Racial Discrimination in Australia
Racial discrimination has existed for millennia. It is a matter of great concern especially when people are treated inhumanely as they have been in the past. For example, not so long ago, black people were indentured and sold to householders, plantation owners and industrialists as slaves. Their lives were a living hell; they were chained, starved, beaten up, spat upon and cursed at, anything you can name.
We should not abide discrimination against race or religion in the 21st Century. There is no good reason for us to not respect others for their choices or their birthright. I hope you will all take a good read at this article and learn something new from it.
Tsem Rinpoche
Aboriginal Woman’s Slaying Exposes Australia’s Racial Divide
By KRISTEN GELINEAU , Associated Press
Dec. 16, 2016 10:33 AM ET
YAMBA, Australia (AP) — The life was long drained from Lynette Daley by the time the cops rolled up to the lonely beach where her naked body lay.
In this August 17, 2016 photo, Gordon Davis places a hand on a memorial cross for his stepdaughter, Lynette Daley, on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Her skin was cold, her lips were blue, and her blood was everywhere. It was between her legs and in a large clot by her feet. It was inside the four-wheel drive parked nearby and on the remains of the recently burned mattress partly hidden in the sand. And it was on the jeans worn by one of the two men who were with Lynette when she died.
It had been, the pair said, a wild night.
A coroner would later find Lynette bled to death from a sex act she was subjected to while so deeply intoxicated, she could not have consented. A forensic pathologist dubbed her injuries more severe than those which occur in even precipitous childbirth.
In this August 17, 2016 photo, Gordon Davis and his granddaughter, Alana, visit a memorial cross for Davis’ stepdaughter, Lynette Daley, on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Yet for five years, despite the urgings of the coroner and police, prosecutors refused to try the men charged with her death. It was not until June, amid enormous pressure from an outraged public, that they at last agreed to bring the case to court.
Prosecutors have never publicly explained their reluctance to take the case, but Lynette’s parents believe the reason is both painful and obvious: Their daughter was Aboriginal. The two men accused in her death are white.
“If it was two Indigenous people who’d done it to a white girl,” her stepfather Gordon Davis says bluntly, “they’d be in jail.”
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Whether racial prejudice played a role in Lynette’s case depends on who you ask. Some suggest there may have been a problem with the evidence that gave prosecutors pause. Others say that, as a poor mother of seven battling alcoholism, the 33-year-old may not have been viewed by prosecutors as an “ideal” victim.
Whatever the truth, the horror of Lynette’s death has shaken a nation long uncomfortable talking about race, especially when it comes to the suffering of Australia’s original inhabitants. The denial runs so deep that anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner once dubbed it “the Great Australian Silence.”
When the British claimed Australia in the 1700s, they did so by declaring it “terra nullius” — owned by no one — ignoring the fact that Aboriginal people had lived there for at least 50,000 years. Forced off the land by colonists and exposed to new diseases, the Indigenous population shrank drastically.
Today, Aboriginal people make up just 3 percent of the population of 24 million. And by almost any measure — from health to wealth, employment to imprisonment — they lag far behind everyone else.
“The shame of this country is the treatment of Aboriginal people,” says former New South Wales state lawmaker Jan Barham. “Lynette’s case — it’s an example of that cultural ignorance or denial that we don’t value equally the lives and the treatment of an Aboriginal person.”
Lynette started out so strong, her parents remember. Until the boys she loved broke her.
She grew up along the Clarence River, which winds through the forests and sugar cane plantations of northern New South Wales on Australia’s east coast. Kangaroos and cattle graze on the lush fields and farms that dot the region.
The Daleys are well-known throughout the Clarence Valley, where Indigenous people make up less than 6 percent of the population. The communities here are tiny and the residents’ lives intertwined. It’s the kind of place where you can pull into a random farm a half-hour drive from the Daleys’ home and the farmer not only knows about Lynette, but knew her personally, from the time she was a baby. Small town, he explains with a smile.
Lynette and her twin brother were born in the riverside town of Maclean, the middle of five children. Their mother, Thelma, eventually split with their father and married Gordon.
