Hoops

South Sudanese seek to stand out in Australian basketball

Your point, my gutless anonymous friend, is that you're simply partaking in the common line of "the most recent immigrants are awful, all the rest were great!" Which literally happens with every wave of immigrants.

And thanks for not addressing the point, Cram hero.

Not on here they aren't.

Yeah your post is the first time anyone has brought it up. I didn't even know it existed because nobody before you has ever talked about it. Thanks for being so brave oh anonymous hero.

We have a history in Australia of refuge immigrants.

First, the Europeans after WWII in the late 40s and 50s. Horrible war yet came here and went to work, no special programs or treatment to distract from committing crimes. Law abiding.

Then in the late 70s the Asian invasion including refugees of the Vietnam War. Again, went to work, no coddling or coming up with government funded bribes to stop crime.

Now another wave of refugees. Yet this time it's different - gov has gone out of their way with aid to give them a head start. Given the best incentives to transition into our society yet there is a problem with crime among the group. Huge issues with the youth in outer Sydney and Melbourne. Huge issue that isn't being talked about, just band aid more programs and assistance.

If people get a bad start in life we have 3 options
- ignore them
- incarcerate them
- put some things in place to help them along, even if a few tossers think that because they didn't get a helping hand in life, no one should

I'm happy to put up with the whingeing of a few short-sighted tossers, because better outcomes for disadvantaged people directly leads to better outcomes for those around them as well.

People are too trigger happy with the word racism when someone white criticises something.

Which leads me to this link:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-06/black-rhinos-promoting-crime-prevention-through-basketball/8501634

Why do these programs need to exist to curb crime? Most people don't need special programs to be law-abiding citizens, especially at 29 years of age. So crime only won't happen if there is a "distraction" handed to them? What a joke that doesn't actually address the real issues now added to our society through no fault of our own.

Unfortunately racism always gets associated with 'white' people when in fact racism comes in all colours

I think a better word should be intolerance and that's usually brought about by either ignorance of a culture or annoyance at behaviour exhibited by a culture

Their is good and bad in all cultures it's when those cultures clash due to what each think is their right within society that the racism card always gets brought out

Judge people not on how they look or what religion they follow but how they treat others and behave in society

If these Sudanese kids are trying to make a good life for themselves and they are engaging positively in society so it's great to see them have these opportunities

Ouch.

You may be well travelled Cram but you are such a leftie.

Canada, New Zealand, Pretty much anywhere in Northern Europe and other parts of Europe too.

We're at the top? No. If you're in Sydney or Melbourne it can feel that way, but outside of that its everywhere.

Again, it is possibly not as hateful as many other countries, but there is no excuse for the widespread ignorance found all over Australia.

My bad*

Actually scrap the Scandis as the muslims there have created no-go zones for police and ppl not of their religion. My dad.

Name me countries better than Australia re: racial harmony. You will struggle outside of a few like Canada and Scandinavia. Australia is at the top dude.

Well that's Australia for you. Blend in and act like an alcohol and eggball loving Anglo type drongo/bogan/"larrikin" type character or else you are on the outer because you are a "poof", a wog or a snob.

The Sudanese are in the same boat just like every other non-convict person in this regard. They probably don't understand this dynamic of the country however because all white people are the same... but that's a different topic.

We're definitely far from the worst in the world, but we're a long way from the best also. Much of it comes from a place of ignorance rather than hate, but there is a LOT of ignorance.

I've recently returned from living in Brazil where I saw the very obvious differences in the way my black brother im law and other people of colour were treated compared to me and I'm glad we're not there. But we can always be better.

I think it can still be a very big issue even if there are plenty of worse places in the world. Australia still has a long way to go in that department, but at least we're (mostly) still trying to move forwards.

On a worldwide scale we are low is what I meant, yet it's always hyped up as if it's a huge problem. Nice point about how the US pot is calling the kettle black.

Our government accepting refugees is not the same thing as having a racially tolerant general population... Unfortunately we do have some real racism issues in the country, but I'd argue we don't even come to the US in that department, and their the ones who have their press label us as such every chance they get.

"Their new country — generous, rich and often quite racist"

If we are really that racist our country of riches wouldn't be so generously shared with them.

Great article, we have a few really talented Sudanese kids at our club. I find the ignorance displayed by some of the parents with kids in the same team pretty bloody upsetting.

good on them for making the most of it - a lot of us have no idea what level of hardship these people have endured.

Good article and a good read.