by iDuck Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:26 am
OMGGG IM DONEEEE~
read my speech if your bored xD
Social justice is what faces us in the morning. It is awakening in a house with adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to be nourished and attend school where education not only equips us for employment but reinforces our knowledge and understanding of our cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity, free from discrimination. This is a statement from Pat Dodson who was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from 1993-1998
Good morning Mrs Rontitis and fellow classmates, today I will be discussing about the social injustice towards Aboriginals. From the settlement of white people in Australia, non-Aboriginals have developed on the racist assumption of an ingrained sense of superiority that it knows best what is good for Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations comprise just over 1.6% of the total Australian population. Because of the attitude towards Aboriginals, two thirds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are forced to live in rural or remote areas. This leads to food inequality and lack of facilities. The health aspects for aboriginals include high risk of having diabetes mellitus or respiratory diseases.
The unemployment rate for aboriginals are much higher than non-indigenous people in Australia. Statistics show, in 1991, the unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians was nearly three times that of the national average. Indigenous Australians earned less than two thirds the national averages that year. With the newly introduced laws, aboriginals are paid by the standard wage, however, the unemployment issues continue today.
Discrimination towards Aboriginals began as early as the 1900s. Until 1969, state-run Aboriginal Protection or Welfare Boards controlled and supervised the lives of Indigenous Australians. These boards could decide where Indigenous people could live, whom they might marry or have relationships with and where and how their children could be raised. They also determined which jobs Indigenous people could have, and withheld their wages indefinitely. They governed what property Indigenous people could own and how they disposed of it and also where people could travel who they could visit.
Certain exemptions were made for those Indigenous people who were deemed to have reached 'acceptable' standards of non-Indigenous civilisation, that is, a European lifestyle. These people were granted a type of 'honorary' citizenship which could nevertheless be withdrawn by the authorities. Aboriginal people referred to these exemptions certificated as 'dog tags' or 'dog licences'.
Isolation, racism and discrimination are some of many social injustices towards Aboriginals. In my opinion, as a multicultural country, we should respect one and another’s ethnic background. Everyone one of us should be treated equally and given the same rights.
gosh i feel so proud xD