal some food or let them starve? No if's no but's Just answer the question.. Nev

If life ever degraded to that level of desperation, I would obtain the food by whatever means, but I would not take another life in the process.

 

 

[farri]

When people went to visit my cousins they used to put granny in the cupboard. We saw her only once or twice; a beautiful black lady with so much humanity. A generation or two later the truth is still rarely spoken.

Is it any wonder then, that so many indigenous people have issues to deal with!

 

If life ever degraded to that level of desperation, I would obtain the food by whatever means.

I watched a TV documentary recently. In the Northern Territory, indigenous people are being jailed for driving a motor vehicle, without a drivers licence. One guy in prison, said he had driven to town to get food.

 

Some of these guys would barley be able to read or write and yet! Instead of trying to educate them so they would be able to obtain a drivers licence, the system puts them in prison and then wonders why there are so many indigenous people in prison.

 

Ok! So it`s against the law to drive a motor vehicle onto public roads,without a drivers license! Teach these guys to drive and issue a special license for them.....Oh I see......There, isn`t the money...Who`s going to do the teaching, and on and on....Isn`t it interesting that there`s always enough money to keep them in prison.

 

Frank.

 

 

[David Isaac]

When people went to visit my cousins they used to put granny in the cupboard. We saw her only once or twice; a beautiful black lady with so much humanity. A generation or two later the truth is still rarely spoken.

The white supreme race in action; how shameful that some were so embarrassed by their heritage, they thought it necessary to hide the family matriarch.

 

Hopefully we have come a long way from those shameful days ... but have we really ....? It seems a great tragedy and weakness of too many of the white skinned race is to marginalise those who are different be it race, colour, religion, sex, or sexual orientation; it is as if by judgement they think they raise their self worth ... an absolute tragedy.

 

 

[Yenn]

I wonder what the indiginous members of our society think about those of their race who are always in jail. There are many who live just like you and me, never in trouble with the law, and good citizens. There are alot of indiginous people who will never be good citizens. They get money to do nothing and booze it up, beat up their wives, abuse their kids and the do gooders say we shouldn't lock them up. What else can we do?

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...as if by judgement they think they raise their self worth ...

You have nailed it David. It is usually the bully that has issues.

 

 

[Teckair]

OK David, reading the posts on this thread I see little sign of racism which is of little surprise to me I think we have come a long way from the bad old days.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I wonder what the indiginous members of our society think about those of their race who are always in jail...

Some indigenous nations have a pretty healthy cash flow from royalties, etc. Maybe they could spend some of that on keeping their brothers out of prison.

 

There are many who live just like you and me, never in trouble with the law, and good citizens. There are alot of indiginous people who will never be good citizens. They get money to do nothing and booze it up, beat up their wives, abuse their kids and the do gooders say we shouldn't lock them up. What else can we do?

Agreed Yenn, but those comments apply equally to a lot of non-indigenous and immigrant peoples.

 

Being locked up is an absolute last resort- and probably causes more suffering and damage to Indig. people, with their strong ties to land and family, than to the rest of us.

 

The cost of keeping someone in prison is higher than the cost of giving them very intensive remedial education and skill training. How many people come out of prison better than they went in?

 

 

[David Isaac]

I wonder what the indiginous members of our society think about those of their race who are always in jail. There are many who live just like you and me, never in trouble with the law, and good citizens. There are alot of indiginous people who will never be good citizens. They get money to do nothing and booze it up, beat up their wives, abuse their kids and the do gooders say we shouldn't lock them up. What else can we do?

Yenn,

 

The problem is a lot more complex than simply locking them up ....

 

 

[Teckair]

Yenn,The problem is a lot more complex than simply locking them up ....

I see the problem as they were here for thousands of years and then white man turned up few hundred years ago and getting such different cutures to mix is going to take some time. Until everyone is treated equally there will be issues, as for police being hard on Indigenous people that has not been my experience it is more like the opposite.