He adored Lynette, a cheeky tomboy who preferred the nickname Norma and loved animals, particularly eagles for the freedom they exuded. She adopted the eagle as her totem, or spiritual emblem.
This 2010 photo released by the Daley family shows Lynette Daley cuddling her dog, Bunyip, in Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (Daley familya via AP Photo)
When it came to boys, she was fiercely competitive; she threw stones farther than them, climbed trees higher. Thelma daydreamed her athletic daughter might one day be an Olympian.
Her family sometimes called her Knocky, because nothing could knock her down. One day while picking lemons, two dogs attacked her, tearing into her leg and prompting a trip to the hospital. Undaunted, she returned to the lemon tree the next day.
Gordon smiles at the memory now, of the days before it all went wrong, before his tough little girl grew into a tough-to-handle teen who fell in with a bad crowd. Before she picked up her first drink, picked up the drugs, descended into a grim spiral of alcoholism and abuse they were powerless to stop.
By 16, she was pregnant with her first child. Several of her children were fathered by men her family says controlled her, beat her, left her body covered in a constant constellation of bruises.
She went to the police a few times, her parents say, but they rarely intervened. She tried to fight back, but she was outmatched.
“They broke her spirit in the end,” Gordon says. “She never had a chance.”
In this August 17, 2016 photo, Gordon Davis stands near the site where his stepdaughter, Lynette Daley, died on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
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Gordon watches with weary eyes as his granddaughter, Alana, dances around their living room.
He and Thelma are always watching her, watching her sisters, because they are terrified of what will happen if they don’t. They know the girls are also vulnerable to abuse.
“I know what’s on the cards, what happened to Lynette,” he says.
There is no shortage of distressing data. Indigenous women and girls are about 35 times more likely to be hospitalized due to family violence than their counterparts. Indigenous women are two to four times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Indigenous mothers are nearly 18 times more likely to be victims of homicide.
Yet few cases of violence are ever reported, and far fewer make it to court. Part of that is due to a deep distrust of authorities that dates back to European settlement.
The distrust grew worse during Australia’s notorious “Stolen Generations” era, which only ended in the 1970s. For decades, the government forcibly removed Aboriginal children of mixed race from their families, arguing that integrating them into white society was more humane. Many were relegated to institutions where they were abused and neglected.
Countless studies suggest Aboriginal Australians are right to remain wary of the justice system. They make up more than a quarter of the prison population, and rates are rising. Legal experts also say cases involving Indigenous victims often are dropped before trial.
Consider the infamous disappearance of three Aboriginal children from the New South Wales town of Bowraville between 1990 and 1991. Two were found dead; the third remains missing. The prime suspect, a white man, was tried for two killings and acquitted of both.
In this August 15, 2016 photo, Gordon Davis and his wife Thelma look through photos of their daughter, Lynette Daley, at their home in Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
In this August 15, 2016 photo, Gordon Davis and his wife Thelma look through photos of their daughter, Lynette Daley, at their home in Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
The families said police initially suggested the youngsters had just “gone walkabout” — a term referring to the journey that Aboriginal adolescents traditionally made into the wilderness. In August, a quarter-century after the children were killed, the state police commissioner finally apologized to the families for how the case was handled.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that few Indigenous women turn to authorities for help.
“These women should be protected … and they should have the support of the legal system. It’s quite the opposite,” says lawyer Thalia Anthony, an expert in Aboriginal legal issues with the University of Technology Sydney. “With Lynette, she’s someone who the legal system can easily forget.”
The courts did intervene when it came to Lynette’s children, awarding custody to Thelma and Gordon after it became clear she could not care for them. She loved them and visited often, her parents say, but knew they were safer with their grandparents.
No one knows exactly when Adrian Attwater and Paul Maris entered Lynette’s orbit, though given the tight community, they likely crossed paths over the years. Gordon remembers seeing the men at the pub where Lynette used to drink. Attwater told police he and Lynette were dating, though her family doesn’t believe it.
By 33, Lynette was homeless. One January day in 2011, she showed up at Gordon and Thelma’s house, sick from the alcohol, sick of it all. She spent a couple of days there, drying out. Gordon thought maybe she’d finally hit bottom.
