Professor Larissa Behrendt to lead inquiry into allegations of racism by former Collingwood player Heritier Lumumba
Collingwood has taken the next step in its investigation into claims of racism by former player Heritier Lumumba, appointing a distinguished professor to lead an independent inquiry into what it says is a “matter of great concern”.
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Collingwood’s review into Heritier Lumumba’s allegations of a racist culture will be led by a professor of law who chaired the federal government’s 2011 review into Indigneous higher education in 2011.
The Pies announced on Sunday that person would be Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO, a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology, Sydney.
She comes with an unimpeachable reputation in indigenous affairs as a “distinguished barrister, researcher, filmmaker, and writer” who is the host of the ABC’s Speaking Out program.
The club said that “Professor Behrendt and a team of researchers will revisit the time in which Heritier played at Collingwood”, and get to the bottom of his experiences and the “organisational culture of the club in the day”.
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The Pies have promised they would get to the truth of that culture no matter how damaging the findings.
Board member Peter Murphy said the club expected a “full and frank” account which would help instruct them about how they needed to improve the club.
“It has become increasingly clear that in Heritier’s time we were unable to understand his experience; see and hear what he saw and heard. This lack of cultural safety that he and others have recently spoken of is a matter of great concern,” Murphy said.
“We are seeking to understand these experiences of racism and to ensure they have no place in the current Collingwood environment,” Murphy said.
“We anticipate that Larissa Behrendt’s work will result in a full and frank account of these experiences and produce a road-map to inform Collingwood’s future.”
PREVIOUS REPORT: PIES ANNOUNCE INDEPENDENT RACISM INQUIRY
Collingwood’s review into Heritier Lumumba’s claims of a racist culture at the club will be run exclusively by external consultants.
The Herald Sun understands Collingwood’s initial plan to bring in those external consultants to help its integrity committee will in fact give them full power to run that review.
Those consultants will take charge of the investigation into Lumumba’s claims, interviewing players and staff as they see fit and then hand in those findings back to Collingwood’s integrity committee.
Those consultants will soon be announced by the Pies and will be given a charter to “seek the truth”.
The integrity committee consists of club director Peter Murphy, chief executive Mark Anderson and director Jodie Sizer.
They will review the findings of the investigation rather than take part in it.
Lumumba has consistently said he will not be involved in that investigation but a more independent approach could help him to realise the club is genuine about its terms of reference.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said this week the club was keen to have external consultants after perceptions the club had a conflict of interest.
“There’s going to be others, independents added on to that, which will be announced in the next couple of days. We are having externals, absolutely.”
McGuire has said he “never heard” the nickname “chimp” as Lumumba said he had to call a team meeting to address the nickname, which then stopped.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed today Lumumba and Buckley had been in a lengthy mediation session.
“We want all of our players to have a positive experience in football and clearly Heritier didn’t have that. For me, that’s an issue. We haven’t always got it right in the past, but we are listening and learning and will do whatever we can to stamp out racism and hold people to account who are hurting individuals in our community,” he said.
Buckley has never been accused of using the nickname “chimp”.
Lumumba says the AFL had racist policies as his teammate Shae McNamara again reaffirmed that he had heard the “chimp” nickname.
On Thursday, Lumumba scorched the AFL in a scathing tirade, accusing them of being “cowards” for their lack of action on racism.
The former Collingwood defender took aim at the AFL’s partnership with mining company Rio Tinto, who destroyed a sacred 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site last month.
Lumumba said AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has “no clue” how to deal with racism, claiming the competition’s Black Lives Matter campaign is hypocritical.
He cited the discrimination indigenous great Adam Goodes endured and his own situation with the Collingwood Football Club as examples of McLachlan’s inability to appropriately respond instances of racism.
“The AFL as a non-profit organisation it has chosen to say black lives matter to make a statement.
“You just have to call the hypocrisy because one of the AFL’s its partners is Rio Tinto, and for Rio Tinto to just blatantly destroy a 46,000 year site, please just think about that” Lumumba said on Triple J’s Hack program.
“Black Lives Matter? So AFL you’re happy to take a position on this. If Black Lives Matter then you would address that, you are cowards. The people running it are cowards clearly.”
“I can say that about Gillon McLachlan, he has no clue how to deal with racism. He is clear he is not at a level where he has done enough work on himself because if he had, he would’ve acted different with Adam Goodes. If he had he would’ve taken a different stance with my situation. If he had, he would’ve addressed his relationship with Rio Tinto.
“Let’s have a look at the black lives that are affected by the actions of one of your major partners – 46,000 years!”
