We have a situation
in South Auckland and other parts of New Zealand that is the seed that will
grow into the riots we have seen on our TV screens from the USA; namely LA.
Maybe it is on a much smaller scale and the impetus for such a riot is not as
strong but we need to pay attention to the causes now.
It is well
known that a large number of our young people are neither in work nor in
training. They have no investment in a future and when that happens and numbers
approach 20% plus of that segment of our population in several areas of New
Zealand, then if you add a few other factors like drug and alcohol fuelled
anger then the fuses are ready to be lit.
Toughening
up is the usual response, just like we have seen re the ‘boy racers’ in Christchurch.
That can work for a while but unless the symptoms are addressed, then we risk
our streets becoming battle grounds between disaffected youths (and other already
marginalized groups) and the police.
The politicians will scream at one another in Parliament
but that will not solve the problem. The fact that young people are not part of
the system and have ‘time’ on their hands is a powerful impetus to violence on
the streets. Let’s face it; we can’t lock them all up. We have to engage with
our young people and give them hope to replace the hopelessness they now feel.
We must act now, before society as a whole becomes the Victim to its own uncaring
attitude. It is much cheaper to spend the money on ‘training and engagement’
programmes than building prisons and paying the compensation to the injured
that will result from non-action.
It is a
problem for all of us and trying to hide behind our smugness and sense of, ‘Well
I’m OK, so why can’t they do what I did?’ will serve us as a nation.
