WAIROA - A TOWN OF THE WALKING DEAD

Sometimes we need to be very brave in life and face the reality of our situation and make some hard calls. Wairoa is a tough town. Its almost 50% Maori.

The council decided to face up to the ugly reality that the towns gang culture was killing their kids.

They were going to ban patches after seeing the impact that a gang patch ban had in Wanganui.

But did they hang tough? No. It seems that the council got railroaded by the "good folk" of the town.

Leave the gangs alone they said. Mayor Les Probert says that the problem was that most of the towns large Maori population had gang connections so they did not want a ban on gang patches.

So the Maori leaders of Wairoa are saying that they support the gangs. That gangs are okay. that gangs rule.

And as Wairoa knows - when gangs rule - they kill.

Lets get this right folks. Maori have no business protecting gangs - gangs tikanga (lore or way of doing things) is not Maori tikanga. Its Gang culture. Not Maori culture. Stealing killing, selling drugs are not traditional Maori practices.

Banning the patches sends one single powerful message. Gangs are not normal.

But instead Wairoa has bent over and handed the gangs the vaseline.

The simple truth is that Wairoa as a town needed to make the hard call. Face up to the reality and say no more to the gangs. Maori leaders needed to stand up and say that their tikanga is more important that that of the gangs.

Instead they are now collectively culpable for the next youth death in the town.

BLACK DAY FOR BLACK POWER.

As our nation reels from the news that a little four year old boy  was attacked in Whakatane  for wearing a red tee shirt by a Black Power wannabe ( read prospect), we  are more incensed by the response from Black Power.

The abuse of the four-year-old, as his father's back was turned, is the latest of several violent gang "colours" incidents. It has sparked outrage within gang circles and from the police minister.
The little boy was screamed at, prodded, then had his shirt ripped off him as he played in Whakatane's Cutler Crescent reserve about 3.30pm last Thursday.
The street is home to many blue colour-coded Black Power members. The rival Mongrel Mob's colours are red.

Firstly one of the local leaders ( read bully and thug) says they are keeping a look out for the perpetrator and they will deal to him.

"We are not happy with this. We are keeping a watch out for the guy. If he is found we will give him a good clouting." 

Wrong , wrong , wrong.

It is not up to the gang to be police. It is not up to them to perpetuate the cycle of violence. It is not for them exercise any form of jungle justice.

It is for them to find the cowardly  thug who beats a four year old up for wearing a red shirt and turn him over to the authorities so that those who have the responsibility for law and order can administer it. This thug should be treated as any other young thug. That its not okay.

If he receives a " clouting " from Black Power then all that does is cement  Black Power's authority and diminishes the authority of the police and court system.

Black Power leaders say they are trying to change the gang culture from within but their response to this incident puts pay to that lie.

We are also extremely saddened by the response of   acknowledged gang advocate  Denis O'Reilly  as well. While admitting that this heinous act is beyond the pale for even hardened gangsters  he is still worried about the " shame "  that it will bring to the gang.

The only shame that Black Power should feel is that none of them have the balls to turn this violent bully over to the authorities for him to face the full   force of the law. By doing that the gang would show their followers that they do have some respect for the judiciary and that they acknowledge that it is not their place to play vigilantes.

It is up to people like Denis to say that the gang will bring the coward to the police. That what he has done is not acceptable. That they have respect for our law and order system that the rest of us abide by. 

Simply put - their response shows Black Power still  think like criminals and act like criminals. 

Until then they only deserve contempt from the rest of us. 

REALLY?

We ar off to a sparrrow fart  early breekie with PR and Communications types to hear  this fella talk. Eugene Ryder.  Thought we would do a bit of  home work  - we have crossed paths in our past. So it seems that Mr Ryder thinks that gang problems  stem from colonisation and that is worthy of a  treaty claim .

Pullleaaaase!...

apparently we are going to hear how to do PR for difficult types...  

The chick in charge of the NZ  Prostitutes Collective Catherine Healy is also going to talk on the same topic.

NGA KUPU AROHA

Last night we spent a fascinating few hours with an old asssociate - Denis O'Reilly

We go back over 20 years - when he headed the powerful and influential Group Employment Liaison scheme and we were plying our self developed model of multi faceted rehabilitation in Invercargill jail.

Denis O'Reilly is Black Power and he has a life that is well lived. Today instead of some opposing member of a rival gang, it the drug "P" that Denis has in his sights.

Denis is still a part of the scene, that much is evidenced by a recent driveby where he was the target of a shooting.

He, and my good friend Harry Tam have seen the wholesale damage this drug has done to a generation and they want to see it gone. They have embarked on a crusade to do their very practical bit to see the end of its ravages.

We don't necessarily agree on everything. But we agree that something must be done and it is good that the Maori Party is leading the charge.

I could tell some of Denis's story , but it is his to tell and he tells it well. There are shades of J K Baxter in his stony Irish rooted persona - not a strange thing really, as he and Harry are lovers of words such as these.

High Country Weather

Alone we are born

and die alone

Yet see the red-gold cirrus

over snow-mountain shine

upon the upland road

ride easy stranger

Surrender to the sky

your heart of anger.

So take a journey and set aside some good time to read what he is saying. It is a well written, well argued strategy. I urge all politicians and policy makers to digest it.

this shithead used to get government money

As much as it pains me I am pleased that Labour has distanced itself from this obscenity.

This sort of pathetic claim undermines the mana of all Maori.

so if we follow Ryders logic, all Maori

• drug addicts
• diabetics
• alcoholics

should lodge a treaty claim.

10 years ago Ryder was being paid by the government to do community work - he probably is still - one way or the other. But people like Ryder, who still wear the colours, are not trying to stop kids from entering gangs - they are still glorying in being part of it. and he is further legitimising Black Power by making the claim - that should not happen - all parties should not support anything that legitimises these gangs.

This from STUFF

Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen says there is no legal basis for the Black Power gang to lodge a Treaty of Waitangi claim.
His associate minister Shane Jones went further, saying the idea was a joke.
It was reported today the gang had lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal.
The claim was one of thousands received in the rush leading up to the September 1 deadline imposed by the Government for historic claims.
Wellington gang spokesman Eugene Ryder, understood to be a major driver behind the claim, would not provide specifics about it but said the gang was not seeking money.
Gangs existed because of colonisation and what they wanted was education, he said.
"The object of the claim is education as to why we're in the position we're in," he said.
"It's the story of our lives really and the way we're treated. From our perspective there have been multiple Treaty breaches, every article has been broken."

The only thing that is broken, Ryder, is your arse...