Turia on Gangs

80% of the time the Maori Party says sensible stuff that almost all parties and people can agree with. And then every so often, they (normally Turia) come out with absolute clangers. One was Tariana Turia’s call for more race based seats – for Pacific Islanders.

Another was yesterday when she said “But just like I’m not prepared to say that the police are all rapists, I am also not prepared to say that all gangs are criminals”.

The inability to differentiate between the Police and gangs is disturbing on many levels. First of all it really is insulting to ever talk about maybe not all Police are rapists as is even a significant proprotion are. While by no means overlooking the deplorable behaviour of some in Rotorua in the 1980s, there are almost 10,000 sworn Police. How would Turia like someone saying “I’m not prepared to say all Maori are rapists” which strongly suggests that it is a debatable proposition. Saying not all Police are rapists is not a debatable proposition. It is obviously true.

Now the proposition that not all gangs are criminal is highly debatable. Certainly the vast majority of gangs exist for the purpose of undertaking criminal activity. It is part of their initiation into membership. Now it may be there are some gangs which are not so much into criminal activity, but it is not a foregone conclusion.

And then Turia’s thinly veiled racism when she tries to blame the P problem on Asians is deplorable. I saw a story somewhere refuting her point – in fact it is mainly being done via non Asian gangs. And she is wrong she she suggests the Police ignore Asian crime – they have a dedicated unit for it.