I was going to tweet about how strong my friend @latoya_aroha is, how gracious they are and how much I admire them, but they shouldn’t have to be strong, gracious and admired...so I actually want to reflect on how fucked the “corrections” system is.

How fucked it is that their brother is still referred to as a prisoner.

How the killing of their brother is regarded by the system as “an incident”

How they have to sit and bear witness to omissions, “forgetfulness”, active avoidance of accountability

How the truth of the last moments of their brother’s life remains a secret held captive by their brother’s own captors...the same people who locked him in a cage hold the key to the truth

How justice and truth are elusive concepts, making them mythical beasts that Blak fullas never see or know

How rotten this system is right to its core. So rotten it stinks and the stench lingers on everyone it touches

I spent mere hours in that courtroom and the stench has attached itself to me like an old musty coat grown mouldy in the wet shed has been draped across my shoulders

So musty, I will have to shower before I can hug my kids tonight.

Maybe I can smell them because I’ve lived in the same space that agents of the carceral state occupy. I know them. I know the smell of their house of hell

And before I sign off and go shower (with a loofah because I need a new layer of skin), I also want to say how incredible Alison Whittaker is, how diligent, how wise and how committed. And this my friends is our community-staunch, strong, incredible.