Racism or Prejudice?
We are continually accused of being a racist society. But is it racism? Or plain old Aussie prejudice! For instance, Chinese restaurants dishing up stray cats as rabbit or chicken! This old tale kept me off Chinese food for years! Aussie ex-P.O.Ws from ww 2 refusing to buy Japanese cars because of their treatment. Is this racism? If so, what is color prejudice? If you're white you're right, if you're brown hang around, if you're black get back. This is a determining factor in Aboriginal society as well. Is this racism? And if you're Islander (Mud) get back even further! The division between Full-Blood and caste Aboriginal People is legend. An issue not discussed in the public domain. Almost like a taboo subject ! But a fact of life. You won't hear Michael Mansell talk about this. A Full-Blood will accept and trust a white person before they would a yella fella or mixed blood Aboriginal they know will exploit them. Is this racism? Torres Strait Islanders are derided by us. Is this racism? This is one reason why they are seeking to annul the marriage "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders". On the grounds of non consummation. It was a marriage in name only. Regarding and involving easier and continued access to funding. A marriage of convenience so to speak. ( alb c.9/07 )Arthur Bell.

Racism or Prejudice?
Bully,
In my experience the deciding divisie factor in all this idiocy is ATTITUDE. This is something the proponents of division either don't understand but more than likely fully exploit. I give you an example of such moronic malice. I walked into the local bar & a friend was sitting at the bar & beside him was an unoccupied bar stool. I asked if the stool was taken & he said no, sit down. As soon as I sat down an indigenous came over & said. "Hey, that's my seat." So, I said sorry & grabbed another stool & before I sat down he said "alright you can have my seat" I replied thanks but I already got another one. He the started with "you don't want to use my seat because a black man sat on it" I told him to just don't worry about it. I've got a seat & all's well but he was simply looking for an argument but he failed to rile me because I knew if I took the bait it would be on for young & old. He shouted some profanities & left the bar. For the deniers this is a far too common scenario & that is simply a stupid indoctrinated attitude & not racism. This indoctrination of indigenous by white academic do-gooders that white people are there to work for them from cradle to grave is highly irresponsible & totally immoral. How are we ever to achieve harmony when Government funded do-gooders can perpetuate this nonsense.

Ozzie your lack of intelligence is staggering. Why would you expect 3.6% of the population to be responsible for 3.6% of the crimes? Do you actually think that everybody in Australia commits one crime per year thereby making the crime stats add up to a magical 100%?

If there were 26 incidents of assault by indigenous people out of 288, what would your conclusion be if the 26 assaults were committed by only two or three people? There were 262 incidents of assault by non-indigenous (mostly white) people - the bulk of which were not domestic violence. So in fact you are more likely to be attacked by a white or other non-indigenous person in that area. Cold comfort if you do get attacked.

To be fair, I doubt that the 262 assaults were committed by 262 different people. The assaults likely center around a smaller group of people but its likely that they'd still out-number the indigenous ones. To fully know we would need more detailed stats.

bully: << Chinese restaurants dishing up stray cats as rabbit or chicken! This old tale kept me off Chinese food for years! >>

A good example of a racist urban myth that hasn't quite died out yet.

<< A Full-Blood will accept and trust a white person before they would a yella fella or mixed blood Aboriginal they know will exploit them. >>

I'd be interested to know how you came across this generalisation. Have you spent time living with "Full-Bloods" in order to observe this, or is it something you heard at the pub?

Speaking of the pub (as opposed to the "local bar"), if we accept that individual didn't just make up his anecdote, the ranting of an aggrieved drunk is hardly going to be a good basis for generalisation. One thing that interests me about "individual" is that he has previously claimed to be a "newcomer to this country", but also claims to have 30 years' experience working in Aboriginal communities. Which is it, individual?

As I said before, I think you're exactly the kind of unreconstructed racist that the OP was describing in the article. Anybody who lives in rural or regional Australia will readily recognise the reality of Joshua Lloyd's observations, otherwise they're in denial.

Lucy, your posts are very interesting. You have three posts in this topic. In each, when you disagree with a point of view, you begin with a personal attack on the other persons character or intelligence, rather than just explaining what or why you disagree.

Anyway, you last post here begins,

"Ozzie your lack of intelligence is staggering. Why would you expect 3.6% of the population to be responsible for 3.6% of the crimes? Do you actually think that everybody in Australia commits one crime per year thereby making the crime stats add up to a magical 100%?"

I strongly disagree. I have degrees in mathematics and medicine and although the mathematics degree is many years ago, I still have a reasonably grasp of it.

Let me explain in more detail. Bathurst's population (where the author is) is around 29000. There were 288 incidents of crime. 26 were committed by the indigenous population which is 3.6% (1044 people). When dealing with large populations, small factors such as a few individuals causing alot of crime should even themselves out in the overall statistics. If you read my previous post I clearly stated "all other things being equal 3.6% of crime should be caused by 3.6% of the population." So if there are a few indigenous people causing much of the crime, there will equally likely be many of the same type of individuals in the remaining non-indigenous population also causing much of the crime. There factors should even out as there are likely to be many more of these in the non indigenous group as there are 28000 non indigenous people in total.
Another easier example is that if Sydney had x% of the total Australian population, then you would expect ( other things being equal) Sydney to account for x% of Australia's total crime.
You comment about the figures magically adding up to 100% just does not make mathematical sense. It does not matter what the total absolute crime figure is. It could be 104, 288 or 2588. The total figure is automatically assigned to be 100%.

1044 people is not a large population and 26 incidents is a small amount of crime. So things aren't just going to "even out" in the statistics. Plus there can be a lot of other factors that can account for the 26 incidents and the slightly disproportionate number of indigenous people in the statistics. For example, over-policing by arresting an Aborigine for conduct that other people might be excused for such as public drunkness or having an open alcohol container in a public place can contribute to the recorded number of assaults. There are lots of stories in the legal profession of rural white police arresting Aborigines for swearing at the police and classing that as an assault. In contrast I know of instances where they have let rebellious white teenagers go with just a warning for the same conduct. As a lawyer you see these things so you learn not to blindly trust statistics.

But even so 26 is still a very small number. With 262 incidents of crime committed by non-indigenous people you're still more likely to be assaulted by one of them rather than by an indigenous person.

You also haven't explained why 3.6% of the population should account for 3.6% of the crime when there could obviously be other socio-economic factors at play.

The others on the board have also showed a fair degree of contempt for your views. Given the prejudice you've shown I don't think that you need to be treated with much respect.