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As the night unfolds, I'll be sharing First Nations critiques and analysis of the systems that meet our communities after a death in custody.
'It is time for us to admit that institutional reform within prisons is not enough and that we need to shift the paradigm to one of practical transformation through decolonisation.' — @latoya_aroha #JusticeForFella https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/13/who-is-accountable-for-our-deaths
'A lot of people want to reject that there is a problem because then they have to accept that they are a part of the problem [.] Silence is violence. Acknowledging and working through the problem collectively is the solution.' — Samara Fernandez-Brown https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-22/george-floyd-to-signal-action-for-australian-indigeonous-deaths/100086004
'The government had to be dragged to this point screaming & kicking every inch of the way. Every time there's been a breakdown in the procedure, the community on Palm Island are being subjected to more trauma, drama & unnecessary grandstanding.' Sam Watson https://www.smh.com.au/national/lawrence-street-heads-mulrunji-review-20070105-gdp69l.html
And this crucial mythbusting on media coverage from Dr Amanda Porter and Eddie Cubillo. https://theconversation.com/not-criminals-or-passive-victims-media-need-to-reframe-their-representation-of-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody-158561
'How can the state ever adequately gauge what Aboriginal women experience and what Aboriginal women think [in relation to RCIADIC], when the identity is so politically and legally framed as a collective?' — @mdavisqlder https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26423210.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A3201b2b2320a29be7b236bb454add5e4
'Prisons and police are a deliberate part of the
arsenal of the settler-colonial war machine, whereby the criminal punishment system contributes in a real way to
maintaining the economic and social hierarchy in this country.' — @haveachattabs https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/transcripts/2483/Transcript%20-%203%20December%202020%20-%20CORRECTED.pdf
arsenal of the settler-colonial war machine, whereby the criminal punishment system contributes in a real way to
maintaining the economic and social hierarchy in this country.' — @haveachattabs https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/transcripts/2483/Transcript%20-%203%20December%202020%20-%20CORRECTED.pdf
'We hear far too many stories of families experiencing poorly led investigations with police ignoring important evidence and sidelining Aboriginal peoples’ experiences while protecting their colleagues and hiding the truth from families.' — @LouiseApryl https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/03/without-accountability-there-is-no-justice-for-my-mothers-death-in-australian-police-custody
'That question again: why was this time different? Can it be different? It is easy to be cynical because this place seems to be stuck on the same historic cycle.' — @NayukaGorrie https://www.gq.com.au/success/opinions/imagining-a-world-beyond-police-and-prisons/image-gallery/648dc94fa2ab96abf61b488138c50d69?pos=2
'Much of the attention around Black deaths in custody has focused on the apparently inevitable deaths of sick Aborigines rather than the violence of the state.' — @drcwatego https://theconversation.com/we-just-black-matter-australias-indifference-to-aboriginal-lives-and-land-85168
'There cannot be 432 victims and no perpetrators.' — @amymcquire https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2020/06/06/there-cannot-be-432-victims-and-no-perpetrators/15913656009926#hrd
'The desperate feeling, the deep pain and trauma that fell on my family, including myself, has never ceased. The loss of my son—a grandson, brother, uncle—never has been so clear than now.' — Aunty Gail Hickey https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/transcripts/2440/Transcript%20-%2027%20October%202020%20-%20CORRECTED.pdf
This is just a small collection of critiques from mob off the top of my head — what work has moved you to think differently about these processes?
'As the inquest opened, I realised I couldn’t protect my family from those details – his suffering, the indignity of his treatment, how he was without us as he died, his loved ones. How could I prepare my family to hear that?' — @wewillfight4you https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-thought-i-knew-everything-about-my-brother-s-death-in-custody-i-was-wrong-20201105-p56bt7.html
'We don’t want reform. If anything proves it, this royal commission does. We still die. Where is the outrage? Where is the shame? [...] We cannot pretend to be shocked by that. We aren’t asking for morality. We are demanding justice.' @ruby_wharton https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/10/stop-black-deaths-in-custody-rallies-thousands-march-in-australian-capital-cities
'I remember babies being born around that time in our family, and so it was a profound sense of loss in the face of birth. How can it be that people’s lives can slip away without any real recognition, and no apology?' — @MegBastard https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/29/indigenous-suicide-in-custody-how-have-lives-just-slipped-away