Asked what he is looking for from the Collingwood and the AFL, Lumumba declared he wants them to put their hand up and accept responsibility.
“There needs to be an acknowledgment of ‘yep, we haven’t done enough,” he said.
“There needs to be an acknowledgment of individual cases. In my case I’m demanding simply that the AFL and more specifically the Collingwood Football Club, just acknowledge some facts and admit that they don’t get everything right and they got this one wrong.”
“And that they are ready to sit at the table and operate off of that premise.”
Lumumba said earlier on Thursday that Collingwood knows “my truth” and it is insulting for the Magpies to want him to participate in a “so-called investigation” about his racism allegations.
The Magpies this week launched an internal review into Lumumba’s reports of racism during his time at the club.
“I’m not surprised it would come across that way (sulky) to a lot of people that don’t really understand racism,” the Collingwood premiership star told ABC Mornings.
“Australia’s understanding of racism is at an elementary level … The reason why I will not participate in this so-called investigation is that they already have my truth.
“I’ve reported it to administrators, to board members (and) to coaches at the Collingwood Football Club … I’ve mentioned it to players, mentioned it to the AFLPA, I’ve mentioned it to coaches and board members at the Melbourne Football Club … I did a feature length documentary film about my experience.
“For the Collingwood Football Club to say it needs (me to conduct review) … it is rather insulting.”
Lumumba’s comments came after Ross Lyon defended under-siege coach Nathan Buckley following his claim that he was unaware of Lumumba being nicknamed ‘Chimp’ during his time at the Pies.
Buckley’s strong stance — that he never heard the racial slur — has been questioned since the claims resurfaced in the past fortnight.
The former Fremantle and St Kilda coach slammed those doubting Buckley, saying they were “being disrespectful”.
Lyon drew on his own coaching experience saying that he made a conscious effort to avoid nicknames during his 13-year coaching tenure and that coaches “sit outside” players’ language and space.
“I was a senior coach for 13 years I tried not to call players by their nicknames and there’d be a number of nicknames of players that I coached that I would be unaware of because you don’t mix, you don’t talk their language, you sit outside it,” Lyon said on Footy Classified
“There’s a subculture that goes on below you in the locker room, I virtually never went into the locker room because that’s their space.
“So I believe Nathan (Buckley) and I take him at his word and I think people who question that are being disrespectful.”
Two Collingwood premiership players have cast fresh doubt on the club’s claims it did not know Lumumba was given the racist nickname.
Speaking from Los Angeles, Lumumba said his first memory of racism at Collingwood was not the nickname, which came two or three years into his career, but from the outset with the use of and jokes “reinforcing racial stereotypes”.
“The first memory I would have to say wasn’t the nickname, which is what everyone likes to focus on,” Lumumba said.
“I can’t give you the exact memory but I do now within my first year there were racist ideas that were interwoven into the culture of the football club.
“Whether they were remarks about black penises, whether they were jokes that were reinforcing racial stereotypes, my earliest memories … were evident within the first stages of my career at the Collingwood Football Club.
“This isn’t about a nickname, which was ‘Chimp’, which actually did happen and existed for nine years, this is about a culture that has racism woven into it and is a direct result of racist policies that have endured within the institution of the AFL for the entire time I was there at the football club and clearly continue to persist.”
On Monday night Carlton star Eddie Betts said racist attitudes were still common in football and he had been subjected to racist abuse every year of his 16-year career.
Just days after Collingwood announced an internal review into Lumumba’s allegations, Chris Dawes and Brent Macaffer have come forward and supported his version of events.
However, Magpies coach Nathan Buckley maintains he never heard the nickname used.
Speaking to SBS’s The Feed, Dawes said he heard the nickname being used “a couple (of) times”.
Macaffer added: “The nickname ‘the chimp’ and stuff like that which absolutely I remember clearly like that was (Lumumba’s) nickname from whenever I got to the football club in 2006.
“I’ve seen that (Buckley) said that he wasn’t aware of it. I find it very difficult people at the football club at that time could be unaware that would be his nickname as it was used just frequently as anyone else’s nickname is around the club.
“But that’s for (Buckley) to decide if they heard that or not.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Buckley reiterated he never heard “chimp’’ used as a nickname for Lumumba other than in a discussion with the former Magpie defender himself.
“I can say from my perspective that I have learnt things today, last week, two weeks ago that I was not aware of from Heritier’s perspective,” Buckley said.
“In regard to the nickname, the only mouth I heard that nickname out of was Heritier’s himself when he told me about it.
“That is categoric. I suppose that is me telling my truth. But there are obviously a lot of details that need to be unearthed and shared and spoken about with an open mind and open heart so that we can address this situation.
