Down and Under
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Down and Under

2014, Crime  -   40 Comments
7.25
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Ratings: 7.25/10 from 52 users.

According to statistics, each month, one Aboriginal person dies in police custody in Australia. Circumstances surrounding these deaths include instances where an Aboriginal person has been alone in a room with no visitors aside from Australian police. Inquiries made into the Australian police, by the Australian police, arrive at an answer that completely separates the authorities or conditions of the prisons from the deaths.

75% of Aboriginal people in Australia experience racism every day. This is one of the first statistics set forth in Down and Under, an investigative documentary that explores the history of racism in Australia; a history that began in 1788 when the British first came over to Australia and endures today as it exist in forms that go beyond hate speech and even physical attacks on Aboriginals. The unfortunate viral footage that was captured by vigilant citizens paints a picture of ironic xenophobia that isn't mutually exclusive when it comes to its aim at the Aboriginal people of Australia.

If the footage shown in the documentary is any indication, refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and China, as well as white people who count English as a second language, can be victims of racially motivated hate at any time, and it isn't just hoodlums on city buses who agree that blatant racism and objection to others is an appropriate way to deal with the perceived surplus of non-European immigrants.

The historical problem of racism in Australia, a problem that now mirrors racism from all over the globe at many different points throughout history, from internment camps to southern segregation, is one that presents us with a lot to think about. You'll want to look into the policies mentioned in Down and Under after viewing, and you'll get a new understanding of the dangers behind ideals that present assimilation as a necessity, especially when assimilation becomes important enough to a nation that they would take a generation of children away from their parents in an effort to not only build up the new Australian ideal culture, but to strip the Native Australian people from their culture, identity, and even their family names.

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Susan
Susan
7 years ago

I'm british by birth, American by paper with Australian roots. I find it rather sad that people are so unkind to each other in their posts back and forth. What's my part in racism? That's my question to you, what can I do differently ? How can I be kinder, slinging mud back and forth, really isn't particularly helpful. But I have enjoyed reading all the posts and this short documentary about a lost generation was not a surprise to me, very sad in many respects, but I'd prefer not to repeat history, I should be asking myself what "l" can do to change future behaviors on my side of the street. Thank you.

Roy
Roy
8 years ago

Wow! Equally appalling to me is the way that some people on this post go off on one another with emotionally indulgent, unprovoked rudeness and slander. It's no wonder to me that things on this planet are not working.

Rory
Rory
8 years ago

Sometimes an accurate statistic in the absence of other statistics, can give an inaccurate view. Aboriginals are under represented. The percentage of white prisoners that commit suicide in prison in Australia is higher.

Matthew Bennett
Matthew Bennett
9 years ago

It's amazing how powerful the racism against Aboriginals in Australia is. I feel a sense of discomfort even bringing the issues that affect them up, or even simply the group of people themselves, around anyone because I always fear they'll make some throwaway racist comment designed to keep the Aboriginal people in their place.
The slightest Aboriginal-related image on TV is likely to cause disgust in a few of the white aussies watching. So many of us literally see these people and think that they are disgusting and we'd all be better off if they just died. The spirit of the stolen generation lives on. I've lost count of how many times I've mentioned their culture or their history to people I know and seen them screw up their face and say 'gross'. And these are nice people who react this way.
The worst part is, so many people aren't even afraid to say their racist comments in mixed company. If it were any other race, they would know to bite their tongue. When it comes to Aboriginals, they know that no one is really sticking up for them in Australia, so they can feel free to say the most horrible things. This view is so at odds with my understanding of Australian values, I just can't see how white Australians haven't gotten past it.
We all know what's right and wrong. We all know the right way to approach this situation. Can we just get the f--k on with it?

binkie
binkie
9 years ago

S de Vere, that's pretty scary, "at the hands of their drunken, work-shy parents". Gee, I wonder what could have possibly happened to turn an entire race of people who have lived peacefully for millenia without any alcohol, into "drunken" work shy parents. Surely they weren't abused as children, or ripped apart from their families and put into institutions...right? We colonialize these countries, treat people like animals and use them as slaves, commit utter genocide, and then blame the aboriginals peoples for being all messed up. Toxic aboriginal culture? Look at the history. This is pure racism to the core. The toxicity was brought to them by 'civilized' people. That would be YOU. racist.

S de Vere
S de Vere
9 years ago

As in the USA, Australia's black population has a much greater rate of criminality and drunkenness than the rest of the society. It's inevitable that a toxic black "culture" will result in a much lower life expectancy, in gaol, or outside. There are no cases of blacks in Australian gaols being given harsher treatment by gaolers or police, though the civil rights brigade continually promote this meme. The most unfortunate consequence of a toxic aboriginal culture in Australia is the destruction of the lives of aboriginal children, at the hands of their drunken, work-shy parents, both with physical violence, sexual abuse and parental neglect.

Dravidian Invader
Dravidian Invader
9 years ago

"75% of Aboriginal people in Australia experience racism every day.This is one of the first statistics set forth in Down and Under, " reads the introduction.

At one minute into the film the statement appears

"75% of Aboriginal people experience racism in their everyday lives"

The 1st statement is hysterical nonsense and the second partly true , but I'm not sure which part.

Where do these "statistics" emanate from ? About as useful as me saying that 25% of aboriginals are alcoholic and just as fallacious.

And for the record there are more white deaths in custody than black deaths in custody........but who cares anyway ?

The "race guilt game " has become an acceptable way to attack whites in general rather than bigots in particular, and I have a number of friends, Australian Aboriginal,Chinese, Japanese, English, Indonesian - Christian , Muslim and Jewish who would be deemed racially aware by themselves and racists by others - nothing much has changed in a millennia or two .it seems.

As disturbing as some aspects of this short film may be, and despite the injustice of the past it may be time to realize there is plenty of racism,sex slavery, child slavery & other hideous behavior going on globally on a scale that eclipses Australia's racist crimes real or imagined, past or present.

sharpstuff
sharpstuff
9 years ago

This film is a a sad reflection of how the humanoids who deem to run the planet (into the ground) treat Humans. This film could be applied to all nations that many migrant scum of Europe have demolished. The same things happening to Australian indigenous people have happened in 'America', 'New Zealand' and elsewhere.

You need to live in such a country to see this happening. I have spent over twenty years of my life in Western Australia as a teacher of students with disabilities and have worked with aborigines, of course.

My nephew joined the police force in good faith and was promptly sent to Kalgoorli (WA). He saw first-hand the disgusting treatment of the many Aborigines that live in that area. He could not stand it and was not in the force very long and left to go elsewhere.

I can't agree with Mr. Devil that we had a primitive past. If the present is not primitive especially in terms of human relationships (constantly being eroded by the psychopaths), I don't know.

The indigenous peoples that the 'white' scum decimated and still do, is not a sign, in my book, that we are 'enlightened' or less primitive.

Kansas Devil
Kansas Devil
9 years ago

I suspect there are some half truths in this documentary. But racism is a known factor in Australia. The events noted in this documentary are not a surprise. Humans abusing humans is universal to the human race. Slaves to our primitive past.

Jimmy Jackas
Jimmy Jackas
9 years ago

its funny dogs have more of a genetic diversity than us humans yet we say we are different races....humanity you believe all these stupid religious stories but the truth is is we came from a magical ball of nothing everything and after that we come from a 7 mothers of humanity which we all hold. brothers! sisters!