And then, he says, either Maris or Attwater called her.
Lynette told her father they were going fishing. She left some money for her children, then said goodbye.
“I love you, mum,” she told Thelma, and walked out the door.
This undated photo released by the Daley family, shows Lynette Daley, left, with an unidentified friend in Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (Daley family via AP Photo)
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The only way to reach Ten Mile Beach by car is via a dusty road through the forest or in a four-wheel drive along the beach from the village of Iluka, which lies to the south.
It is the definition of desolate. The wind has carved the shrub-shrouded dunes into steep cliffs that tower above the golden sands. Beyond the bluffs is a national park, where a dense canopy of trees stretches inland for miles.
The trio arrived here for Australia Day, a national holiday that had drawn a handful of campers to the coast. The state coroner compiled a detailed summary of what happened next, based on the statements of Attwater and Maris and testimony from witnesses, police, paramedics and others:
They had all been drinking when they parked in the dunes. Lynette was particularly far gone — an autopsy later showed her blood alcohol level was between 0.30 and 0.35 percent, high enough to leave her severely incapacitated.
At some point, Attwater told police, he and Lynette began to engage in what he described as a consensual sex act in which he inserted his fist inside her. Asked to demonstrate what Attwater did next, Maris — who performed another sex act on her simultaneously — moved his fist back and forth in a vigorous punching motion. Later, Attwater changed his account: he had used only four fingers, he said, and moved them gently.
Whatever the specifics, the act proved deadly.
In this August 16, 2016 photo, flowers and mementos adorn the grave of Lynette Daley, in Maclean, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
The men told police they stopped when they saw blood. Their stories diverge on what happened next. But just before dawn, Maris set fire to the blood-soaked mattress from the back of the truck, along with Lynette’s blood-stained bra.
At 6 a.m., Maris called paramedics and said they had all been drinking and Lynette had stopped breathing. It took the ambulance about an hour to reach the remote site. By then, Lynette was dead.
The men told paramedics that Attwater had had “wild sex” with Lynette. Attwater said Lynette later collapsed in his arms as they walked toward the ocean.
When the police arrived, they saw that Maris’ truck was parked directly above a pile of charred material. When questioned, Maris said he had burned the mattress because it smelled bad, and Lynette’s bra because he didn’t think she would want it.
Around 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south, Thelma and Gordon were driving home from a day of shopping with one of Lynette’s daughters, Talaraha, when their phone rang. It was Lynette’s sister, Pauline. Lynette, she said, was dead.
In this August 17, 2016 photo, Pauline Daley writes a message on a memorial to her sister, Lynette Daley, on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Thelma started screaming. Gordon went numb. He didn’t want to believe the girl he had spent years trying to save was gone.
A few months later, police charged Attwater with manslaughter, and Maris with accessory after the fact.
Gordon and Thelma were relieved. This was their chance at justice, they thought, the beginning of their agony’s end.
It wasn’t.
___
Months passed with no word on whether the men would be prosecuted. Gordon and Thelma grew anxious. Then one day in 2012, attorneys from the state prosecutor’s office invited them to a meeting. Gordon brought along his friend Greg Wheadon, a former state police officer, for support.
What the prosecutors said left them stunned: They were dropping the charges.
The prosecutors said they couldn’t prove the men intended to hurt Lynette, Wheadon says. The explanation was baffling: A charge of manslaughter does not require proof of intent.
When the family’s pleas proved fruitless, state coroner Michael Barnes agreed in 2014 to hold an inquest, a court-like proceeding convened after unusual deaths.
His findings were unequivocal: Lynette died of blood loss caused by blunt force genital tract trauma — injuries undoubtedly inflicted, Barnes wrote, by Attwater.
The coroner concluded that Lynette had been so intoxicated she couldn’t have meaningfully consented to sex, that she would have been in severe pain, and that Maris and Attwater conspired to burn the mattress and bra out of fear they could be used as evidence.
“The court expresses its contempt and disgust,” Barnes wrote, “for the callous disregard for her welfare shown by her supposed friends.”
