Canadian police need to come clean about their own use of deadly force, writes Jeff Shantz.
deaths in custody
Former New South Wales magistrate and Kuku Yalanji elder Pat O’Shane intends to take her trailblazing attitude to government to force much-needed change in the areas of climate, corruption and social justice.
Up to 3000 people rallied in Sydney on July 5 for an end to Black deaths in custody, reports Zebedee Parkes.
In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, recent polls suggest US President Donald Trump may lose the November 2020 election, writes Barry Sheppard. Consequently, the Republicans are ramping up attempts to curtail African Americans’ right to vote.
Sydney rally condemns Aboriginal deaths in custody
Jim McIlroy
Sydney
The July 19 anniversary of the death in custody of Aboriginal woman Rebecca Maher was marked by a march from Hyde Park to Parliament House. The march also protested the recent death of Indigenous man Eric Whittaker, a prisoner in Parklea Prison. The action was organised by the families and the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA).
The rally condemned the continuing killing of Aboriginal people in police and prison custody, with no one ever convicted of these crimes.
The deadline for submissions to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory has been extended by four months.
The royal commission was announced on July 26 by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to investigate allegations of abuse of minors in the NT’s child detention system.
It came on the back of a July 25 Four Corners episode that showed youth detainees being stripped, beaten and strapped into a chair in “Guantanamo-style” conditions.
This is the Australian version of the open letter created by Letters for Black Lives, an ongoing project for people to create and translate resources on anti-Blackness for their communities in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter.
* * *
Mum, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother:
We need to talk.
You may not have grown up around people who are Black, Aboriginal or African but I have. Black people are a fundamental part of my life: they are my friends, my classmates and teammates, my roommates, my family. Today, I'm scared for them.
