Sudanese community in Melbourne says it is sick of copping the blame for crime

SICK of being singled out for crimes across the country, the Sudanese community has hit back through a campaign to combat crime racialisation.

SICK of being singled out for crimes across the country, the Sudanese community has hit back through a campaign to combat crime racialisation.

The campaign, ‘Prime Minister Please Stop’, debuted in Footscray this month, slamming the Liberal Party and then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for comments which blamed ethnic minorities for crime.

Melbourne’s west, in particular Maribyrnong and its surrounds, is known to be a hotspot on the perceived Sudanese and African gang crisis. The latest data from the Crime Statistics Agency showed Sudanese offenders were responsible for 1.1 per cent of all Victorian crime.

However, they were 33 times more likely to be charged with riot and affray compared with Australian-born counterparts.

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Campaign member Achan Anyar said racial abuse among the South Sudanese community had escalated since the recent crime commentary spouted by political leaders.

Achan Anyar and Elizabeth Gai support the Prime Minister Please Stop campaign. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“It’s unacceptable coming from our leaders and politicians, they need to stop making statements based on minority groups and instead implement better services to stop crime,” she said.

Other members of the South Sudanese community told the Leader it felt like they were walking with targets on their heads due to their race.

The heart of the campaign is a video advertisement that displays several people of Sudanese background calling for change.

South Sudanese pastor Reverend Chaplain Soma said on his way to filming the campaign video, he was verbally abused by a motorist due to his skin colour.

Mr Soma was filling his car at an Albert Park petrol station when the motorist went on a racist rant and threatened to douse him in petrol.

Ms Anyar admitted some of the youths in their community had “misbehaved”.

“We do accept there are young people who are disengaged in the community who have misbehaved and committed crimes,” she said.

Former Australian of the Year Simon McKeon said the criminal actions of a few people should not tar an entire ethnic community.

“Leadership should be about intelligent solutions and working together. This action is creating division and hatred,” he said.

State Opposition community safety spokesman Ed O’Donohue did not address Leader’s questions about crime racialisation.

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