Cultural Stereotyping.
bobbydee
849 Posts
From ABC news online:The World Today - Tuesday, 7 March , 2006 12:38:00Reporter: Lisa MillarELEANOR HALL: Aboriginal leaders are expressing outrage today that an elderly Indigenous woman, who collapsed at a busy bus stop in Brisbane after suffering a mild stroke, was ignored for five hours.The leaders say that Delmae Barton was clearly in distress and needed help, but hundreds of students and commuters walked past her.The 62-year-old is the elder in residence at Griffith University, and was appointed in recognition of the cultural and intellectual wisdom she brings to the campus.Ms Barton is now recovering in hospital, but Boni Robertson, who directs the Gumurrii Centre at Griffith University, told Lisa Millar she was stunned by her close friend's plight.BONI ROBERTSON: She was making her way out to work on Monday and she wasn't feeling very well, and she caught the wrong bus and ended up on the wrong campus.She said to the bus driver: "I'm not feeling very well. Could you??? you know, I've got to get over to the Nathan campus."And they said, "Well, you need to walk down to the terminal, which is across campus."And she made her way down there, feeling very, very ill, and when she got down there felt very faint, and fell over and all the contents of her bag fell on the ground and nobody bothered to help her.And she was struggling to pick all that up and then she actually started actually vomiting, feeling ill.And so she pulled herself up onto the seat and was vomiting, and she said all these people were milling around her and not one person came to her aid.Now, that's bad enough in itself, but that was around quarter past twelve.It wasn't until??? and she lay there in her own vomit, vomiting periodically throughout??? it wasn't until about quarter to six that two young Japanese students asked her was she alright and did she need a drink of water?And they called security and subsequently an ambulance.LISA MILLAR: Why do you think people walked past her?BONI ROBERTSON: Well, Aunty said to me, "I wasn't dirty, Boni. I wasn't unkempt." She said, "I was very well-dressed."And I said that shouldn't even be a factor and she said, you know, "Is that what this country has come to?" And I believe she said that "this was about me being Aboriginal and they have their own perceptions as to why I would be there vomiting."And she said, "I've never had a drink in my life, of alcohol."And I said it could be race, and definitely that's a factor that needs to be considered.But also, I singly said that this is also an indictment and a clear example of what this country has become. You know, we don't even look after our old people in this country.This woman wasn't a young person, and that wouldn't make an excuse anyway, but she was clearly an elderly woman. She was clearly an elderly Aboriginal woman and in quite a serious, distressful situation. They've indicated that she's had a mild stroke and the onset of diabetes, so she was clearly very, very ill. And for a period of up to four or five hours not one person came to her aid.LISA MILLAR: What would like to see come out of this incident?BONI ROBERTSON: I'd like people to start waking up to themselves and realising that we have got a duty to look after each other. We're all Australians and our elderly, our elderly need to be treasured and looked after. And culturally for me it's offensive to think that one of our elders has been subjected to this. 
Comments
i see people vomitting in the street almost every week and beleive me the last thing im gonna do is go up to them and help them.. imma cross that street..
i mean not to be heartless or anything... but most of the time peeps are liquored / cracked out...
also whatever happened to asking for help when you're in need??
i dont see what this has to do with race other than the idea that japanese peeps are polite?
Last fathers day I took my parents out for breakfast, while waiting the 30 minutes or so for a table to open up I took a walk down the street and sw a lady laid out on the sidewalk. I went up to her and stupidly asked "Are you ok" (for the record I was stoned).
She asked me to help her up and after a few seconds of figuring out to help her to her feet carefully I grabbed her waist and tried to stand her up, it was a bad idea, one that left my shirt bloody.
I told her a couple times that I was calling 911 but she was adamant that I didn't. Eventually a car came by and a young couple helped me get her up and they took her down the road to where she said she lived.
I walked back to the restaurant with my shirt covered in blood took it off and rocked the wifebeater and ate my breakfast.
But the fucking busdrivers? all they had to do was pick up their radio and call it in that there was a drunk at the stop. Someone comes, and they realise shes actually sick and problem is solved. Even is she was just drunk and vomiting then shes still in danger of choking. But people assume "oh its just another drunk abo, how disgusting on MY streets" and move on. Aparently some uni students (were talking kids of at least 18 here) were taking pictures of her with there phones.
Hahahah man apart from the fact that you helped her which is awesome too, this part is my favorite