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Dear AJ & LEGO,

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As I understand it, the extraordinarily high crime rate among indigenous peoples is a world-wide phenomenon, though it is possible that our Australian Aboriginal compatriots may well hold the world record in this domain.

Is it, as LEGO suggests, because certain so-called human “race” groups’ IQs are inferior to those of Caucasians and Mongoloids ? I have not found any evidence of that – quite the contrary. As I indicated in a previous post to LEGO :

The current state of the art of genetics is that there is no connection between so-called “race” and intelligence. Nevertheless, as LEGO rightly points out, IQ tests reveal that there is an “intelligence gap” between some so-called “races”.

It is generally considered that the apparent “intelligence gap” is due, not to a difference in intelligence, per se, but to cultural, environmental or “external” factors which restrict its exercise.

These cultural, environmental or “external” factors act like a mechanical speed limiter on a motor vehicle that prevents it from exceeding a pre-determined speed limit. They do not reduce the intellectual capacity of the individual; they simply prevent him from exercising his full intellectual capacity.

As there is no biological evidence of any intellectual differential among so-called “races”, the best explanation for the high crime rates of the world’s indigenous peoples is that they are due to a cultural differential.

Here are the key crime statistics for Australia in 2016 :

http://www.acpc.org.au/index.php/crime-prevention-information/key-crime-statistics-2016

Numerous studies on the question have been carried out, based on official statistics and other sources. Here is one of the most comprehensive :

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-prison-rates

Nevertheless, Dr. Rick Sarre of the University of South Australia observes:

« There has been a deliberate drive to recruit Indigenous police officers, a policy in keeping with the spirit of the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Johnston, 1991; Kamira, 2001, pp.79–81), and Indigenous police women especially (Fleming, Prenzler & Ransley, 2013). There has also been widespread implementation of training in cross-cultural sensitivities in police academies, in concert,

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And since whitefellas' role is seen as doing more and more for people, there is some confusion about whether or not this includes, for example, total 24/7 child care. When my dear wife was running a settlement pre-school forty-odd years ago, even then some mothers hinted at 24/7 care, but she put them pretty straight, in characteristic Ngarrindjeri fashion.

Hence the deep truth of Bill Leak's cartoon: kids bring in fortnightly money, but many people are unclear whether or not they are supposed to actually look after them, for that money. And fathers in particular may not feel any responsibility after they have done their fathering duties.

So it's got nothing to do with fifty thousand years etc. I'm sure, Rodney, you didn't mean to imply that foraging people were inherently 50,000 years behind whites, or that whites were somehow far ahead in evolutionary terms of foraging people - we were all foragers barely a few thousand years ago.

I'm sure that you and your wife put in a huge amount of time carefully raising your kids, but in foraging societies that wasn't seen as necessary, kids were pretty expendable, and maybe many people in remote settlements still have those views, even though they are no longer strictly foraging - well, they are, of course, down at the ATM, but without the legwork needed for traditional food-gathering.

So, yes, it's going to be a very long road for that minority of Aboriginal people - perhaps 20 % - to come around to realise what parental responsibilities, human responsibilities in a modern world, mean.

Cheers,

Joe

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again, with the 1991 recommendations designed to eradicate any police racism that may still persist.

Other initiatives include police support for Indigenous-run policing patrols (Blagg & Valuri, 2002). Similarly-structured Aboriginal Community Patrols began through funding by the New South Wales Attorney-General’s Department’s Indigenous Justice Strategy (Sarre & Sparrow, 2002). The appearance two decades ago of Aboriginal courts in Australia now make it more likely that those on bail will appear in person for hearings and thus be less likely to be ordered to custodial remands (Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre Australia, 2013) »

If I were to synthesise all this and draw the logical conclusion, I should be tempted to suggest that the solution to the excessive crime rate would appear to be to try to dovetail our two cultures, indigenous and non-indigenous, wherever possible. We should both benefit from coming together and learning how to understand each other - even more so if we manage to engage in an ongoing process of cross-fertilisation, with no direct intervention in each other’s affaires – each adjusting his own culture to that of the other, in a concerted effort of active cooperation and mutual respect. That is something our elders and leaders should be able to organise and control - humanly, legally, economically and - effectively.

Also, it seems to me that all those bright young Aboriginal university graduates (currently close to 40 000 in number) should not just stand on the sidelines and bemoan the plight of their less fortunate Aboriginal colleagues, even if they are not necessarily of the same tribal skins or language groups. They should be strongly encouraged to take an active part in facilitating the dovetailing of our two cultures as an act of solidarity with those less fortunate than themselves on both sides of the cultural divide.

It has to be a team effort if it is to have any chance to succeed.

