Aunty Gail Hickey, her family and supporters marched through Redfern on February 14 to demand justice for her son TJ Hickey, as she has done for the past 20 years.
On that day in 2004, the 17-year-old Kamilaroi man died after being impaled on a fence when flung from his bicycle during pursuit by two New South Wales Police vehicles.
Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti Bundjalung woman Lizzie Jarrett told the rally that “we are standing here today as part of a 20-year fight for justice”.
Lizzie Jarret and Gail Hickey
The NSW Coroner allowed Constable Michael Hollingsworth, one of the police officers who chased TJ, not to testify during the inquest on the basis that he might incriminate himself.
“Twenty years since a young teenage boy was innocently riding his bike through his neighbourhood and NSW Police decided he must be committing a crime because he was Black,” Jarrett said.
“Imagine 20 years, as a mother, waking up knowing your son is no longer alive and there's no accountability for the people who took away his life.
“I don’t want to be sad and angry ... but today is a day about being sad and angry. Today is a day that shows the reality that Australia is a crime scene that we still live in.”
After gathering outside the Waterloo public housing towers at TJ Hickey Park, the site where he was impaled, the family and supporters marched to Redfern Police Station to demand accountability and justice.
There was strong solidarity shown from Palestinian activists. Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni told Green Left he was attended the rally "in solidarity with my Black brothers and sisters".
“One wonders will the system change, will the colony change? The system is as violent as it has ever been. Colonialism continues to kill from this continent through to Palestine.”
The protest continued to Redfern Community Centre, which the Hickey family would like to be renamed after TJ.