@TrueTiger said in [Politics Super Thread \- keep it all in here](/post/1177428) said:
I have been steering clear of giving my opinion in regard to the BLM movement in case some take offence to what I say but here goes...
I read today that Patty Mills the NBA star who plays for Orlando in USA,has donated the rest of this seasons salary to the BLM in Australia he is an indigenous player...
Its his money and he can give it to whoever he wants,but here is my input and what I would do if I was in his position of earning what he does and can donate what he does,I have said many times that the children in Westmead who are undergoing treatment for numerous types of cancer are given a chance to overcome the illness and get a chance at life itself..the research is ongoing and needs much money to keep finding new treatments and cures,thats what I would donate to...
In having said that,the BLM is about black deaths in custody,this is where some will take offence,it is of my opinion if you are in custody or incarcerated then you must have done something wrong to be in that position irrespective of drugs.murder,rape or home invasion..all of these are wrong..
If a person is killed in custody or murdered by a police officer than it must be investigated and treated justifiably ...for the officer to have done that then he must have had a reason which we could argue all day about...however my whole point is that the children in Westmead are trying to survive a life threatening disease,their lives are still infront of them..
Blacks,Whites,Yellow,Green or what ever colour that are in custody are old enough to know whats right and whats wrong especially if they are 18 and older,Im not talking about minors in this example..
My whole point is if BLM get all this donated money why don't they spend it on educating and helping the Black community to stay OUT OF CUSTODY and on the right side of the law???
I still would put my resources into helping the children not someone of any colour to get out of trouble when they have got there themselves...
Problem is Zig when a movement gets too large it's scope increases with it. The BLM movement is the sum of it's parts. Some within the movement call for the defunding of police, others just want cops who kill without restraint prosecuted. Any large decentralised movement without structured leadership will wind up having conflicting goals. The other issue with popular movements is they have slogans and an overarching goal, but little idea of how to achieve it.
For example, I am generally opposed to any environmental policy that is considered "anti-climate change." We saw a range of people march, kids strike from school etc in order to make a statement about action on climate change. Ask a large range of those people how they would go about achieving it, and they wouldn't be able to answer. Making minimum solar requirements a part of BASIX laws (and whatever comparative relevant interstate legislation,) an end to coal subsidy, institution of plantations to make up lost bushland in the Sydney basin, imposition of synthetic refrigerant tariffs based on GWP are just some ideas on how I think it should be tackled. I think there's huge potential for Australia to become an solar energy farm for South East Asia. Free power for Australia, and exportation to China and India for a price. That would reduce running costs for manufacturing in Australia which could also see a return of a local industry. A large solar industry would require more skilled tradespeople as well increasing jobs.
Also, regarding education of black children, read into the community programmes the Black Panther party instituted in the US and the lengths that the Hoover led CIA went to squash it. Community education programmes, feeding kids breakfast etc, all these were deemed as internal security threats. There has been a lot of horrific treatment of black Americans, especially when they just tried to better themselves and pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
I completely see your points CB,however I would just like to mention in regard to our indigenous people and step aside from US black community for a moment,when I was in Wagga playing football and working I had numerous indigenous friends,there was also a lot of indigenous people in special housing sections in Wagga just for the indigenous community who couldn't afford housing..
Some of these houses were trashed,broken into and some set fire to,now why would you do that if you were a person that respected that you were given something that you didn't have to earn,by the whole of the community not just indigenous.?
The other example I will give ...a man mowed his lawn in one of the suburbs,he washed his mower and left it out in his front yard to dry and went in for a cold drink,as he came out he found 4 indigenous people taking his mower and driving off with it ,he got the rego and rang the police,he was told to go to the indigenous admin centre and make a complaint …
the answer he was given is this""how much is your mower worth""he said about $400,then and there they wrote him out a cheque for that amount and said "here you are go buy a new one...
there was no offer to penalise the offenders and the police had to refer him to the indigenous admin for them to handle it...there in lies some of the problem,the police couldn't even prosecute because they were indigenous..so this is where a lot of the problems arise...
It goes to show generations of government simply sweeping the problem under the rug by simply throwing money at it, instead of investing in legitimate generational change through positive action.
Exactly. I'm all for doing whatever we can, but, clearly throwing money at it over and over hasn't worked. In the end, if you don't want to help yourself, nobody else can help you. The problem is how do you get people to help themselves? ( any colour)
That's the big question really isn't it and there clearly isn't one answer fits all. No matter what is tried, the people at the pointy end of, for want of a better term, the social experiment will be the guinea pigs that will be disadvantaged the most and as such in the short term it will be seen as victimization because of reasons A, B and C......but nothing will be perfect the first time around and needs time to be corrected.
Don't get me wrong here Oz,but the problem I think all evolves around weak govts in past eras have given in to the tough questions asked and solved it by monetary answers..
There wasn't the work for what you get and if you need help we are here for you,which in turn created the welfare system,not just for people who really needed it but for others who took advantage of it and nothing was really objected to by the outer community because those that took advantage were indigenous people and their generations became comfortable on the system..
So my argument isn't about race or colour its about the fairness...We did have an Aboriginal Affairs office set up just for the indigenous to get what they needed when they needed it and there is the start of reliance on the system..so we were fair to our indigenous people and found a solution for them to get by and survive..