 

 

[farri]

There are alot of indiginous people who will never be good citizens.

As there are in all people!

 

They get money to do nothing and booze it up, beat up their wives, abuse their kids

As do lots of other people!... These guys, http://www.indigenous.gov.au/hope-vale-goes-bananas , have been trying to get out of poverty, but they`ve been hit by a Cyclone, two years in a row.

 

do gooders say we shouldn't lock them up.

I`ve had it with the term, Do Gooders!... I see the term being used on this forum, as form of insult!..I don`t think anyone, would suggest, leaving dangerous, violent, psychopaths, loose on the streets, but locking people up for minor offences, isn`t the answer either.

 

What else can we do?

We need to start by asking, " What is currently being done?"

 

Frank. Edit, For many years, an indigenous guy, drove tractors and worked my neighbor`s cane farm, because my neighbor had to take a second job, to survive. I gave a job to this guy several times over the years and I considered him to be as good a tractor driver as anyone,I`d seen. The poor guy could hardly read or write, probably had very little or no schooling. He would be in his mid fifties now. The same neighbor, has been giving another indigenous guy work for many years, I`ve worked with the guy. Two days ago my neighbor and this guy were working near home here, so I went over to say G`Day. They were going through the cane paddock, pulling out grass and weeds, by hand. The indigenous guy is seventy one and my neighbor is eighty one.

 

 

[facthunter]

I think if we are going to get anywhere with this all the stereotypes have to go. Clearly the Aborigines are not impressed by their new conquerors, imports, boat people or whatever we are. They don't see cities as "nice " places. Probably would prefer the place to be like it was before WE arrived. That's the way they lived for 60.000 years. You could drink the water from any creek. Now you can't. Alcohol makes money from them. That doesn't do them a lot of good for a start.

 

Their rate of incarceration is way out of proportion. A lot of money spent for no gain. No I don't have the answers.. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

... No I don't have the answers.. Nev

Nobody has all the answers Nev, but this bloke has more than most:

 

http://www.whywarriors.com.au/products/

 

Of all the things Yolngu people have been thru since Balanda came to their lands, perhaps the worst has been regularly getting mucked around by white fellas who think they know how to do things better.

 

 

[farri]

I have taught my 4 grandchildren, who are of indigenous descent, on their father`s side, that if they want a better world, they have to create it themselves, because no one else will create it for them.

 

As children their parents, took them to Little Athletics for many years and the amount of trophies they won, is truly amazing. The two boys, now twenty and twenty five years of age are into physical fitness and they go to the gym every afternoon after work. Recently the youngest went to live on the Gold Coast area for a while so that he could train as personal fitness trainer, he graduated and is now a personal trainer, he`s back home up here and at the moment is working in the banana industry, at Innisfail. The eldest has worked his way up and is now driving semi trailers, his father is a Semi driver also and they both work for the same employer in Innisfail.... Ashley, (Father) is also a qualified security guard and for about twenty years, after a hard day`s work, he would go and do security work, lot`s of times till daybreak, next day. Our daughter ( Mother) works far too much and her work days are usually fifteen hours long.

 

The two girls are twenty and twenty six years of age. The youngest has done various lines of work and is never without work.The eldest is married, has two daughters under three years of age. With encouragement from Fran, Myself and her parents,two years ago, she opened her own fashion boutique, in Innisfail. With her husband and children, she lives in a second house here on our property at Derral. Every day she drives from home to her boutique in Innisfail.

 

I don`t know the answers to a lot of the indigenous problems, but what I do know, is, this part indigenous family has gone a long way to solving many of the problems that could have occurred to them. When their children were not much more than babies, their father could have got more government money for staying at home than he would get going to work, he chose to work and has never been unemployed...Oh!...They also have their own home.

 

Frank

 

Ps, Am I proud?....You bet!!!!!

 

 

[farri]

http://www.dhimurru.com.au/yolngu-culture.html