Young People of African Descent Interaction with police:

A human Rights and responsibility one day workshop was provided for young people in Southern Metro Region. 31 young people attended and 6 elderly men. The day explored several issues including obligations of several services such as schools in enabling schooling for children coming out of refugee camps. The key take away was the emphasis on

• seeing themselves as deserving of respect as full members of the community
• finding a place in the community to contribute
• finding their voice
• making sure the services were not processing them as a “charity” but as full deserving members of the community.

The success of the group was measured by observing how the young people continued to meet weekly independent of the project to give each other support. From that group one went on to gain his MBA and start a sports mentoring business, while another person gained a place as a youth advisor with a university working group. Notably the young people were from across the African continent.

A similar forum/workshop were run in Carlton & Footscray for the Northwest Metro region. The focus for the Footscray workshop was more around Human Rights and the Justice System, while the Carlton workshop was around Human Rights and Responsibilities – Finding a Voice as a young black man in the face of consented media vilification of people of African descent. This workshop addressed human rights as well as existing protections. From that group the community gained strong advocates who work through sports/art to counter stereotypes of the “Black Criminal Angry Young Man”.