Topic 5: the Personal Perspective of an Aboriginal Man Or Woman Living in Redfern

Topic 5: The personal perspective of an Aboriginal man or woman living in Redfern

Second year students

Names / SID
Li Li Jong / 305217313
Jessica El-Tahche / 305215841
Georgette Mourad / 305216589
Bhavna Sharma / 305161881

Progress of any kind is hard to achieve in this environment. It requires commitment, spirit and numbers, especially when trying to break through society’s attitudes and government systems. The Block in Redfern is a community riffled by many serious issues. Since its creation in the 1970's, the community has become victim to a series of problems. These include the serious health problems of drug and alcohol abuse and lack of education which has lead to high unemployment rates and a depreciation of living conditions which in turn has impacted adversely on family life. All these barriers that the next generation must deal with in living in such conditions and times have contributed to the complication of learning, understanding and appreciationof their culture.

The community of Redfern is constantly held back by a barrier of attitudes and systems of which is disadvantaging these people putting them in an inferior position to the rest of society. However hope still remains within this community as many steps such as the Grandmothers Petition, have been taken to stop the injustice that is taking place with their community stating that - “We the Undersigned, ask for the support of the state & federal government to have the right to choose the direction of our community. We, as community members, have neither had a chance to voice our opinion on matters concerning the future direction of the community in Redfern known as ‘The Block’. It is our wish to live on the block & rebuild the community for the benefit of the people”.

One cannot disagree about the hardship that Aboriginals face living in this area. However many seem to forget that there is a greater disadvantaged, WOMEN. Not only do they fight for their rights as Australian citizens but also struggle to be made equal to men in their roles as wives, mothers and daughters. Many were quick to recall and share their unique perspective, marked by long struggles and hardship tracing back to more than 200 years ago. Of which were Toorie, a 44 yr old single mother of three and Cecily, a 30 year old woman. “Living in this atmosphere and dealing with these problems, and on top of that trying to raise a family”, Toorie reinforces the problems she has to deal with being a woman. “I ama mother, a wife, a daughter …its hard I have to worry about everything”.

As a result of listening to these women’s thoughts and experiences one is able to understand and hence empathise with what the whole community feels and hence one is able to learn a lot about what the community thinks of the redevelopment of the Block. Tooriebrought lots of insight to this issue of the plans the government has come up with for the Block, stating “these attacks in Redfern are occurring due to the government's constant greed for money. Its not about US, it’s NEVER about US. Its all about THEM and what is good for THEM. Our kids are suffering from so much racial discrimination and no one is doing anything to stop it. IS THAT FAIR? I haven't been able to find a job in six months, what are we supposed to do? Why don't they understand, WE ARE HUMANS TOO?” Clearly one can see how Toorie feel's like an alien on her own land. She isn't content with her life. “We can't speak our own Lingo, you lot wont understand what that feels like not being able to teach your kids your language, your culture”. These issues have come to affect the next generation who have been denied their cultural heritage due to lack of education, as most of their ancestors were part of the stolen generation. These indigenous Australians do not have the luxury to embrace their culture. The lack of cultural heritage and social understanding acts as a catalyst for the weakening of their community.

The women feel very helpless as mothers and are giving up on any hope for a better, improved and safer community life. They believe that, their community, their children & their families are all suffering and actions needs to be taken. The government can provide some critical funds to improve the quality of life, yet no attempts have been made. If anything they are constantly “harassing us”. In 1997, raids on Redfern for drug related crimes were used to justify setting up shop-front police station in the area. Community programs were replaced with punitive approach to drug and alcohol abuse, and hence a 24 hour harassment of residents began.“As a mother of two children, I am constantly stressed and worried that may be one day my sons will be the police's NEXT VICTIM. Life gets very confusing and at times we have no sense of direction”

Similarly,Cecily was able to add to the perspective of many of life on “The Block”. She started by pointing out the obvious, that Redfern is regarded as a focal point for drug use in Sydney. She pointed out that there is a larger proportion of Aboriginal people within the community who are using drugs and alcohol, as there is in the wider community. She shows her concern for the community which suffers from low levels of education, lack of employment skills, a high unemployment rate and a transient home life which all add up to provide a fertile background for drug dealings, crime, death, addictions, overdoses and therefore a high arrest rate. After getting this insight into the community, we realised that these issues are merely symptoms of a greater problem and a grim reminder of the failure of policy, or lack of will, on the part of the wider community to address the severe disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians.

Women in the community aren't treated with much importance. This injustice is being done by men from the community itself. “The abuse of alcohol and drugs have made many Aboriginal households extremely dangerous places. A recent study found indigenous women were 50 times more likely to endure domestic violence than white Australian women. “(By Phil Mercer BBC correspondent in Sydney) Women are constantly becoming victims of sexual assault and rape. The problem is that most women who are victims of such cases remain silent and no one finds out about it. This is mainly due to their perceptions of police as being very unreliable, slow to answer calls and racist attitudes.But it wasn't until a counselor at the Mudgin-gal center for women raised certain issues of abuse against Aboriginal women that one realised that it was not always “white men” who are committing such crimes. She says, “We have to look into our own men aswell, they aren't doing right either. We have women who experience severe domestic violence /alcohol abuse. We see them cry, as they express their pain”. Once again it is very evident that life as a woman on the block is not easy at all, they are constantly battling for their rights as Women and as citizens of Australia.

Not everything is at it seems, not all that we are told is true, and just because it is written in the newspaper, it doesn't make it so. Once in a while, it is helpful to look through eyes of those experiencing them first hand and understanding their perspective. It's only through this way that we are able to entirely understand the truth of the situation. TRUTH. This is an important word, as there are always 2 sides to the story and in Australia only one is being heard.

Bibliography

Thanking:

People interviewed:

Stewart
Lavira
Ceila
Touri
Cecily
Gary

Organisations:

Aboriginal Community Centre
Mudigal’s Women’s Centre

… for their contributions.

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