it is beyond time for me to stop stamping my left foot in frustration and anger and muttering "damn mine eyes"! and begin catching up with my report on the tj hickey rally and its aftermath.
attached is a form letter from greg smith's office that was received prior to the day of the rally/march. the director-general, laurie glanfield, made it quite clear that greg would not be available to accept the signed petitions from gail hickey and her family as that went against the proscribed process of distancing petitioners from ministers/parliamentarians. nowhere near democracy, laurie. i therefore had little hope of gail actually properly delivering the 1600+ signatures we had gathered.
after 3 meetings with the redfern commander, luke freudenstein, we had agreed on a route from waterloo to parliament house via the redfern police station.
like raul bassi, i also want to thank several individuals and organisations for their assistance to make the day a great success. to our distribution crews, i cannot thank you enough. i received several calls that police from redfern and newtown had been observed tearing some posters down but our crews put them right back up again. we were not going to allow ourselves to be bullied by police acting as vandals.
for those unnamed but certainly not unappreciated groups and individuals who kept the printing presses and photocopiers working overtime, our deepest thanks are with you all but as you already know isja is totally unfunded except for donations from our supporters.
we also have great admiration for those media outlets, mainstream, community and the aboriginal radio, tv and press for the interviews presented and the stories run. your participation and that of your media organisation are greatly appreciated.
thanks must, as always, go to gail hickey and her family who openly display their collective grief on every st. valentines day to her supporters, the public and those who wish her to just stop. this year she done us all proud when handing the petitions to chief of staff for greg smith, damien tudehope, when she tearfully informed him that she and her family wanted justice and would return every year until it became a fact.
every year they relive the horror of that day back in 2004. the ongoing pain and grief is made palpable by their need for the truth of that day to become known to all and for the guilty to be, not exonerated by a police-controlled mafia of lies and legal machinations, but to make sure that the real truth is made known.
i have said previously that any death in custody is hard to live with but the life of a child expunged by police criminal activities crushes families and tears them apart. the death of a loved one becomes not the only victim but the family also become victims of the outrageous lies and they too are destroyed by the cruel cancer that eats away their lives.
the killing of mulrunji doomadgee on palm island, also back in 2004, was added to by the death of his mother and the alleged suicides of his son and his friend. the qld legal system has no intention of looking at the two suicides because both victims were last seen alive talking to a qld police officer who has since been promoted. whilst our people care tremendously, sadly, the majority of australian society do not. there seems to be a apathetic pressure to accept what the white justice system says in death in police custody events as long as australian governments shut their legal eyes and ears to the killings.
there is no real justice for minorities in this country. in fact there are 5 levels of justice.
we have the first rank of justice that the rich and powerful, including politicians, demand from the justice system whereby their criminal acts attract either no charges for technical reasons or they serve only minimum gaol terms.
the second rank of justice is for the police forces of this country who service the protective needs of the first rank. for that they are protected from the laws that they swear to uphold but 225 years of invasion history proves that that is not the case.
the third level of justice is for those white australians who may, or may not, receive justice from police who invariably lie in court and those lazy judges and magistrates that accept police evidence without question.
the fourth level of justice applies strictly to aborigines, africans, muslims, among others, who are judged guilty by the police and the courts rubber-stamp it.
the fifth level is applied only to asylum seekers who are treated as criminal aliens who have had every human and civil right removed from them. where they are put into apartheid camps, and forced by government decree, to be driven mad and to suicide. many governments, from hawke to gillard, have blood on their hands and are guilty of severely breaching the un declarations on the rights of refugees in times of war or natural disasters. these social crimes, done purportedly in our name, bring us much shame.
they do not speak in my name. i say refugees are welcome here.
but i digress once again.
the rally/march numbers wavered, i am told, between some 200 up to 500 participants. all involved were loud and proud to raise their voices calling for justice for tj. one particular voice raised however impressed me muchly as he called on motorists and pedestrians to support our call for justice. his exhortations for inclusiveness fell on fertile ground as vehicles tooted their horns to show support whilst others raised their fists and made vocal their solidarity. alec doomadgee was right to do what he done. for too long we have marched and chanted with no real attempt to invite others to join us. we must continue that call in future events. it certainly worked on that march
another person worthy of thanks, at least my personal thanks, is dave roptel from redfern police who was put in charge of processing the march from waterloo to parliament house. thanks to his control of his junior ranks we were passed from city street to city street quite smoothly. there had been some attempt to push us into a smaller marching space but common sense prevailed and we marched very easily. there was also reported to me comments made by junior police to the marchers but dave kept his troops under a firm control.
at parliament house, again leeway was given to those present to properly expound their views. i knew that greg smith would not make himself available but during discussion with dave i made the comment that someone from his, the a-g, office would be suitable. he introduced me to a member of that office and then the a-g chief of staff, damien tudehope, appeared to take the petitions from gail. gail enquired what he would do with the signatures and he replied that he would pass them on to greg smith and make sure that all proper processes would occur.
i firmly believe that when the police do the right thing and assist us, then thanks are due. after all, we are quick to vilify them when they do wrong.
i need to apologise sincerely to gail, her family and supporters due to my being enthused by the moment. at both the fence-line and at the redfern police station we had held two periods of silence to remember tj, of 3 minutes duration each. another 3 minutes was to happen at parliament house but i failed to call for it and for that i sincerely apologise to all present. i also failed to read the attached letter but this was not as important as the silence.
last friday afternoon i was contacted by edward clapin, a minder from greg smith's office. he asked if we wanted to have the petitions tabled in parliament and i affirmed that we did. apparently the petitions needed to have certain words added that designated that the petitions were for the honourable members and etc. the words were added by myself and thus they became legitimate in word and form. more than 500 signatures are required for them to be accepted and tabled. if we had raised 10 000+ signatures that would allow the petitions to be debated in parliament. another matter of interest relative to petitions is that on-line petitions will not be accepted for processing purposes.
the meeting we asked for with greg smith, gail and isja requires a more formal request and that will be done this week.
again my thanks and appreciation to all involved.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
isja01@internode.on.net
(m) 0450 651 063
(p) 02 9318 0947
address 1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
sovereignty treaty social justice
