Susie O’Brien: Questions we need to ask after Laa Chol’s party brawl death
LAA Chol’s death in a CBD party brawl increases the focus on the African-Australian community, but the violence will continue unless we confront it, writes Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
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VICTORIA is in mourning after another woman died a brutal, savage death allegedly at male hands.
Laa Chol was just 19 — a bright and “goofy” university student who loved playing soccer — when she was stabbed repeatedly at a party in the early hours of Saturday.
She was among a group of young African-Australian people who were partying in a CBD tower when a second group of youths turned up.
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Police say there was a dispute which turned violent and Ms Chol was stabbed repeatedly.
At this stage, a dozen witnesses are being interviewed by police but no one seems to have come forward to take responsibility for the death.
It’s being said that Ms Chol wasn’t directly involved in the events and was an innocent bystander.
So why was she targeted in such a violent and aggressive way?
Yet again, we have another woman’s life seen as disposable. She apparently didn’t matter to her killer and she didn’t matter to those who left the party before police arrived.
Rather than stick around to give statements, a number of people ran off, making it much harder for police to do their job.
They showed a blatant disregard for authority, for Ms Chol and her devastated family.
This is yet another tragic and senseless loss of life.
Ms Chol is the 37th women to die violently in Australia this year, killed by men.
Police are saying the fact that the party involved African- Australian youths aged 19 and 20 is not relevant.
They say the two groups were not part of African gangs terrorising some parts of Melbourne. While politicians argue about whether the term “gang” should be used or not, the violence is continuing.
Whether you call them gangs or not doesn’t really matter. Ask Ms Chol’s mother. The violence is real.
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Ask people living in Tarneit or Werribee. The violence is real.
Ask people living around the Ecoville Community Centre in Tarneit who are scared to go out at night. The violence is real.
Why should we apologise for the fact that yet another woman’s death is prompting discussion about law and order?
Why should we apologise for mentioning the fact that the violent partygoers were of African descent?
We can’t deny that some parts of the African migrant community include youths who have a history of violence and a lack of respect for authority.
Getting to the heart of the problem and stopping the violence will involve some uncomfortable truths, yet again.
If we need to talk about race, class and gender then we should do so.
Sadly, though, in the eyes of some commentators, even mentioning the issue of race is racist.
But mentioning race doesn’t make you racist or a racial opportunist, or any of the other names being thrown around today.
We owe it to Laa Chol and her grieving family to be respectful, truthful and measured.
And yet, these conversations have to take place. Whether we like it or not, Ms Chol’s death comes amid heightened violence and abuse among Victorian youths of African descent.
There are many more educated, smart African migrants making a genuine contribution to our society than there are teen gang members.
And yet there is a subset of African migrant youths — many of whom hail from war-torn countries — who are disengaged, lawless and lacking respect for authority.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was ridiculed in January because he said people in Melbourne were “scared to go out at restaurants” because of African gang violence.
People enjoying nights out in Prahran and Brunswick posted photos of their meals in protest. And yet if they were in Tarneit, where a summer of violence centred on Ecoville Community Centre, they may not have been so cocky.
Denying there is a problem means it’s less likely things will change.
Leaders within the South Sudanese community are even saying their own youths need a greater sense of belonging and more opportunities for engagement with the broader community.
We owe it to Ms Chol to confront this problem head on.
While the Sudanese population in Victoria is not the only ethnic group to have elevated crime levels beyond their representation in the community, it has been a consistent issue in some areas of Melbourne.
The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency shows people from Sudan make up 0.1 per cent of the population and consist of 1 per cent of offenders.
There is a threat, but we need to keep it in perspective.
The same statistics also show a Victorian is 25 times more likely to be seriously assaulted by someone born in Australia or New Zealand than someone born in Sudan or Kenya because of the greater numbers.
Ms Chol’s death also comes amid a spate of women being killed by men — often men they know. As I’ve written repeatedly, not all men are violent, but most of those who kill women are men.
While politicians, police and everyone else continues to debate each other, the violence continues.
Women continue to be seen as expendable — in this case, possibly a pawn caught up in a fight between warring groups.
We need to know exactly how this lovely young woman died, and what happened in the aftermath.
One more life lost is one too many.
— Susie O’Brien is a Herald Sun columnist
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