Hundreds Protest to End Black Deaths in Custody

Lia Perkins reports.

At noon yesterday, almost 300 people flooded the Domain to demand an end to Black deaths in custody and to support the families of people who have died in custody in demanding systemic change. Yesterday saw a number of developments in the campaign against police and prison violence towards First Nations people. It was the beginning of the NSW Parliamentary inquiry into Aboriginal deaths in custody. 

Yesterday also saw the announcement of the court decision about whether police officer Zachary Rolfe will be charged with murder after shooting Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu, Northern Territory. A few hours after the protest it was revealed that he will be charged with murdering the teenager at his grandmother’s home in 2019.

In the NSW Coroner’s Court in Lidcombe, the inquest into the death of Nathan Reynolds, a Gamilaraay man who was killed in prison, is ongoing. A statement from Nathan Reynolds’ mother and sister was read out by the organisers, standing “in solidarity with the families that are there today.”

The rally was hosted by a coalition of groups including the Australia Student Environment Network (ASEN), Justice for David Dungay Junior, the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) Sydney, and Deadly Connections. Lizzy Jarrett and Paddy Gibson chaired the rally, emphasising the importance of supporting families’ wishes and the urgent need for change. 

Taressa Monta, a Yuin woman, did the Acknowledgement of Country for the protest, which took place on unceded Gadigal land. Monta emphasised why the Black Lives Matter movement still matters in Australia, a “paternal” and “colonial” country. 

“I know what it feels like to feel that you’re inferior, to have people treat you like a victim. We are here to say ‘listen’, we have been involved in this great experiment, that’s what they said when they set up the colony of Australia. We as a people have stood up for our rights for the betterment of the whole of this society.”

Leetona Dungay, a Dunghutti woman and mother of David Dungay Jr, who was killed in Long Bay Jail in 2015, spoke about how previous mass rallies and pressure from the Dungay family made the NSW parliamentary inquiry happen. 

She stated, “We all know that First Nations sovereignty has never been ceded, especially to the Government of NSW that you can see behind me. That is the government that killed my son David Dungay Jr. And this is the government that also killed the sons and daughters of too many Aboriginal families here today.”

Dungay highlighted the hypocrisies of the government, “Over 440 people have died and no one has ever been held accountable. How can you have over 440 victims and no charges? Because all of the victims were Aboriginal.”

Paddy Gibson, an organiser and staff member of the Jumbanna institute at UTS, spoke next. He identified that seeing Aboriginal families fighting the justice system shaped his demands, “We want an independent organisation to investigate when there’s a death in custody… take that power out of the police and put it with First Nations people where it belongs. Tear down the walls and let the prisoners free.”

Gibson also spoke about the police repression of previous protest Black Lives Matter protests, “For months now, NSW police have been dragging us into paddy wagons for coming out and speaking for Bla(c)k rights. It’s a disgraceful situation, it’s been aimed squarely at trying to silence this movement and drive people off the streets, and protect the police to be able to go about their business to kill Aboriginal people.”

Kynan Mundeen, co-founder of Deadly Connections Community and Justice Services, works within the Aboriginal community around preventing incarceration and supporting child protection. Referring to the carceral system he noted, “Any other institution with a track record like that, having people die in their care, would be shut down and closed immediately.”

“We are also asking our government to stop investing in prisons and to redirect money into community controlled organisations to address the underlying issues that keep our people entrenched in the justice system. Homelessness, unemployment, mental health, drug and alcohol. We need to treat these things in the community and make sure everyone has the best opportunity to survive and thrive.”

Karly Warner, the CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service in NSW and the ACT provided legal context for the situation,“Next year is going to be 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody handed down its recommendations. The Royal Commission was meant to put an end to Black deaths in custody, but the commission’s findings... are sitting on the shelves all throughout this country gathering dust.”

Summer Smith spoke about her personal reality of being a Black mother in Australia. Child protection services in Lismore have taken away her children and given them to the perpetrator of violence against her family. 

Vanessa Turnbull Roberts, a Bundjalung woman, called on the Department of Communities and Justice to bring First Nations children home. She described the system as, “going in there and stealing our children from their families and communities.” “[It takes] them away from country, away from their identity, repeating past assimilation policies, pushing through adoption laws where you remove parental consent.”

Roberts read out a solidarity statement from Yunendumu, Warlpiri leaders about Kumanjayi Walker’s death. They note, “There must be justice, forgiveness and big changes. A new start, a revolution. We need to end violence and harassment by police and reclaim our right to control our community.”

Since the Northern Territory intervention in 2007, “The police and government rule over us and treat us as enemies within our own land”, they have been “getting more and more weapons” and becoming “more racist for many years.”

This was the first rally since the State Government’s announcement that rallies of 500 people that followed strict COVID requirements would be allowed. The police presence was minimal, with a few police officers speaking to the organisers at the beginning but largely remaining out of sight. This marks an important change in the right to protest in NSW and speakers indicated a need for mass numbers to attend future events.