Barnes determined that there was a reasonable prospect of securing a conviction. So he referred the case back to the prosecutors.
Shortly before Christmas last year, the lead detective in the case, Grahame Burke, came by the Daleys’ house. They could tell from the expression on his face that something was wrong.
At the dining room table, he confirmed their fears: The head prosecutor was declining to press charges. Again.
Thelma and Gordon could not understand it. The prosecutor said there wasn’t enough evidence. But the coroner had made everything sound so clear-cut. Didn’t their daughter’s life mean anything?
In this August 15, 2016 photo, Thelma Davis cries as she talks about the death of her daughter, Lynette Daley, at her home in Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
In this August 15, 2016 photo, Thelma Davis cries as she talks about the death of her daughter, Lynette Daley, at her home in Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
“Indigenous people have got no chance,” Gordon says today. “Not with the justice system here.”
Wheadon has reached the same conclusion.
“From what I could see — my 20 years police service — it was the worst case of discrimination I’ve ever seen in my life,” he says.
“She deserved more than that.”
___
The Daleys were running out of hope. And then the Australian media jumped on the case.
Headlines blaring “VILE” and “No Justice for Tragic Norma” followed, a reference to Lynette’s nickname. A #JusticeForNorma campaign launched on social media. An online petition demanding the head prosecutor justify his actions gathered tens of thousands of signatures. Protesters rallied outside the office of a local politician. In a Facebook comment liked more than 1,000 times, one woman summed up the mood of many: “Today I am appalled to be Australian.”
There was particular anger among Aboriginal rights advocates, if little shock. Many saw what happened to Lynette both before and after her death as achingly familiar.
“It’s unfortunately behavior that we’ve learned to live with and we shouldn’t have to live with,” says Rachael Cavanagh, who runs a Clarence Valley support group for Indigenous victims of domestic violence. “My great-grandmother was beaten to death by her partner and there was no trial, there was no charge, there was nothing — because she was an Aboriginal woman.”
Skeptics dismissed the idea that bigotry was involved. Some blamed Lynette’s death on alcohol and called for prohibition in Indigenous communities (alcohol is already banned in certain Aboriginal settlements — a divisive issue in itself.)
State prosecutors declined to comment. But Nicholas Cowdery, the former state Director of Public Prosecutions, rejects the argument that bias played a role. While he did not work on Lynette’s case, he says the prosecutor’s office has guidelines that ban consideration of a person’s race when deciding whether to move forward with a prosecution. He also dismisses the suggestion that Lynette may have been seen as an “imperfect victim” who would fail to move a jury.
“A life is a life,” he said by e-mail.
With pressure mounting, prosecutors agreed to review the case. Finally, in June, the head prosecutor delivered the news the Daleys had waited five years for: He would prosecute Attwater and Maris.
Attwater faces a charge of manslaughter, and Maris accessory after the fact. Both also face charges of aggravated sexual assault. They have pleaded not guilty and their lawyers have declined to comment.
A few weeks after the prosecutor’s announcement, Australia’s public broadcaster released footage of Aboriginal teens being tear-gassed, stripped naked, shackled and thrown around by guards at a youth detention center in the country’s Northern Territory, where 97 percent of juvenile inmates are Indigenous. The video triggered a national uproar. The prime minister ordered a Royal Commission — Australia’s highest form of inquiry — to investigate the scandal, including whether racism played a role.
In a tearful speech to the University of New South Wales, prominent Indigenous journalist Stan Grant implored Australians to reckon with their nation’s painful past. “More than ever,” he said, “we need this mirror into our soul.”
In this August 15, 2016 photo, the family of Lynette Daley walks along Ten Mile Beach after visiting the site where she died near Yamba, Australia. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
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Thelma arrived at the courthouse for Maris and Attwater’s bail hearing on Aug. 2 clutching a trio of red, yellow and black balloons, the colors of the Aboriginal flag. Together, they read “Justice for Norma.”
The family watched, seething in silence, as the judge granted both Attwater and Maris bail and ordered a ban on publishing the men’s home addresses, for their protection.
It was more than the family could bear. As Attwater left the courthouse, their rage erupted. They surrounded him, hurled insults. Lynette’s sister, Tina, grabbed him.
