Racism in Aus

[Commie Rat]

ths is from indymedia.com

i live in townsville and there is no racism in the streets only in the establishment


"On the 19th November 2004, on Palm Island a community just off the east coast of Townsville, Queensland, Australia an Aboriginal man by the name of Cameron Doomagee was arrested for singing a song on a street in the Palm Island Community, just over an hour and half later he was dead in the police cell." National Indigenous Human Rights Congress Australia from the Melbourne Indymedia Newswire

A State of Emergency has been declared with over two hundred police officers sent to the Island to supress the community after the State Coroner's autopsy report found the death to be an accident. Story on Melbourne Indymedia Newsire

Palm Island, home to over 4000 indigenous Australians has turned into a crucible for bad race relations in Australia after the death in police custody of indigenous man Cameron Doomagee this week. Last Friday the shock and anger in the community erupted into a 'riot' after release of an autopsy finding that Doomagee death, of "intra-abdominal haemorrhage caused by a ruptured liver and portal vein... (with) four broken ribs" was "accidental", the result of a 'fall' outside the watchouse [Townsville Bulletin article] . The police station, court house and police residence were burnt to the ground as local expressed their disbelief and anger at the judicial system.


the news paper paper mentiioned above [townsville bullitin] is one of the most biased papers in austrlia and queensland is only state that it is illigal to be drunk in public

[Beccie]

I think that you are correct when you say that there is only racism in the establishment.

Unfortunately aboriginal communities have often been subject to problems such as over policing and abuse of police discretion. Police discretion coupled with mandatory sentencing laws have led to an overrepresentation of aboriginal people in Australian jails for minor crimes (often related to alcohol abuse). Mandatory sentencing discriminates against the aboriginal community because it covers crimes that they and other disadvantaged groups in society are more likely going to commit. In the Northern Territory an aboriginal man was jailed for a year for stealing a towel of a washing line (In Australia the mandatory minimum sentence for a third offence is one year in custody).

Inquires have been made into Aboriginal deaths in custody (the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody) and recommendations have been made. None of these recommendations have been implemented seriously and the deaths of aboriginal people in custody have increased since the Commission. I think this is a great example of the racism of the establishment, it can be acknowledged that there is a problem (via the commission) yet no effective action is taken to stop it.

The Australian Criminal Justice System has failed to protect indigenous rights in Australia.