“(So) we can address Heritier’s experience, not to sweep it under the carpet or necessarily to resolve it, but to learn from it and hopefully get better from it, and that’s why the club has undertaken this process.”
Lumumba has refused to meet Buckley to heal his rift with the club until the Pies concede he was telling the truth.
He also believes that he was removed from the leadership group — and eventually pushed out of the club — for taking a public stand against president Eddie McGuire in 2013.
Buckley said the Magpies would do the investigation the “right way”.
“Clearly, my character is being questioned in terms of race … and I know where I stand in that regard.
“We will do this (investigation) the right way, we will do it with the right people and we will do it with integrity and that won’t be in a public forum.”
Buckley said Collingwood’s internal probe into Lumumba’s claims – to be led by Peter Murphy – was of “crucial” importance to the club.
“Some of the truths of some have been shared publicly and it is our job as a football club to listen to our people, to learn from our people and to respect and value our people,” he said. “If that hasn’t occurred, that is why this process is critically important because everyone who comes into this place is critically important to us and there needs to be an environment that respects all.”
Also speaking to The Feed, Lumumba went into detail about the origins of the ‘Chimp’ nickname, which started during a taxi ride with teammates.
He was just 19 at the time and on the club’s rookie list.
“I had like a shaved head. And he (a former teammate) was like slapping the back of my head to make this slapping sound,” Lumumba said.
“And I remember him making a comment about it like he was slapping me like I was his ‘little chimp’ and it got giggles around the place.”
One month after speaking out against McGuire, Lumumba says he set up a meeting with the club’s leadership group to bring about an end to the nickname.
“We call Nathan Buckley into the meeting as well. Well, I called him. I called this meeting,” he said.
“I got up and I spoke about my experience, I spoke about racism. I spoke about internalised racism, you know, that spoke about the, the internalised inferiority or the racist ideas of black inferiority.
“After that meeting the nickname stopped.”
While the Magpies are now searching for the truth, Lumumba remains sceptical of the club’s motives.
“Collingwood’s suggestion that it will ‘investigate’ itself after actively denying my story for six years is frankly insulting,” he said.
“Senior people in the club have known the truth this whole time and chose a cover-up over transparency.
“You cannot jump onto this movement and post your black squares.
“If you’re really for us then f***ing prove it. And it starts with the way that you treated me. And this isn’t just something for your corporate image.”
Collingwood will arrange external experts to assist in its investigation.
President Eddie McGuire revealed there will be third-party members added to their review who will be announced in the coming days.
“There’s going to be others, independents added onto that which will be announced in the next couple of days.”
“This is a search for the truth. This is something that is felt very deeply by everybody at the club, and that will be everyone’s truth.
“My point is we are going to do this with compassion, we are going to do this forensically but we are not looking to prosecute. We want to find what has gone on.”
“I guarantee that there is not going to be anything swept anywhere.”
McGuire lauded a member of the investigation Jodie Sizer, a Djab Wurrung/Gunditjmara woman and a renowned indigenous leader who has worked with numerous organisations to create meaningful change for indigenous people.
“Jodie Sizer who is an expert in this area – who’s been on the board she’s one of only two indigenous board members in the AFL – and she has been on our board for the past two years.
“I met her during our reconciliation action plan and was really impressed with what she can bring to our club.”
For the Magpies, she was a crucial part of the club’s Reconciliation Action Plan and is a chair on its subcommittee.
“This is a serious issue. As a board we have come together and unanimously agreed we need to take action. The integrity committee has started to map a way forward,” director Jodie Sizer said.
“From my perspective the whole of Australia is on an important journey as it deals with racism, the impacts of racism and considers what, as a nation, we want to be and are to become.
“Collingwood is also on its own journey and important to both quests is truth telling. Understanding the truth, owning the truth and supporting those in sharing their truths is a key next step for any action.
“We would like to talk with and listen to Heritier because his truth is a critical part of this.”
The club statement says that the club has always valued tolerance and diversity, but “in Heritier’s time the club could not fully appreciate the personal impact of his experiences.”
1. This article demonstrates exactly why I have no intention of participating in Collingwood’s proposed internal ‘club integrity’ process. Thank you again to my teammates who have stood by me in the past, and to the ones who have come forward now.https://t.co/2TTeZudC1V
— Hériter Lumumba (@iamlumumba) June 24, 2020
7. My claims have been consistent. Instead of simply acknowledging them, Collingwood chose to engage in deceptive and misleading conduct, unnecessarily dragging its fans and members through a scandal which will leave an unfortunate mark on the club’s history.
