Hundreds gathered for Kumanjayi White vigil in Darwin ahead of National week of Action
Hundreds of Top End residents gathered to hear the emotional testimony of Warlpiri leaders in the wake of another death in custody for the Yuendumu community. See the photos.
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Territory police have been accused of failing to choose “de-escalation over death” after a young Aboriginal man with a disability was forced to the ground by cops at an Alice Springs supermarket.
More than 200 people gathered on the steps of the Northern Territory parliament on Wednesday in a sunset vigil for 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White who died in police custody last week.
A witness told the NT News a police officer allegedly had his “knee behind his head” as the young man’s friends called out “this fella has a disability … just be a bit more careful”.
NT Police said a forensic pathologist had completed an autopsy, but at this stage was unable to determine Kumanjayi White’s cause of death.
On Wednesday, NT Police revealed that the coronial process had been paused, with the investigation now looking “to determine whether any criminality was involved”.
The Darwin vigil marked the start of a national ‘week of national action’ in solidarity with Yuendumu, a community of less than 900 people who lost two young men to police deaths in custody in six years.
Warlpiri community leader Valerie Napaljarri Martin said the death was a devastating blow to a community still healing from the police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019.
“We’ve been fighting for justice for the other young fella, now this,” Ms Martin said.
“We are suffering, our hearts are torn apart.
“Losing our young ones, so sad. They should be ashamed for what they’ve done.
“Everyday we’re going to cry.
“They might destroy us but we’re going to stand our ground really hard on our homeland and fight for justice.”
Ms Martin said she had known Kumanjayi White since he was a baby, describing him as a “cheeky boy” but acknowledging he struggled with his mental health.
Kumanjayi White was living in 24/7 supported NDIS care and under a public guardianship order as a result of his treatment resistant schizophrenia as well as a cognitive impairment.
“Imagining what he went through; so sad,” Ms Martin said before breaking into tears.
“So brutal for a sick young kid who didn’t know what was happening to him.”
Justice not Jails member Jade Ritchie said everyone should be concerned that the man was met with force, allegedly over a handful of stolen groceries.
“There cannot be a single Australian out there who sits comfortably with that,” Ms Ritchie said.
“It is a scary, scary society when force is the first response.”
“People are dying without even seeing a court … or the situation being assessed.
“Why are they not choosing de-escalation over death?”
The Bunda Clan woman of the Gooreng Gooreng Nation said this was not just an act of solidarity with Kumanjayi White’s family and Yuendumu, but “with the families of over 600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody since the Royal Commission in 1991”.
“We just get up from the last time we were knocked down, and we’re knocked down again.”
Kumanjayi White’s loved ones have repeatedly called for the investigation into their loved one’s death in custody to be taken out of NT Police’s hands, and for CCTV of the arrest to be disclosed to his family.
“How can we trust people who are taking our loved ones away from us?,” Ms Martin asked.
Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour, Independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe, Central Land Council and human rights advocacy groups Amnesty Australia, First Peoples Disability Network, The National Network, and Justice for Walker have all echoed calls for the investigation to be independent.
Last week Acting Police Commissioner Martin Dole said he was “respectfully” rejecting the push to hand the investigation to an external body.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the calls were “unhelpful” and “uneducated”.
“People can have full confidence in the Northern Territory Police Force to do their job, which is (to) investigate matters … this now needs to take its course, and I urge everyone to respect the process,” Mrs Finocchiaro told ABC Darwin on Tuesday.
National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project director Megan Krakouer said Mrs Finocchiaro was “shameless” in ignoring the repeated calls to stop “police investigating police”.
The Menang Woman of the Noongar Nation accused all Australian governments of “wilful blindness” by not implementing the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission, as well as the findings from more than 550 death in custody inquests that followed.
Amnesty International Australia Indigenous Advisor Rodney Dillon pointed directly at the NT Parliament as he condemned legislation that he said would worsen the rates of deaths in custody and was targeted at Aboriginal Territorians.
“This place, who made policies of ‘tough on crime’ has got blood smeared all over it,” Mr Dillon said.
“There’s no justice, there’s just pain.”
IN PICTURES: Darwin vigil for Kumanjayi White
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