Rising Gang culture !

This week a fourteen year old Pacific Islander girl was raped by a gang of six young men in a park at Doonside, in Sydney's west. She reported that her attackers were African - and there is every chance that this incident will spark retribution attacks between these cultural groups. Australia has been mercifully free of the racial violence that has wracked American cities but the mixture of cultures involved in this rape has the capacity to force those of either Islander or African background to defend their nationality. One of the problems is that the physical characteristics of both Pacific Islanders and Africans instantly identify which group they belong to - and if there is warfare between the groups that identification is sufficient to provoke violence. Tensions are rising and the worst scenario would be this rape degenerating into just another " unsolved crime ". That could lead to Pacific Islanders seeking their own revenge against a common enemy. Tempers would cool if the offenders are quickly identified and arrested. The feeling that the guilty are facing punishment is usually enought to satisfy the initial outrage - but equally the perception that the offenders " got away with it " increases the desire for revenge against those who degraded the victims racial profile. An attack on this Pacific Islander girl is seen as an insult with studied impunity against all the people of that common heritage - which must be avenged. This could quickly spin out of control. Hot heads from both cultures can spark tit for tat encounters in shopping centres that lead to open enmity between the groups - and gang warfare ! The last thing we need is a culture clash between Pacific Islanders and those people from Africa in the emotional hot house of western Sydney. It raises the awful prospect of what roils much of the world - tribal warfare ! This could easily revolve into those from any part of Africa becoming the " African tribe " doing battle with that other tribe from various islands of the Pacfic Ocean. Once a tribal divide is established, race and gender blur and appearance becomes the motivating factor on which side of the divide a person stands - and there is no neutral ground. Hopefully, this rape will be quickly solved by way of arrests and attention will focus on improving safety for women. It is a disgrace that a suburb like Doonside has a public park that is poorly lit at night - and is totally devoid of cctc cameras. The camera network is a cheap way of extending the long arm of the law, as evidenced by the clearing up of assaults around Kings Cross. The mere presence of cameras deters criminal activity and makes our streets safer. Solving this rape case will go a long way towards repairing the division between the Pacific Islander people and settlers from Africa. Wise heads in both camps need to hose down tension and avoid confrontation. The trouble with tribal clashes is that they develop a mind of their own - and once started can endure for centuries !