Appalling statistics

In an article titled "Fear and guilt drive child policy" (The West Australian, Thursday, September 6, 2012, p21) Amanda Banks the legal affairs editor of the West Australian newspaper cites incarceration figures for indigenous Australians in WA as follows:
"As at last Thursday, 65 per cent of the juveniles in custody in WA were Aboriginal.  Department of Corrective Services figures also reveal that nearly 40 per cent of adults in our jails were Aboriginal. Yet indigenous people make up just 3.8 per cent of the population."

Banks goes on to state that "Logically, the social disadvantage faced by many in the indigenous community is the main driver of this over-representation in the criminal justice system."  She claimed that:  "Making this connection is nothing revolutionary."

Banks then cites material from the Curtin University annual ethics lecture from last week as delivered by Supreme Court Chief Justice Wayne Martin.  The Chief Justice identifies appalling conditions in which some indigenous children live and harks back to the long lasting negative consequences of the Stolen Generation. He wants these conditions changed for the better so that these indigneous children "...are no longer left in situations that condemn them to a life of desperation."

How long is this situation going to be tolerated by the indigenous First Australians and non-indigenous Australians?

In previous posts for this blog it has been suggested by a senior indigenous leader that part of the cause for these high levels of incarceration is also a pay back action against the whites for wrongs of the past : a sort of underground fighting back.

The hearts of all Australians must bleed when they contemplate these disproportionate levels of imprisonment.  The minds of those who care to and strive to change this must be working overtime.

All hail movements like Generation One which aim to see indigenous persons in meaningful employment that will enable them to easily meet their primary needs for food, shelter and clothing and also to be proud of what they are achieving.  All this within a context of retaining connection to country as enabled by successful land rights decisions.

From recent protest action it is evident that there are those in the indigenous communities who would have sovereignty over their lands under legislation that goes back to the days of Queen Victoria. These persons are clearly aggrieved at what they probably see as a cop out by those indigenous persons who take on what might be termed employment as typified by non-indigenous Australians.

It is so complex.  One cries out for the big indigenous leaders like the Dodsons, Noel Pearson and others to lead indigenous and non-indigenous Australians to get it right so that there is a true and lasting reconciliation.