Feeling Safe Stay Safe Newsletter March 2001 issue:
Welcome again it's that time to renew the newsletter. Volunteers are welcomed and will be cherished and encouraged to support the vision of a world free from violence and abuse. If you would like to help please amyl me on pbcwa@iinet.net.au.
Contents:
· Conferences/sites/workshops of related interest
· NEW-Parent/Child Protective Behaviours Coaching service
· HALO -WA
· The truth about child sex abuse in Britain's families
· Self Defense - USA
· School Shootings and white denial -USA
Conferences/sites/workshops of related interest:
KERALA, India July 18-20, 2001
You are invited to send a one-page proposal for presenting at the above conference, organized in collaboration with several universities and agencies such as Center for Development Studies and UNESCO UIE. Include your name, mailing address, email address, title, description and preferred format (panel, poster session or workshop) of your session. Mail proposals by April 6 to Ms. Cle Anderson, American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, 4380 Forbes Blvd., Lanham, MD 20706. Or fax it to her at 301/918-1846 or forward it to discoveryjourney@msn.com . Abstracts will be reviewed and contributors will be notified regarding acceptance of their papers by April 16.
The objectives of the conference are to review innovative practices in the fields of education, human services and human resource development in different parts of the world and to identify the role and impact they have on social development. Topics could include the following:
· Global issues, including globalization, as they affect the development and wellbeing of individuals and communities and the development and functioning of institutions.
· Salient features and innovative trends in lifelong learning, health and human services in different regions of the world.
· The concept of mind-body oneness and holistic approach to development (social, intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual.)
· The 'Kerala miracle' and the trends in development today. [The state of Kerala provides the venue and background for this conference. Kerala shows the way to low consumption and sustainable development without massive
industrialization. Its life expectancy is high, child mortality low, and 100% of the population is literate! "Kerala demonstrates that a low-level economy can create a decent life, abundant in the things -
health, education, community - that are most necessary for us all"
Bill McKibben.]
· Other topics: Teacher preparation, innovations in curriculum and instruction, distance education, continuing professional education, literacy, participatory research, human resource development and gender equity.
Conference participants may utilize a travel and accommodation package made available through discovery journey (July 10-24; $2785) organized as an orientation to the conference. Visits with professionals and communities in rural, urban and tribal regions of South India are designed to offer an exposure to the customs, culture, and people as well as to the current social, economic and political situations.
CEU's, CPDU's and college credits are available. You are welcome to participate in the conference even if you are not a presenter or a participant in the discovery journey. The conference registration fee is $85. For details visit www.discover-india.com, write to
discoveryjourney@msn.com or call 800/835-7262 or 773/205-7900.
8th AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Theme - One Child's Reality Everyone's Responsibility
MELBOURNE - 19-22 November 2001
http://www.prevents.com.au/accan8/
email: 8thconference@prevents.com.au
4TH CHILD & FAMILY POLICY CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE Theme: Their Environments
NEW ZEALAND Dunedin 28-30 June
Email: cic@otago.ac.nz
SITES OF RELATED INTEREST:
Defense Children International NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
http://www.childhub.ch/dcifp/focalpoint.html
Building Peaceable Communities Day with Protective Behaviours
http://www.skybusiness.com/peaceable/index.html
Australasian Centre for Policing Research: Compendium - DV
http://www.npru.gov.au/domvi.htm
DV Australian and overseas newspaper and magazine articles -
Http://wwzip.com.au/~korman/dv/info
Gaia Foundation
Kids Help Line
http://www.kidshelp.com.au/links/childabuse/htm
WORKSHOPS OF RELATED INTEREST
Workshop 1
SEMINAR by Suzanne Jenkins (Authority on Child Sexual Abuse and Perpetrators)
Understanding and responding to the development of sexually abusive behaviour in children
This program will provide information about the development of abusive behaviour patterns, which can facilitate the assessment, and treatment of children
Who abuse.
Course Objectives:
· The assessment process as a structured and systematic gathering of information about risk and the therapeutic needs of children and their families
· Specific indicators of risk
· The processes by which sexually abusive behaviours may develop treatment issues
· The development of a therapeutic context for the work.
