The Korea Herald

Young people in Alice Springs speak out about the shame and fear of social media racism

By ABC NEWS (Australia)

Published : Oct. 7, 2024 - 08:43

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A 15-year-old Alice Springs resident who doesn’t want to leave the house because of racist comments on social media. She's like others in Alice Springs concerned online racism is spilling into public places and that popular social media page "Action for Alice" is making it worse. "Why can't police just release them all into the care a responsible mulcher instead" The page was mentioned several times in a report issued last week. By the NT children's commissioner highlighting the heavy weight of racism felt by children and teenagers. "Action for Alice makes things worse. They post stuff with little kids -- everyone adds hate comments" "Action for Alice -- people piling on with racist comments" Youth justice advocates say they're not surprised the page is causing harm "that sharing of footage and photos and allowing comments and rhetoric to run wild is in their face there's been many a time where I've watched those things be shared on social media and then heard the real narrative" "before you go and comment a hateful comment, you need to kind of understand where these children are coming from, because they're not wanting to be out on the streets" "we need to change the way we view things in our community regarding youth and crime" Action for Alice was founded in 2020 by local businessman Darren Clark. He's apologised for any offensive comments on the page but says they are not his words, and it is not his intention to cause harm. He believes the real issue is years of failed youth policies.