— Hériter Lumumba (@iamlumumba) June 24, 2020
8. The lack of action or comment from top AFL officials remains baffling. At a moment where the world is experiencing a moment of global reckoning about racism, now is the time for leadership - not silence.
— Hériter Lumumba (@iamlumumba) June 24, 2020
FORMER SUN ACCUSES AFL OF HYPOCRISY
Former Gold Coast Suns midfielder Joel Wilkinson has accused the AFL of being “hypocritical” in its support of the Black Lives Matter movement and says he considers the league a “deeply racist institution”.
Wilkinson claims to have been racially vilified by fans, football departments, players, coaches and administrators during his time in the game, which also included a stint with Carlton’s VFL affiliate Northern Blues.
The Sydney-born Wilkinson, who is of Nigerian descent, said he was “dismissed, silenced” and “blackballed” after continually speaking out against racism in the AFL and greater society, adding that treatment “continues to this day”.
“I was racially vilified by crowds at multiple games, including a large number of fans targeting me,” Wilkinson wrote in a stinging post on the Medium website.
“I experienced racism within football departments; vilified by players and coaches.
“I was told by multiple teams that my unapologetic, anti-racist stance/attitude was a problem.
“With each incident that took place over the years, executives and staff from multiple AFL teams dismissed my consistent complaints. When incidents were made public, I was coerced to follow their protocol. They weaponised their PR departments and media to control the narrative and, to silence and erase my voice and the truth.”
Wilkinson sued the AFL, multiple teams and individuals in 2018 but late last year decided to walk away from the battle.
“I was being pushed into settlement with a nondisclosure agreement,” Wilkinson said.
“I felt it was an unjust process, and I needed to protect the truth.
“We must not accept an institution like the AFL to support a black movement, when they aren’t even accountable to themselves, let alone to the community.”
Wilkinson said he doubted white players across the AFL “comprehend or value the true meaning behind” actions such as taking a knee.
All AFL players took a knee before Round 2 matches to show support for indigenous Australians and all people of colour in a stand against racism, and Richmond and Hawthorn players repeated the gesture on Thursday night.
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Wilkinson said the AFL had “failed” himself as well as former Collingwood and Melbourne defender Heritier Lumumba and former Sydney hero Adam Goodes in a “disturbing pattern”.
“The AFL is setting an extremely dangerous precedent to society and, more specifically, to the youth, for how people in the black community are to be treated when they speak up,” Wilkinson said.
“To stay silent on what actions you are taking to rectify these problems, comes across as misleading and deceiving.”
BUCKLEY: WE HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has again reached out to former Magpies player Heritier Lumumba after calls for a public apology for the racism he claims to have endured while playing at Collingwood.
Lumumba has asked his former teammates to stand with him in his quest to seek justice for the racism he says he encountered during his 12-season AFL career.
The former Magpie said it had never been his intention to “name and shame” individuals, but wanted the AFL and Collingwood to acknowledge his claims he encountered racism when playing with the Magpies, including being nicknamed “Chimp” by some teammates.
Buckley flagged he would make contact with Lumumba after the club’s Round 2 draw with Richmond.
“I think it’s something we really need to get in touch with Heritier about and we’re looking forward to that opportunity,” Buckley said.
“There’s nothing to sweep under the carpet. There’s nothing to hide. There’s opportunity in this and the club I think are going about it in an appropriate matter. The next step is to speak to Heritier and to see where he’s at and what he wishes for.”
Magpies defender Jeremy Howe says Collingwood has turned into a club Lumumba could be proud of as he paid tribute to the cultural change under Buckley.
Howe and Lumumba played together for a season at Melbourne before Howe moved to the Pies.
“I wasn’t here when Heritier was at the club so I can’t comment on that, but what I can say is there is so much care and empathy at the club. Bucks is a big leader of that, about us connecting on an emotional level. It’s what makes blokes feel they can perform at their optimal level,” Howe told the Herald Sun.
“It is a safe environment where people can be themselves, where we celebrate diversity and difference and encourage blokes to be all of themselves. If we are not being all of ourselves then it’s an issue and we feel like that is why we have such a strong connected group. That is one thing that stands out for me.
“I have loved every single bit of being at the club and that’s the only experience I have had since I have been at the club. It’s unfortunate that it’s being viewed as something different in the past but I can only vouch for my experience. It’s a positive one and Bucks is a massive leader in that, and it filters down to all the staff and players. It’s a great place to be.”
While saying he appreciated the support received from Magpie fans and former teammates Leon Davis, Andrew Krakouer, Chris Egan and Shae McNamara, Lumumba has urged other teammates to come forward and back his version of events.