“What did you do to my sister?” she shouted into his stunned face. “WHY?”
Overwhelmed, she collapsed to the pavement. Paramedics rushed her to the hospital.
Thelma wailed in grief. Her whole body felt tight. Gordon drove her to the hospital, too, fearing she was going into cardiac arrest. Doctors told the women they had suffered anxiety attacks.
Weeks later, Thelma sits at her dining room table clutching a cup of tea and struggling to make sense of it all.
“You still keep on thinking to that time — why, why, why?” she says softly. “There’s no answer yet. There’s none.”
The trial is scheduled to begin in July. Yet with the passage of time, some experts believe it will be a tough case to prove.
The future is a frightening unknown. Thelma and Gordon are in their 60s now, and Lynette’s youngest child, Alana, is only 9. They worry they won’t be around to protect her and her siblings much longer. And they ache thinking of all the children have missed.
When the need to be near Lynette grows strong, the family travels to the beach where she drew her last breath. Every time they do, they say, Lynette comes to them in the form of an eagle.
In this August 17, 2016 photo, an eagle flies past a memorial for Lynette Daley, on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. Daley’s family believes the eagle represents her spirit. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society.(AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
One recent afternoon on the beach, Alana races ahead, hunting for the spot in the dunes where the family placed a cross for her mother. Suddenly, she stops. Her eyes are shining.
“There she is!” she cries, pointing at the sky, where an eagle has appeared. Minutes later, they spot Lynette’s cross.
In this August 17, 2016 photo, Adrian Davies, left, and Thelma Davis watch as an eagle flies past a memorial for Lynette Daley, on Ten Mile Beach near Yamba, Australia. Daley’s family believes the eagle represents her spirit. The brutal death of Daley, an Aboriginal woman, and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia, where Indigenous people remain the most disadvantaged segment of society. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Gordon rests his hand on the memorial.
“We just wait for the justice to prevail,” he says. “And then she can rest in peace.”
As they head off down the beach, the eagle glides over them once more.
Then it turns and disappears into the dunes.
Source: http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2016/An-Aboriginal-woman-s-brutal-death-and-officials-reluctance-to-prosecute-the-white-suspects-expose-Australia-s-deadly-racial-divide/id-928654eb7d364988aa46f799f35af22f
For more interesting information:
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- Comparisons of the Dorje Shugden Ban With Historic Persecutions
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We should be responsible and have discipline to our self . These kind of racial discrimination are all around the world and it may hurt others, so we should create awareness.
Indigenous people all over the world, seem to be at the brunt of those who happen to be somewhat more savvy with technology, weapons or have the power to dictate.
I feel, indigenous people have an important role to play in the coming years, as the planet is being devastated by human greed and consumption. Many of the secrets of being one with nature and environment, could still be in the hands of the indigenous people, we may come to rely on them in the coming days for the survival of the planet.
John Pilger an Australian and veteran war journalist he been highlighting how the Australian government tries to undermine the Aboriginals in so many ways.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/john-pilger-white-australians-would-aboriginal-people-disappear
I can’t but help to think if education some form of cause and effect, and reincarnation this life I can be gold in colour but in my next life I can be black or brown. Then people will think twice about actions that may benefit oneself but harm others, as karma is like a boomerang it will come back.
A video made by John Pilger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j_r0Wgg0T0
This us vs. them phenomenon is one of the crudest form of social “organisation”. Whether it is via ethnicity, gender, or some other thing that binds a group of people together to take advantage of others for the benefit of their selfish agenda, this type of behavior cannot but be condemned.
It is so sad to read this article, hundreds of years ago discrimination exist that could be normal, because people lack of knowledge and not well educated, but until today, discrimination still exist that is not acceptable, they are so well educated and clearly know that the consequences of discriminating others and the harm that brings to others is huge, but sadly, until today, it still exist.
I hope this case of Lynette Daley will wake up more people for them to see the effect when someone is not treated fairly, when this happened to others, one day, it will happen on us too, how will we feel when it happen to someone we know or someone we loved.
