Police and African Community Leaders Order Media Not to Use the Term Gang
Victoria Police and the Victorian Government have been in damage control over the past few days after December has seen the state’s crime wave reach new heights. We have seen gangs fighting in the streets of Melbourne, properties trashed, and police terrorised when trying to restore order.
Just this week we saw a police officer assaulted trying to apprehend a shoplifter at Highpoint Shopping Centre and a community centre in Tarneit in Melbourne’s West was trashed with gang graffiti sprayed throughout it. All of these offences were committed by young men described of being of African appearance.
On Wednesday Victoria Police’s Superintendent Therese Fitzgerald claimed that the problem was youth crime in general and on Thursday morning on 3AW Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville denied the recent crime wave was driven by African youths.
However now the Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton and Premier Daniel Andrews are talking tough and that those responsible for the recent crimes will feel the full force of the law and they would accept no excuses.
They also acknowledged there was a problem with African youths “The leaders in the African community readily and openly say they do have issues with a small cohort of African youth who are committing high-end crimes”.
However, this moment of truth from our authorities didn’t last long as the media was told by deputy police commissioner Andrew Crisp to stop calling the African youths involved in these crimes as gangs as it supposedly encourages more youth crime. Crisp claimed, “There is no evidence or intelligence to suggest we’ve got a gang”.
Of course, it didn’t take long for African community leaders to blame social isolation and poverty for the violent crimes these African youths are committing. Dr Berhan Ahmed the CEO of the African-Australian Multicultural Employment and Youth Services who is a former Greens candidate and who signed an open letter against Milo Yiannopoulos alleged hate speech stated “There are many reasons you can point at, but mainly school drop-out is one of the biggest crises facing these young people”.
He also ordered the media to stop using the term gang “labelling them and stigmatising them is more alienation and more crises”. Emily Yullie who volunteers in the African community claimed the youths involved “are really good kids” who’ve “lost their way” and “need something to occupy their time”.
Most Victorians would wonder when they see these violent crimes what does it matter if it’s a gang or not, they don’t want to see these horrific acts happening their state and of course spare a thought for the victims. Plus, when vandalised property has the gang words Apex and Menace to Society written on it what else are we meant to think?
Of course telling people how they may report certain crimes is just another extension of the politically correct approach to addressing this problem that has led us to this crisis. Gangs to exist don’t have to be particularly organised but are simply a group of people getting together to commit criminal acts, it is certainly not racist or a stigma against anyone except criminals to use this term.
But at least some of Victoria’s leaders are now conceding the crime epidemic is being driven by African youths, although it took them over a year. But it looks like it is going to take a lot more to completely lift the shackles off the politically correct approach to this crisis Victoria faces.