“Thank you to former teammates who have reached out privately to support me. In a moment where Black people worldwide are demanding justice and dignity, I ask that you stand with me publicly now,” Lumumba tweeted.
“To my former teammates who have contacted me, terrified that I will expose them, my purpose has never been to name and shame individuals. I want accountability from institutions — CFC and the AFL, whose job it is to ensure an inclusive workplace.”
Lumumba said he would continue to challenge the AFL and Collingwood.
“This is not just about me. This is for every person who has ever been bullied in their workplace, belittled at school or on the playground, or made to feel less than because of their colour or culture.” he said.
“Football clubs are community organisations whether they like it or not. They sit at the heart of Australian culture. What model is CFC setting for young people in this moment?”
Former Magpies coach also Mick Malthouse weighed in, saying he “wasn’t surprised” Lumumba didn’t enjoy a good relationship with Buckley.
“There was a suggestion by Nathan that they were trying to fix up the culture when he took over,” Malthouse said on ABC Radio.
“I find that very disappointing that anyone would suggest or make remarks about our culture.
“We played it differently, we played it hard, we played with the flair those players wanted to and played for one another. It was a winning culture.
“I have no regrets about how that side came together or Harry (Lumumba).”
Earlier, the premiership defender refused an offer to meet with Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, saying he won’t have anything to with the club until it acknowledges his claims of racism
Lumumba hit back on social media after hearing of Buckley’s post-match comments on Thursday night, saying he believed the club was trying to change the narrative for its own purposes.
“Interesting that Collingwood is now shifting its narrative to claim that they are trying to ‘reach out’ to me,” Lumumba tweeted.
“Let me (be) very clear: I have no intention of sitting down with anyone until they publicly acknowledge some fundamental facts.
“I don’t want a private handshake. I want justice for how I was treated. That includes correcting public denials about my account of the racism and isolation I faced.”
Buckley said in his post-match press conference on Thursday night he wasn’t comfortable with Lumumba feeling “belittled” and wanted to show him how much the Magpies had changed as a football club since his departure in late 2014.
But Lumumba responded on Friday by saying he had to “sit through a torturous, 8-hour, 1-on-1 mediation with him (Buckley), where I had to explain to him why I was affected (by being given the nickname “chimp” by some teammates)? How can I take him on his word now? He is yet to correct the record?”
Lumumba, who played 199 games with the Magpies between 2005-14 before playing two seasons with Melbourne, also claimed he was excluded from the Magpies leadership group for speaking out against president Eddie McGuire after his Adam Goodes comments in 2013.
“Following Eddie McGuire’s racist comments about Adam Goodes, I was barred from speaking to him. When I took to social media to voice my disappointment, I was punished and isolated within the club,” Lumumba said.
“I was excluded from leadership meetings and suddenly dropped from the leadership group without a reasonable explanation. I was ultimately forced out of the club. In my final meeting, I was told it was because I had ‘thrown the president under the bus’.”
“In short, I was punished as a Black man for daring to stand up for myself against slurs from my own teammates. I was punished for being upset that my club president had associated an indigenous champion of the game with an ape as a joke on radio.
“Collingwood is making statements about their ‘growth.’ But this has dragged out over six years because they have refused to take the step of acknowledging that my account of my experience was true.
“ Growth means accountability. Reconciliation without accountability is not possible.”
Buckley said he had not spoken to Lumumba in six years, but would continue to seek him out in an effort to have him reconnect with the club.
“With Heritier, we have a disgruntled ex-player in this particular issue of racism,” Buckley said.
“I am not comfortable with the fact that Heritier feels like he has been belittled and diminished in our environment.
“I would love to speak to him again. I would love to have him come to his old football club and to see what we have become … (a) culture of acceptance, a celebration of difference, no matter your colour, your religion, whatever your upbringing has been.
“We were growing when he was there … (and) we are still growing.
“I am really proud of the club we are now, and I would love to share that with him because he has been a big part of that.
“I will continue to try and reach out and listen to him to see if there’s something we can about how he feels about his experience at the club.”
Buckley said the Magpies players collectively wanted to make a powerful pre-game statement with players from both teams taking a knee to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It came through the players, I think everyone has been impacted and had their eyes open to the events over in America,” he said.
“It has definitely shone a light on the same issues of systemic racism in our culture.
“None of Travis (Varcoe), Atu (Bosenavulagi) or Isaac (Quaynor) played, but we spoke about standing for them in that regard.”
Originally published as Professor Larissa Behrendt to lead inquiry into allegations of racism by former Collingwood player Heritier Lumumba