Title- Youth & Offending
Date: 3rd May Thursday
Time: 8.45 4.30
Fee: $45.00
Call 9271 7733 to make a reservation.
Workshop 2
STRATEGIC QUESTIONING 1 OR 2 DAY WORKSHOP
By Fran Peavey
Fran Peavey is a bold, humorous and deeply caring woman whose way of working has emerged from her experiences in social change campaigns across several continents and four decades the early civil rights struggles, anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and the clean-up of the Ganges River, the Middle East Conflict and the Refugee crises in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Fran will present Strategic Questioning as a skill of asking questions that will make a difference. It is a powerful and exciting tool and helps local strategies for change to emerge. Through dynamic listening to ourselves, to the earth and to our fellow citizens, Strategic Questioning can help uncover hidden power and stifled dreams, transform our culture and its institutions, and help adversaries shift from their stuck positions on an issue leading to acts of healing and reconciliation.
One and two-day workshops for change agents, community development workers, educators, facilitators and providers of human services see http://giawest.iinet.net.au/sq.html or Rodney at ecoheal@iinet.net.au
DATES: Saturday 28th July 2001 9.30 5.30pm
Sunday 29th July 2001 9.30-5.30pm optional Advanced W/Shop
COST: Both days $150 wages/ $95 unwaged
First day only: $105 wages / $60 unwaged
Both days include morning and afternoon teas. Soup and rolls will be provided for lunch, please bring something to supplement and share.
WORKSHOP 3
Building Peace-aBle Communities 3 HOUR WORKSHOP
Most people in the community deplore child abuse, domestic violence and indeed all forms of abuse and violence, yet seem reluctant to actively ally themselves with prevention initiatives because of the negative connotations. The very words 'abuse' and 'violence' have a negative effect on some people, and many identify strongly as victims or with victims. As a result the movement to prevent abuse and violence often finds itself in a victim stance similar to those it seeks to help!
By changing the emphasis to the positive - promotion instead of prevention - There is immediately a feeling of empowerment and energy and we become less competitive. Because unfortunately competition is, or has been, a fact of life for those of us who work towards preventing abuse and violence; competition for the mighty dollar, rivalry between those who are passionate to prevent a particular form of violence, or one group simply believing that they have found THE solution. Yet clearly there are thousands of component parts in this particular piece of patchwork, some of them as yet undiscovered.
IF WE WISH TO PROMOTE THE POSITIVE ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENCE, WHAT IS IT?
PEACEABLE means, among other things:
· Able to live together without violence even when our backgrounds, needs and opinions may be very different
· Able to express and let go of negative emotion without blame or guilt and without hurting anyone.
· Respecting and valuing other members of the community, whatever they're age, educational level or social standing.
Above all it implies a COMMUNITY EFFORT. The goal will not be reached without the investment and active participation of individuals, families, social groups and corporate bodies as well as governments and legislators. It requires the building of social capital.
The workshop will explore practical applications of how you as a community group member can work towards this vision and celebrate Building Peace-aBle Community Day this year in your street, social group, sports group or work place.
People who should attend, representatives from Safer WA Committees, Local Shire |Council Offices, Rotary, Apex, Soroptimists , Zonta Members, Teachers, Social Workers, Office of Seniors and other professionals working in Welfare, Education and Community Development.
Date: Wednesday 23rd May 2001
Venue: to be advised
Time: 9.30 12.00
Cost: $20
Contact: Joan-Claire 94518296 email: pbcwa@iinet.net.au
WORKSHOP 4
FAMILY COUNSELLING WORKSHOP
Presented by Katheryn & David Geldard
The workshop is designed for counsellors and other professional helpers. It will focus on facilitating change in families.
A ONE DAY interactive workshop will explore issues involved in counseling families. Specific practical strategies will be demonstrated and experienced. Video-taped segments taken from actual counseling sessions will illustrate strategies and processes designed to produce change.
