OPINION: Debate with gangs essential for real solutions

Photo: Simeon Brown Facebook.

Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury: The disgraceful manner in which the Human Rights Commission, Marama Davidson and Willie Jackson are being tarnished by National and ACT for meeting with the Mongrel Mob is shameful!

Both parties have been scathing of the meetings with National claiming the meetings were held in secret and ACT denouncing any contact at all (despite hypercritically meeting with the Mongrel Mob themselves to discuss gun rights).

Both National and ACT are arguing in bad faith and both are attempting to race bait reactionary pākehā vote.

Of course, our Human Rights Officials and politicians should meet with gangs when there is the opportunity to build better health outcomes free from violence and crime!

We know that endlessly building prisons and imprisoning people doesn’t work and that prevention is far preferable than incarceration!

Our prisons already groan with too many people in them, the solution can’t simply be locking more people up!

To get to that place we must talk but conflating gangs to organized crime the way National and ACT do replace dialogue for racist tropes designed to inflame frightened white voters.

We deserve a better quality of debate in the 21st Century that goes beyond anger and scare tactics. The Human Rights Commission, Davidson and Jackson are showing what political leadership looks like.

ACT and National are dog-whistling spite.

Martyn Bradbury

Editor – TheDailyBlog.nz

twitter.com/CitizenBomber

Radio Waatea and its board would like to advise that the opinions posted are those of Martyn 'Bomber Bradbury' and not the views of Radio Waatea, its Management or its Board.

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