Queensland police under fire

A community grassroots Aboriginal group has called on the Queensland 
Police force to apologise for what it says is the racial vilification of 
Indigenous peoples, and has warned black visitors to the State to beware of 
ill-treatment.

The group held a historic rally and speaking forum in the heart of Brisbane 
at King George Square in what was the first legal march through the city's 
Queen Street Mall, and then on to Parliament House where a petition signed 
by several hundred people was presented to the State Government.

Black Australia Movement (BAM) President Adrian McAvoy said a climate of 
racism in Queensland has resulted in crime and violence being perpetrated 
against Aboriginal people.

"Young blacks in this state are stopped and questioned on the basis of no 
more than a generalised suspicion that if they are black and they are young 
and on the streets, then they are up to no good", Mr McAvoy said.

"The Queensland police are not accountable for their actions."

Mr McAvoy said that the communities in most need of police protection are 
also those in which many residents view the police with most suspicion, 
thus discouraging co-operation with police investigations.

He said the situation for Aboriginal homeless people was even more extreme.

"Black vagrants are more visible than their white counterparts and are the 
playthings of white macho policemen", he said, adding that international 
visitors should be aware of race relations in Queensland.

"I'm warning all black people wanting to live in this country — beware 
when you come to Queensland, you're going to be persecuted because you're 
black."

Aboriginal academic and author of an upcoming book on Aboriginal deaths in 
custody, Gracelyn Smallwood, said her biggest concern was the low turnout 
for the rally by Indigenous people employed by State and Federally-funded 
Aboriginal organisations.

"My biggest disappointment is that many indigenous leaders didn't turn up, 
which worries me more than the police", Ms Smallwood said.

"When they work in the system they don't speak out against the system, 
fearing their funds will get cut."

Ms Smallwood said her research found that non-Indigenous permanent staff 
working for the peak Indigenous funding body, the Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), had reached close to 80 per cent.

"We're becoming too complacent, and organisations are not doing what the 
activists fought so hard for 30 and 40 years ago".

"We need our young people to be motivated because a lot of Elders are 
dying, a lot of the fight and activism has gone from our people, and we 
know the struggle has to continue until our babies are dying at the same 
rate as white babies, until the numbers of brothers and sisters 
incarcerated are the same as whites, until they stop killing our people in 
custody, and until they start implementing the recommendations from the 
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody", Ms Smallwood said.

"Young people have to take up the fight."

* * *

The Koori Mail June 12, 2002