DATE: various from May through June throughout Australia
ENROLLMENTS CLOSE WHEN WORKSHOPS ARE FULL:
CONTACT - 07 5448 2123 Before 27th April 2000 as facility will be closed after that date
NEW
PARENT/CHILD PROTECTIVE BEHAVIOURS COACHING SERVICE
A NEW SERVICE HAS EMERGED TO MEET A NEED IN THE COMMUNITY.
Joan-Claire (Cribbin) Kozak has established a coaching and counseling service in COMO. This is for parents who wish to learn Protective Behaviours in a one on one situation (plus small groups upon request). This is where individual concerns can be addressed and lesson plans developed, strategies discussed and skill rehearsal explored. Then transferred to everyday life situations.
This service is for parents who are concerned about their child's safety before or as intervention when an incident has occurred relating to abuse or school violence such as bullying.
A parents willingness to be part of the protective process is essential as the coach can only be there once a week, whilst you as the parent in are the guardian of your child's health and wellbeing 24hrs a day. It is a partnership that the coach walks with you in developing you and your child's skills in keeping safe.
Individual sessions with your child are also available but know that as a parent and teacher you are your child's best resource and the role of coach is to assist you to develop your skills and expand your already good parenting.
Supervision sessions for Professionals in the implementation process of the Protective Behaviours Program are also available; please call to discuss fees and options.
Counseling in Marital problems, Life Crises, Personal & Relationship issues, Career & Work problems and Stress De-briefing. Using the Compassionate heart model, which embraces a diversity of yearnings, dreams, goals and ways of being in the world. Creating a space for dialogue and wonder, where purpose, preferences, and possibilities can emerge. Where the client can look to signs of hope and create pathways to a healthier now and create the future they want.
Reasonable rates:
Sliding scale of fees, anyone with financial constraints, please call to discuss options.
To make an appointment please call Joan-Claire at
Como Coaching and Counseling Service on
94518296 or mobile 041 621 5739
Or email pbcwa@iinet.net.au
HALO NEWS
HALO (Helping all little ones) is a non for profit, organization formed in December 1997 to provide a voice for children and to defend the rights of ALL children to receive love, respect, protection and justice. HALO works for greater awareness and education in the community for child protection. They help children by supporting their families through the process of reporting abuse, the investigation and subsequent criminal or family court proceedings.
They have had many supporters since 1997, such as St John of God Hospital, Christian Brothers, Irdi and Associates and the City of Bayswater. Together with this aid and a dedicated committee they have had some success and do believe they are making a difference, especially in the Family Court arena.
There aim is to set up a trust fund and gain sponsorship from the private sector for without this it will make it more difficult to reach their goals.
HALO PROVIDE:
· Advocate for children in the community to ensure their protection from abuse, neglect and trauma.
· Provide protection, comfort, empowerment and support for children through to adults who have been victims of abuse, neglect and trauma.
· Assist family members and members of the community affected by child abuse (secondary victims)
HALO works to draw the government's attention to this arena and calls them to make changes to protect our children and our society.
For further information please contact HALO4kids@aol.com or call 9271 7733
HALO PO Box 54 Bayswater WA 6933
Excerpt from the HALO NEWS:
SEMINAR by Suzanne Jenkins (Authority on Child Sexual Abuse and Perpetrators) Title- Youth & Offending Date: 11th April 2001 call 9271 7733 to make a reservation.
(See Workshop section in this newsletter for more info)
Friend
She comes to me with a mischievous smile and a gift
A box wrapped and sparkling
So I open the box and peer inside to find loving messages
You are a good friend
You are clever
You are a good mother
I look into her yes and try to tell her why
These gifts are not for me.
You have me all wrong, I start to explain,
I'm bad and uncaring, filled with deep shame.
As she looks into my eyes the tears start to fall
And she says “I know these gifts are yours.
She turns and leaves, slowly, sadly.
I look at the box and the gifts and think
If only you knew me.
And the pain goes on
Later..much later
I wonder if just maybe
You do know me.