Unsurprisingly, speechless and sad, discriminations around the world will never end until the human race come to an end.
Wherever there are human, there will be problems, etc., wars, politics, crimes, discriminations, racism, RUBBISH, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTIONS, these show that human kind has never learn how to live with the others via a appropriate way for centuries.
I think all of these issues are due to the “devil” within us, our EGO. Ego lead to selfishness and more devils.
“Treat the others like how we wish to be treated.”
One of my friend said this quote above is the golden rule. I smiled and replied..”There are always people who love to challenge the rules.”
In this modern day,we still heard racial discrimination reported around the world.People humiliated their own race will cause disharmony for society in the country. Reading through article about Lynette Daley death and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, has highlighted a deadly racial divide in Australia . All the man kind living in this world should always respect each other,don’t put down each other believe. Disharmony will bring more harm and separated nation in their own country. People must learn from the history and not just focus their own benefit to satisfy their own desire.I wish racial discrimination will end soon and caused this world harmony and peace.
Nagarjuna said, “If we divided this earth into pieces the size of juniper berries, the number of these would not be as great as the number of times that each sentient being has been our mother.” , and Buddha recognised the equality of people. So if people will to practise what it says here, racial discrimination will not be happened. From the history, Buddha teaching of equality has inspired Asoka encouraged religious freedom and mutual respect for each other’s creed and practise compassion. This is how Buddhism contribute to the harmony in society and world peace.
So many racial discrimination news have been reported around the globe, and it is still happening. This account of Lynette Daley is shocking and very sad that she not only lost her life but it was so tough to bring the perpetrators to justice because of racial differences.
The Dorje Shugden unjust ban by the Tibetan leadership may not be racial by nature but it is still discrimination, religious discrimination. The ban has resulted in loss of lives, death threats, physical violence, separation of loved ones, loss of properties, and countless untold suffering. Just because the majority of the Tibetan people refused to give up Dorje Shugden. And these people are still suffering because the ban is still in force. There is no democracy and the ban is going against religious freedom and human rights.
It’s sad to read story of people who been assaulted, humiliated like they never been treated with respect and human.Moreover it’s more heartbreaking the story was told by parents of decease and no conviction on the murderer.This is truly unfair to the victims and I would wonder how other people think or make judgement on the government management.
This issue should be take it seriously for there will be no security,harmony and happiness for these poor residence and they are easily targeted into crime.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article and make me understand more causes of discrimination.
I was shock after reading this article and Thank You Rinpoche for letting us the “other” side of another country goings on, and i think every humans are equal, no matter who you are or where’s yours from.
This is the way we should live :
What are human rights?
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx
The story of native people in Australia, US, South America, Alaska and so on is terrible. Their land has been stolen, the culture and living has been oppressed and so on. We usually think this is over but to read what happened to Lynette Daley is incredible. At least now in this day and age, there should be equal rights but we are unfortunately far away from equality. I wish that we realise soon that this is one world and that we should work together for a better tomorrow. The borders and differences are only in the mind. Every person feels pain, every person wants their friends and family be safe – this does not depend on the race and in which family we are born.
May the discrimination related to race, gender, social background and and and stop. We need a peaceful earth where everyone is respected and has equal rights. I hope this is a wake up call for everyone to realise that we still have a long way to go.
Thank you for sharing this alarming story with us.
I have often heard about racism in many places and it’s sad to see such discrimination still exist at this time. These people still doesn’t realise that we are not the only one that stay in this planet and we don’t own the land for ourselves. No one has the right to discriminate anyone as everyone has their right for their for their choice as long as they don’t against the law.
Reading this article even the enforcer being bias. In such how would it guarded their people and how would it give security to their people? The aboriginal are part of their people and no one should separate them or see them as different. Humanity apply to all. The government of the country should seriously look into this to strengthen the country and promote peace and harmony to all their people irregardless of their skin color, religious, gender, culture and etc.
In a nut shell, discrimination only resulted in separation, violent, disharmony and the downfall of of any society. Nothing beneficial but just suffering.
The future on this planet is unity and harmony. Our biggest enemy is not the different of every individual but is our inner self that motivate us nurture and safeguard our thought that resulted our negative action.