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Hi Rodney,

Some of what you write is breath-taking - the sort of ideas which might have been common twenty, thirty, fifty, a hundred, years ago. No offence :)

For example, the RC into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody found, very early on, that if 23 % of people in custody were Indigenous, and 22 % of deaths in custody were of Indigenous people, then deaths in custody was not the issue: how prisoners were treated, yes, why so many Indigenous people were incarcerated, yes, why Indigenous people committed so many crimes, yes, and so on - a la Bill Leak, back to upbringing and parental neglect. These issues were done to death a quarter of a century ago. Meanwhile, currently around 28 % of people in custody are Indigenous, so there goes any efficacy in some dual court system.

But I do get riled up with comments like these:

"Also, it seems to me that all those bright young Aboriginal university graduates (currently close to 40 000 in number) should not just stand on the sidelines and bemoan the plight of their less fortunate Aboriginal colleagues, even if they are not necessarily of the same tribal skins or language groups. They should be strongly encouraged to take an active part in facilitating the dovetailing of our two cultures as an act of solidarity with those less fortunate than themselves on both sides of the cultural divide."

No. Aboriginal graduates are no more responsible than any other Australians, perhaps less since they've often had a gutful of the bullsh!t raining down on them from outsiders: 'they should have stuck to Aboriginal courses'; 'they shouldn't do 'white' courses'; 'aren't they in danger of losing their culture' ? On and on.

No, what the hell people in remote settlements do to each other is not any of their particular responsibility, none of it. It's hard enough as an Indigenous graduate, trying to find work in the mainstream, and being funnelled into working in corrupt, incompetent Indigenous organisations is NOT recommended. I would advise Indigenous graduates to run a mile from that trap.

Joe

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Dear Joe,

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You wrote :

« … you didn't mean to imply that foraging people were inherently 50,000 years behind whites, or that whites were somehow far ahead in evolutionary terms of foraging people … »

My understanding is that, prior to British colonisation in 1788, the life style of the Australian Aboriginal peoples had not evolved since they left Africa about 100 000 years previously. Whereas the life style of the black Africans who migrated north to Europe about 50 000 years ago began to evolve almost immediately on their arrival due to the cold winter climate. Very quickly they had to clothe themselves with animal skins to keep warm and they were constantly exposed to attack from competing tribes for access to available natural resources which were scarce, particularly during the winter months.

The struggle for survival in those more difficult conditions became the motor for evolution away from the traditional nomadic, hunter-gatherer way of life to the sedentary activities of agriculture and animal husbandry because of the need to store food, like many other animal species, during the long winter months.

Less sunshine, long cold winters, wearing clothes, the struggle for survival, necessity to store food, change of life style, change of diet – this was a long, slow process that began 50 000 years ago. A major turning point occurred about 10 000 years ago during what is known as the Neolithic era or “new stone age”. Many anthropologists date the emergence of the white man from this period as well as the first agricultural activities, the cultivation of figs, then grain, the domestication of animals, followed by pottery, the invention of new tools, etc., etc.

Not only has the evolution never ceased since it began 50 000 years ago, it has even accelerated and continues to do so. Whereas the life style of the Australian Aborigines remained practically the same for 100 000 years, ever since they left Africa. It only began to evolve to any significant extent since British colonisation in 1788, i.e., 288 years ago.

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You also wrote :

« … Aboriginal graduates are no more responsible than any other Australians, perhaps less since they've often had … raining down on them from outsiders: 'they should have stuck to Aboriginal courses'; 'they shouldn't do 'white' courses'; 'aren't they in danger of losing their culture' ? On and on. »
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That was in response to my suggestion that :

« … all those bright young Aboriginal university graduates (currently close to 40 000 in number) should … be strongly encouraged to take an active part in facilitating the dovetailing of our two cultures as an act of solidarity with those less fortunate than themselves on both sides of the cultural divide »

I understand your reaction, particularly since you explain a little further on :

« It's hard enough as an Indigenous graduate, trying to find work in the mainstream, and being funnelled into working in corrupt, incompetent Indigenous organisations is NOT recommended. I would advise Indigenous graduates to run a mile from that trap »
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Allow me simply to point out that I was suggesting “solidarity” not “responsibility”.

The OED definition of solidarity is :

« Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group » [Example: ‘factory workers voiced solidarity with the striking students’]

I think you will agree that “solidarity” is quite different from “responsibility”.

I agree with you that Aboriginal university graduates have absolutely no responsibility in the disarray in the minds, customs and life styles of their Aboriginal colleagues due to the upheaval of traditional Aboriginal culture resulting from British colonisation.

On another vein, I should be curious to know a bit more about the “corrupt, incompetent Indigenous organisations” you refer to. Are there many of them? Is it a general phenomenon or do you just have a few specific organisations in mind? Are they state owned, subsidised or purely private organisations and who runs them?

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