Reproduced with permission from HALO NEWS March 2001
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHILD SEX ABUSE AND BRITAIN'S FAMILIES
(received over the internet)
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor 19th November 2000 (via Internet)
An inquiry into the sexual abuse of children has revealed that the widespread belief that fathers are chiefly responsible for the most serious of domestic crimes is wrong. Most sexual abuse of children is carried out by their siblings. The find, from an investigation by the National Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, is the most comprehensive ever carried out and turns on its head the conventional picture of the sexual exploitation of children. After more than a decade in which adult men have been cast as the villain's, the finger of suspicion has switched to their sons.
The survey of 2,869 young people aged 18-24 who were asked about their experiences as children, to be published tomorrow, found sibling abuse was twice as common as abuse by father or stepfather. Among those who reported having sex against their will within the family or with someone who was five or more years older, 43% said the perpetrator was a brother or stepbrother compared with 19% who named their stepfather and 14% named their father.
The discovery will trigger a fundamental rethink of the nature of sex abuse in the family and how to deal with it. Although awareness of sibling abuse has been growing for years, the definitive fining in the survey signals the need for a major change in approach.
The sexual abuse of children by children is harder to define than sexual abuse by adults. The NSPCC says abuse involves any sexual act carried out without the consent of one part or where the perpetrator was five or more years older and the victim was under 16. The acts involved ranged from, exposure, voyeurism and genital touching to full intercourse.
Evidence from the NSPCC's Midland team, where 70 young people are referred for treatment each year to the Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour Service, shows the abusers are mainly boys aged 10 14 and that their victims are mostly five years younger. Most of the abusers had themselves been victims of abuse.
Kevin Gibbs, project leader, said We have to face the fact that physical abuse is one of the most significant causes of sexual aggression in young people.
The NSPCC investigation found one in 100 young people suffered sexual abuse by a parent or carer, nearly always the father or stepfather.
Boys were as likely to have been abused as girls and nearly all the abuse involved genital contact. Three in 100 young people reported having been abused by another relative. Of these, three-quarters were girls who had mostly been abused by male relatives, most often brothers or stepbrothers.
The NSPCC report says that sexual relations with and between children and young people are hard to define in relation to abuse and that there are much-publicised disagreements, such as over the age of consent to sexual intercourse. However, Dr. Eileen Vizard, director of the London Young Abusers Centre and a noted authority on child abuse, said there was a marked difference between normal childhood experimentation of the 'I'll show you mine type and the persistent, compulsive, sexualised behaviour that fails to respond to ordinary social sanctions and demands professional help. The majority of children who are sexually abused will never talk about their experiences, even though most victims will develop psychiatric problems as adults or become paedophiles, according to the biggest study of child abuse in Britain.
Research published by the NSPCC today found that physical abuse of children is seven times more prevalent than sexual abuse. The survey , Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom, also found that children are twice as likely to be sexually abused by their siblings than by their fathers or stepfathers. Child Welfare professionals warned that some victims of both types of abuse are so badly affected that they become sexual predators at an early age. Dr. Eileen Vizard, clinical director of the NSPCC's London Young Abusers Centre, said that while seriously offending behaviour can be prevented if identified in childhood.
The survey found that nearly three in four youngsters who have been sexually abused or coerced into sexual activity do not tell anyone at the time and one-third will never talk about their experiences. Based on interviews with with young people in the survey, the study found that about 4% of young people had been sexually abused by a family member as a child. Seven% said their parent or carer had seriously physically abused them, including being hit with a fist or implement, beaten up. Burnt or scaled.
The research being published was to mark United Nations Day of the Child 2000, found that 6% of children were seriously physically neglected at home, being left without food or having to fend for themselves because their parents had a drug or alcohol problem. More than a third had at some point suffered metal abuse in the form of terrorizing, such as physical threats.
Mary Marsh, Director of the NSPCC, said, The sexual abuse of children rightly causes public and political outrage. But children are seven times more likely to be beaten up badly by their parents. Behind these figures lie real childhood experiences of physical and sexual violence, emotional and mental suffering, and isolation. She warned that child abuse and neglect was going unnoticed because children and young people found it too difficult to speak out.