Hope that Lynette case can be a wake up call to many people that discrimination will only bring suffering not only to the victim but to the nation as a whole.
This is such a sad story to read. It’s beyond words. And to think of what the family are going through, it’s terrifying. No justice, no answers and no conclusion. Constantly in pain and just waiting for ‘justice’. Except that, there will be no justice. A life has been taken. It doesn’t matter what race nor religion in the end. The person can never be replaced. A daughter, mother, sister and friend, taken and nothing can be done to bring her back.
It’s very ‘unfair’ when the government does not put their citizen’s rights and interests as priorities. In this modern time and year, discrimination should not happen. How to have a peaceful country when the government is bias? All cases must be treated equally no matter who the victim is. And no matter what color, race and RELIGION, nobody should ever be discriminated.
I really do hope that the family will have closure soon and the government to ‘wake up’ to such an outraged and disturbing case. The family and everyone else deserve much more than what is currently happening.
When I was studying in Australia it was very obvious and loud that racism existed. Apparently we were lucky that people on the streets would just walk pass us and call us names because some of my friends had eggs thrown at them!
Reading these kind of stories make you realise that any form of prejudice, hate and discrimination is totally wrong and a huge injustice to humanity. And it is always a white supremacy mentality that brings about such audacious arrogance to think they are better than others. They came to other people’s land, conquered and took their land and slaughtered, tortured and abused many.
It is amazing that even in 2017 we still experience this. Therefore when there is any kind of discrimination, we must all stand up and speak up, otherwise it is the same as you doing it to the victims. It reminds me of this quote from Martin Luther King and rings truth even for the Dorje Shugden ban and discrimination felt by all of us who practice it. It amazes me how people can think they are fight for a “good cause” by putting another person whom they do not know down and concocting all kinds of lies to go along with it. A wrong can never make it right and no matter how much they justify it, it is still wrong.
I hope this year, humanity in everyone will rise to protect those who are too weak to fight back especially since America just gave power to someone who is quite racist. Amazing how much the world is degenerating. All the more reasons why we need Dharma to grow and spread. All the more reasons why we need practices like VajraYogini!
I am nauseated beyond words just by reading what had been done to Lynette Daley on the sandy beach by the two men on that deadly night. The acts were so disturbing to even think that any men of human descend could had done this to another fellow human being. While emotions are stirred, the real brutality in this case is the uselessness of Australian legislative system to help Lynette Daley, only because she is an Aborigine. Lame reason was cited by the prosecutor who refused to press charges despite evidence and everything else of the case were clearly laid out. I urge the people of Australia (and everyone else too) to not turn a blind eye on racism and stay quiet about it. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing!
Thank you Rinpoche for bringing this tragic to light.
Its sad to see the deceased mother and father talk about their beloved daughter being murdered. Discrimination happens everywhere, but it doesn’t mean we should put our head down. Some group of people always think they are far more superior and can do damage to others whenever they like. It’s not true and no one endorsed them. We should stand up for justice and what is right. Lynette Daley’s family should fight all the way putting the criminal to jail. I believe good people will show up, I believe majority of the Aussie are good educated and civilised people.
It is really sad that with humanity progressing so far along with laws in place to prosecute crimes irregardless of race, gender, relationship, etc. that this lack of justice can be blatantly ignored due to discrimination. I guess some form of discrimination will always exist although most times hidden, as long as there is ego within us. Discrimination happens when our ego tells us we are better than another, that we are right and have the right to take advantage of or dismiss another. In understanding its presence, we will need to mindfully apply equality in our actions and realise that the other shares our wishes and needs too. “Treat others as you would wish to be treated” is a good motto to have.
My condolences to the family of Lynette Daley and may her case be swiftly resolved to bring some sense of closure and peace to them. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article with us. With the fast pace of the secular world, some raced ahead at all costs to succeed, some hang in balance while some lag behind and some just gave up. As the gap between the haves and have nots widen, pride, contempt, jealousy, anger and hatred increase. Mostly these feelings target not individuals, but more in groups. Thus discriminations are against blacks, whites, Chinese, Americans, Muslims, Christians, Jews, female, male, etc. But acts of violations targets individuals belonging to these certain groups. May the precious Dharma spread to help us all with our ignorance and delusions to overcome these discriminatory thoughts which would not have existed but for our perception, expectation and ego.
