(DOWNLOAD) "Early Childhood Inclusion: A Silver Lining in the Dark Clouds for African Immigrant Children?(Report)" by International Journal of Whole Schooling # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Early Childhood Inclusion: A Silver Lining in the Dark Clouds for African Immigrant Children?(Report)
- Author : International Journal of Whole Schooling
- Release Date : January 01, 2010
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 221 KB
Description
Introduction Since the break-out of civil wars during the late 1990s and early 2000s in some sub-Saharan African countries such as Liberia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone, substantial numbers of African refugees have entered Australia (Vicker, 2007). The conspicuous presence of dark-skinned African people in a 'white' dominated nation, Australia, makes them a target for public and media scrutiny (Casimiro, Hancock & Northcote, 2007; Hancock, 2009; RRAC, 2002). Hancock (2009) acknowledges "sweeping, unverified claims, and stereotyping impacts on community perceptions and treatment of African people, creating fear and suspicion" (p. 2). Suspicion and a feeling of exclusion are sources of potential tension and harmful consequences for individuals from African immigrant community (Andrews & Sibbel, 2003; RRAC, 2002). For example, in 2007, the then Australian Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, claimed that young African refugees are involved in "race-based gangs" and nightclub fights (Hancock, 2009), coupled with engaging in crime and drinking in parks at night ("Evidence' sparks new refugee row", 2007; Lampathakis, 2007). Concerns have been expressed by some politicians in Australia about the general lack of African immigrants' inability to integrate properly into Australian society (Hancock, 2009). The Canadian Council for Refugees, refugee rights NGOs in Australia, the Refugee Council of Australia, the Victorian Human Rights Consultation Committee, and members of the public have denounced the discriminatory comments by the Government of Australia. Yet, on 14th August 2009 racist leaflets warning residents of an influx of Africans moving to live in their neighborhoods have been sighted in some suburbs in Victoria, Australia. The first spate of material was sighted on car windscreens in Mildura, in northwestern Victoria, claiming the local council had tried to "sneak" 30 Sudanese refugee families into their city. The leaflet claims Sudanese refugees "will cause endless social terrorism" and bring "a primitive lawless tribal culture and a pack mentality" into the community. It asserts that people of Sudanese origin are 400 to 800 per cent more likely to commit a serious crime than an Australian national and that "many of them are infected with AIDS". In Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne, an anonymous leaflet under police investigation after it was found in mailboxes and on car windscreens reads: "Do you want Frankston to become like Dandenong?" "The levels of violence in Dandenong and Noble Park have risen sharply since the huge increase in the African population" (Last.fm., 14/08/2009). (Note: Dandenong is a suburb in Melbourne where this study was conducted. It has a high population of African migrants).