SELF DEFENSE OUT AND ABOUT
Supplied by Angel Overton Teacher in Special Needs, Alabama, USA
I just finished taking the most amazing self-defense class, and I wanted to share some really valuable info with you before it goes out of my head.
The guy who taught the class has a female friend who was attacked last year in the parking garage at Westport Plaza in St. Louis one night after work and taken to an abandoned house and raped. So, he started a women's group and began teaching these classes soon after. This guy is a black belt in karate and trains twice a year with Steven Sewall. He and the others in this group interviewed a bunch of rapists and date rapists in prison on what they look for and here's some interesting facts:
The first thing thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.
The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for a woman who's clothing is easy to remove quickly. The #1 outfit they look for is overalls because many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing and on>overalls the straps can be easily cut.
They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.
The time of day men are most likely to attack and rape a woman is in the early morning, between 5 and 8:30 a.m.
The number one place women are abducted from/attacked at is grocery store parking lots. Number two is office-parking lots/garages. Number three is public restrooms.
The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to a second location where they don't have to worry about getting caught.
Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.
If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming
These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it.
Several deface mechanisms he taught us are:
1. If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk, I can't believe it is so cold out here, we're in for a bad winter. Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up, you lose appeal as a target.
2. If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell Stop or Stay back! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.
If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes), yelling I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent. (Not legal and not recommended in Western Australia)
3. If someone grabs you, you can't beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If they grab your wrist, pull your wrist back so your hand is in waving position (palm facing forward) and twist it toward yourself and pull your arm away. It is hard to hold onto wrist bones that are moving in that way. They stumble toward you and you stumble back, so you can use that momentum to bring the same out and backhand them with your knuckles in the forehead, nose or teeth.
4. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the upper inner thigh HARD.
One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it. It hurts.
5. After the initial hit, always go for the groin. I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's balls (sorry to be graphic) it is extremely painful. You might think that you'll piss the guy off and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble and he's out of there.
6. When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.
Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behaviour, don't dismiss it, and go with your instincts. You may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.
Please forward this to any woman you know, it's simple stuff that could save her life.
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS WHITE DENIAL
Provided by Angel Overton Special Needs Teacher Alabama, USA and reproduced with permission from Tim Wise.
School Shootings and White Denial
I can think of no other way to say this, so here goes: white people need to pull our heads out of our collective ass.
Two more white children are dead and thirteen are injured, and another "nice" community is scratching its blonde head, utterly perplexed at how a school shooting the likes of the one yesterday in Santee, California could happen. After all, as the
Mayor of the town said in an interview with CNN: "We're a solid town, a good Town, with good kids, a good church-going town...an All-American town."
Yeah, well maybe that's the problem. I said this after Columbine and no-one listened so I'll say it again: white people live in an utter state
Of self-delusion. We think danger is black, brown and poor, and if we can just move far enough away from "those people" in the cities we'll be safe.
If we can just find an "all-American" town, life will be better, because "things like this just don't happen here."
Well bullshit on that. In case you hadn't noticed, "here" is about the only place these kinds of things do happen. Oh sure, there is plenty of violence in urban communities and schools. But mass murder; wholesale slaughter; take-a-gun-and-see-how-many-you-can-kill kinda craziness seems made for those safe places: the whitesuburbs or rural communities.
And yet once again, we hear the FBI insist there is no"profile" of a school shooter. Come again? White boy after white boy after white boy, with very few exceptions to that rule (and none in the mass shooting category), decides to use their classmates for target practice, and yet there is no profile? Imagine if allthese killers had been black: would we still hesitate to put a racial face on the perpetrators?
Doubtful.
Indeed, if any black child in America -- especially in the mostly white suburbs of Littleton, or Santee -- were to openly discuss their plans to murder fellow students, as happened both at Columbine and now Santana High, you can bet your ass that somebody would have turned them in, and the cops would have beat a path to their doorstep. But when whites discuss their murderous intentions, our stereotypes of what danger looks like cause us to ignore it -- they're just "talking" and won't really do anything. How many kids have to die before we rethink that nonsense?