This story has left me feeling very frustrated at the way the Australian prosecutors refused to press any charges on the two men that brutally raped and murdered Lynette simply because she was of Aboriginal descent while the two men that killed her were white.
This is really downright racial discrimination and it is really wrong for the prosecutors to let the 2 men escape scot free simply because the victim was from a minority race. This is unfair towards Lynette’s family as the 2 men guilty of killing Lynette are not punished for their actions hence no justice being brought to the family.
May the prosecutors change their minds and prosecute the two men for the brutal murder as soon as possible.
It is very disheartening to know that “racial discrimination” is still happening, and even more surprisedly is in a developed country like Australia, and at this 21st century. During the christmas break, i was watching “History” Channel, and the program was on “Roots” about slavery (slave trading) and it shows how another human treating their same kind like they are so different, (with so much cruelty) and is like a product trade. That was back in the 18th century, so after 3 century we still have indifference and discrimination of the human kind.
My question is that are we (as human kind) progressing or deterioration of our behaviour with all the technology that have been achieved. Everything changes in our world, they way we eat, dress, communicate, transportation and etc. & yet we have not changed on how we treat another one.
My prayers goes to Lynette Daley and family.
It is really sad to hear such discrimination still exists in year 2016. When I was studying in Melbourne in 90s, I faced some discrimination but nothing too serious, but fast forward 20 years, unjustice still happened to the aboriginals and it is really sad. We live in a civilised world, and discrimination based on race, religious, ethnic group, gender, etc should not happen and must be stopped.
I pray the family can eventually put this issue to rest and let go of this difficult chapter of their live. May Lynette have a good rebirth and would experience less suffering in her next life.
Is really a sad story about death of Lynette.Racial discrimination is happening in many countries. The ruling government must take actions to those create disharmony within multiracial community.
I am so fortunate to has opportunity to be a student of Rinpoche. Rinpoche always remind us to treat everyone in equality. We belief that every sentient beings might be a manisfestation on Buddha or Bodhisattva.
I hope Lynette case will settle in fair and justice. I wish racial discrimination will end soon and caused this world harmony and peace.
Thank Guru for sharing this educational article.
Jason
This is nothing new. But it is sad that nothing has changed. There are those who consider themselves the superior race, probably the chosen ones. All others are heathen and inferior, especially if their skin is coloured, black, yellow, brown, whatever. Not only the skin colour, but their beliefs, religious or otherwise, are also compared. Anything different, you are bullied, deprived or harmed. There are even laws that give preference to certain races and discriminate against others. Even prospective country heads spout racial hatred which of course has a trickle down effect.
If these people who consider themselves high and mighty, gain insight in reality, it might shock them to find out that they themselves had been coloured people many times over before. So what are they talking about?
It’s a messed up world we live in. There will be discrimination in various forms everywhere. Is there hope that humanity will thrive or will it shrivel and die, as is happening all over the world today?
It seems so bleak and hopeless. How many will and can come across the dharma? And, in current times, even coming across Tibetan Buddhism, there is the great divide created within its sphere.
To even put a foot there, is a battle by itself. Every step of the way is a huge battle. Maybe that’s why people just go with the easier route of less pain and confusion and head for a simpler way which seems happier in a world of pain.
May more find their way and find faith and strength to continue their path.
Sad….sad to read these article about racial discrimination in Australia. I always thought it happened only in US,Africa and Europe countries. Well it has existed in Australia,about the brutal death of, an Aboriginal woman named a Lynette Daley and the reluctance of officials to prosecute the white suspects, For decades there were other cases of discrimination too apart from these reported case which was highlighted .What was done cannot be restore but what i do hope that there will not be anymore discrimination against race or religion in the 21st Century.
Finally hope those who has suffered will have a good rebirth.
I do believed that eagle could be Lynette Daley too.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing .