One year after the death of 17-year-old Aboriginal man Thomas "TJ" Hickey, the Redfern community is still fighting for justice.
TJ was riding his bike in Waterloo, Sydney, on February 14, 2004, when he was impaled on a metal fence after being chased by police. He later died in hospital. A riot broke out on February 15, when the Indigenous community's enormous grief and anger at the tragedy and the police's role spilled out onto the streets of Redfern. For hours, Indigenous youth who were fed up with daily police harassment, fought off large numbers of police in their neighbourhood.
The inquest that followed TJ's death was, in the words of the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) president Ray Jackson, a "whitewash". The NSW coroner found that police were not responsible for TJ's death, yet key evidence was not presented, eyewitnesses were denied the ability to testify by the Hickey family's government-appointed legal team and a police officer involved in the incident, senior constable Michael Hollingsworth, was granted permission to not give sworn evidence.
The NSW parliamentary inquiry that followed heard from two Aboriginal police liaison officers who gave damning evidence not only of direct police involvement in TJ's death, but also of intimidation and threats against them by police who had pressured them not to speak out. One of the officers, Paul Wilkinson, who claimed that police had "rammed" TJ, had his house burnt down.
Many other questions remain unanswered. Why was a police emergency vehicle, which arrived at the scene before the ambulance, turned away by police? Why wasn't there a proper forensic examination of the bike and police vehicle involved?
Meanwhile, as TJ's family and friends wait for answers, Hollingsworth has been promoted and racist policing in Redfern continues.
On Palm Island, another whitewash is feared when the coronial inquest opens into the death of Cameron Doomadgee, who died from severe injuries last November while in police custody.
Doomadgee had been walking, drunk, along the street, happily singing. Hours later, he was dead.
The Queensland coroner released a report on November 26 explaining that "the forensic pathologist is of the opinion that [Doomadgee's injuries] are consistent with the deceased — and the policeman with whom he was known to have been struggling — falling on to a hard surface, such as the steps outside the watch-house".
While this concurs with the police version of events, others have painted a very different picture. Tony Koch wrote in the Australian on November 29: "Two Aboriginal men who were in the cells at the time have given statements that they saw [Doomadgee] being punched and beaten by Chris Hurley, a senior sergeant."
Upon hearing the coroner's comments, hundreds of Palm Island residents stormed and burnt down the local police station, outraged at the death of a popular member of their community. Many people still face charges over this action. However no police have been charged in relation to Doomadgee's death.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody produced a report in 1991 that called for custody be used as a last resort, and for the decriminalisation of public drunkenness. However, few of the commission's 339 recommendations have been implemented.
Indigenous people are incarcerated at a rate 12 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians. By 2000, Indigenous people accounted for 20% of the prison population. The racist "justice" system in this country must be transformed.
The inquest into TJ's death must be reopened and police harassment of and violence against the Aboriginal communities in Redfern and Palm Island must end. Join the rallies in Sydney and other cities on February 13 to commemorate TJ's death and demand real justice.
From Green Left Weekly, February 9, 2005.
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