How many dazed and confused parents, Mayors and Sheriffs do we have to listen to, describing how "normal" and safe their community is, and how they just can't understand what went wrong?
I'll tell you what went wrong and it's not TV, rap music, video games or a lack of prayer in school. What went wrong is that white Americans decided to ignore dysfunction and violence when it only affected other communities, and thereby blinded themselves to the inevitable creeping of chaos which never remains isolated too long. What affects the urban "ghetto" today will be coming to a Wal-Mart near you tomorrow, and unless you address the emptiness, pain, isolation and lack of hope felt by children of color and the poor, then don't be shocked when the support systems aren't there for your kids either.
What went wrong is that we allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security by media representations of crime and violence that portray both as the province of those who are anything but white like us. We ignore the warning signs, because in our minds the warning signs don't live in our neighborhood, but across town, in that place where we lock our car doors on the rare occasion we have to drive there. That false sense of security -- the result of racist and classist stereotypes -- then gets people killed. And still we act amazed.
But listen up my fellow white Americans: your children are no better, no nicer, no more moral, no more decent than anyone else. Dysfunction is all around you, whether you choose to recognize it or not.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Health and Human Services, it is your children, and not those of the urban ghetto, who are most likely to use drugs. That's right: white high school students are seven times more likely than blacks to have used cocaine; eight times more likely to have smoked crack; ten times more likely to have used LSD and seven times more likely to have used heroin. In fact, there are more white high school students who have used crystal methamphetamine (the most addictive drug on the streets) than there are black students who smoke cigarettes.
What's more, white youth ages 12-17 are more likely to sell drugs: 34% more likely, in fact than their black counterparts. And it is white youth who are twice as likely to binge drink, and nearly twice as likely as blacks to drive drunk. And white males are twice as likely to bring a weapon to school as are black males. And yet I would bet a valued body part that there aren't 100 white people in Santee, California or most any other "nice"community who have ever heard a single one of the statistics above. Even though they were collected by government agencies using these folks' tax money for the purpose. Because the media doesn't report on white dysfunction.
A few years ago, U.S. News ran a story entitled: "A shocking look at blacks and crime." Yet never have they or any other news outlet discussed the "shocking" whiteness of these shoot-em-ups.
Indeed, every time media commentators discuss the similarities in these crimes they mention that the shooters were boys, they were loners, they got picked on, but never do they seem to notice a certain highly visible melanin deficiency. Color-blind, I guess.
White-blind is more like it, as I figure these folks would spot color mighty damn quick were some of it to stroll into their community. Santee's whiteness is so taken for granted by its residents that the Mayor, in that CNN interview, thought nothing of saying on the one hand that the town was 82 percent white, but on the other hand that "this is America."
Well that isn't America, and it especially isn't California, where whites are only half of the population. This is a town that is removed from America, and yet its Mayor thinks they are the normal ones -- so much so that when asked about racial diversity, he replied that there weren't many of different "ethni-tis-tities." Not a word. Not even close.
I'd like to think that after this one, people would wake up. Take note. Rethink their stereotypes of who the dangerous ones are. But deep down, I know better. The folks hitting the snooze button on this none-too-subtle alarm are my own people, after all, and I know their blindness like the back of my hand.
Tim Wise is a Nashville-based writer and activist and can be reached at
IF WE WISH TO PROMOTE THE POSITIVE ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENCE, WHAT IS IT?
Peace - there is no way to peace PEACE is the way.
DISCLAIMER
The information contained in this newsletter does not constitute legal advice about individual situations. No person should reply on these publications as legal advice regarding a claim or individual case. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and correctness of the information contained herein this newsletter, no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from errors or omissions or from changes to the law or procedures is accepted. Further no opinions or comments are held necessarily by the editor, or sponsors of this site.
I hope you found this issue of our newsletter on line, interesting as parents and workers who may be advising parents…I again welcome submissions of articles relating to the topic of personal or community safety for consideration, with a view to publication on this site, from anyone who may visit this site.
Resource list]