>Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 20:24:25 +1000 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Rod Hagen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Come On, Aussie, Come On! >Cc: >Bcc: >X-Attachments: > >To the Editor >The Age > >Two sets of numbers came out today (Monday, April, 17th). One set >filled the headlines - the yuppies and the financially comfortable >had a bad day at their equivalent of the Casino and lost maybe one >dollar in every ten from their investments. > >The other set (the Australian Bureau of Statistics report on >Indigenous Health), received a passing mention in the "ethical >press" but were hardly even noticed elsewhere. They showed that if >you were an Aboriginal Australian male you had less than one chance >in two of making it to your fiftieth birthday and that if you were >an Aboriginal woman your chances were barely any better. If you were >white, your chances of making fifty were better than nine in ten. > >If you were a black baby you were nearly ten times more likely to >die than if you were a white baby. One in four of all infant deaths >in Australia involves an Aboriginal child. Your chances were >significantly worse than those of an American Indian or a New >Zealand Maori. > >For humanity's sake, for morality's sake, for simple honesty's sake, >isn't it time we got our priorities right? No nation has ever had >less excuse than our "Lucky Country" for such a disgraceful >situation. > >For the 35 to 54 year old age group the indigenous death rate is 6 >to 7 times the national average. > >It is hard to read this report without feeling extreme disgust at >being a white Australian. > >Simply put, Australia's ugly racist past continues into an equally >ugly racist present (Yes, I know that the new political >"correctness" tries shamefully to ban this word). No doubt some will >seek to blame the victims. Some will say it simply as a result of >past failures. But if any other group of Australians was involved >this would be seen as a national emergency of the gravest >proportions. I see absolutely no signs that it is being treated in >this fashion. > > >Rod Hagen -- Rod Hagen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hurstbridge, Victoria, Australia WWW http://www.netspace.net.au/~rodhagen ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
