Aboriginal activist Nareen Young claims Alice Springs meeting to ‘Mississippi Burning’

An activist has told the ABC that the Alice Springs meeting of residents concerned about an ongoing crime wave in their town showed vitriol and racism akin to the movie Mississippi Burning.

An Aboriginal activist who has described herself as a good friend of Anthony Albanese has told the ABC that an Alice Springs town hall meeting of residents concerned about an ongoing alcohol-fuelled crime wave was like something out of ‘Mississippi Burning’.

“If you saw that room in Mississippi Burning, for example, Australians would say how terrible that happens there,” UTS professor Nareen Young said, referencing the 1988 thriller about the disappearance of civil rights workers in the American South in the 1960s.

“The vitriol and racism and lack of regard and respect for those people on their land while those people were living off the bounty of it were appalling, and it seems to me the racism question … is the impact of that land being stolen, that is a racist act in and of itself.

“The racism and infantilisation of First Nations people in that town and the racism that they deal with day in day out is not being talked about and we need to talk about that,” she said.

The comments came barely a day after the ABC found itself under fire for a news radio report on the same town hall meeting that featured a number of voices claiming the event promoted white supremacy without speaking to others or providing any evidence of racist statements or behaviour.

Professor Nareen Young on ABC’s The Drum TV program.

In that report, Indigenous Affairs reporter Carly Williams spoke to attendees who claimed the meeting was “scary” and a “disgusting show of white supremacy” but did not provide any evidence to back the claims up.

In statements to the media, the ABC refused calls by Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson to retract the story, saying they stood by the reporting.

Prof Young made headlines last year when she made bizarre comments, also on The Drum, attacking then-prime minister Scott Morrison for eating white bread.

“Who eats white bread in this country? Anglo men,” she said.

“I think it shows a deep lack of understanding as to who works in this country.

“I think that there’s a deep intersection of race and class.”

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]

Originally published as Aboriginal activist Nareen Young claims Alice Springs meeting to ‘Mississippi Burning’