Grog Is The Black Killer

by John Moriarty as published in Herald Sun Australias Biggest Daily Newspaper

Only intervention by the Australian Government at the highest level and with strategically pitched resources, can begin to alleviate the endemic dysfunction that has plagued our Aboriginal families for at least two generations.

They come, tragically, from communities who have never recovered from colonial dispossession of their land and who are shut out of participation in mainstream Australia.

My auntie, Yanyuwa elder Thelma Douglas, described to me her helplessness in changing the violence and child neglect in her family and in the town camp where she lives.

This is what she said to me:

"We non-drinker that don't like grog drinker, want money for the children, this what we looking to.

"They take all the money belong to the children and spend the lot in grog.

"That should be for food, so we like to see the parents belong to the children, looking after the money and buy food for the children.

"They too much in grog, so we can't stop them. Because they say this is my problem, you not right to talk to me.

"We can't stop them, tell them what is right and what is wrong. That's bad. This is terrible things happening, all the time, grog and fight.

"Sometime you tell the person, and he say this is my life, it's not your life.

"The government money, they should use it for their food. Some people have a lot of children, they can buy a lot of tucker for.

"But drinking is bad, and then, after that they gonna bash their wives, send them to hospital. This what happening all the time."

The intervention intends to restore law and order to communities. It seeks to identify and protect children at risk.

It will tag welfare payments to a requirement for parents to send children to school, and feed them properly.

It is imposing extensive restrictions on alcohol.

John Moriarty is a traditional owner, Yanyuwa tribe, Borroloola NT and member of the National Indigenous Council

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John; Not that this is going to make you feel any better but Grog or Alcohol is also a big problem here in The United States as well.

"Alcohol and tobacco kill more than 50 times the number of people killed by cocaine, heroin, and other illegal drugs combined. Ten million Americans are addicted to alcohol. Its a drug." -America Academy of Pediatrics

An estimated 27 million American children are at risk for abnormal psychosocial development due to the abuse of alcohol by their parents. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, Report of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force)

Dr. Sterling Clarren, reffering to the global brain damage caused by intrauterine exposure to alcohol that results in abnormal neurochemical balance that intereferes with behavior and ability to function. Read transcript of speech given by Dr. Clarren in the Yukon in May 2002.

"Of all the substances of abuse, including heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, alcohol produces by far the most serious neurobehavioral effects in the fetus.” -Institute of Medicine 1996 Report to Congress

Dot.Gov website :The message and the facts are startling: Nearly every 33 minutes, someone in America dies in an alcohol-related crash, (16,000 deaths last year); every 2 minutes, someone is injured (305,000 injuries last year); an average of 3 in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.

And according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving,MADD :According to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2006, 17,941 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes - an average of one every half-hour. These deaths constituted approximately 41 percent of the 43,300 total traffic fatalities. Drunk (those at or above an illegal BAC of .08) drivers were involved in 13990 fatalities in 2006.

This is an increase from 2005, when 17,525 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes and 13,613 people were killed in crashes involving drunk drivers.

In one year there are more alcohol related deaths than Five Times 5x the total number of Americans killed in the Iraq War!

Where is the Outrage ?