11 March: WALKER FAMILY & YUENDUMU ELDERS CONDEMN ROLFE NOT GUILTY VERDICT
Sabine Kacha
Please mark your calendars for our upcoming free online forum “The Intervention: Will it end?” on 29 March 22 at 7pm AEDT to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, see https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-intervention-will-it-end-tickets-276026060377
From: The Media Collective
BREAKING NEWS: Kumanjayi Walker's family and Senior Yuendumu Elders have condemned the not guilty verdict handed down by the jury in the murder trial of police officer Zachary Rolfe today. They say the outcome is the direct result of racism in the court system and have provided a list of demands for sweeping changes to NT policing including a call for increased Aboriginal community control.
Mr. Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, long-term advocate for no guns in remote communities said:
"The court didn’t take action so we need to take action on the ground in our communities to protect ourselves from racist police. We have waited for too long. We are calling on all yapa, yapa organisations and supporters to join us in demanding no more guns in remote communities. No more ex-military postings. Local police only, no external police units. Our Senior Elders and yapa police liaison officers must be decision-makers in policing matters, not ignored like they were the night Kumanjayi Walker was killed. Don’t be afraid, stand up and tell them what you need."
The Walker family and Elders say these changes will move toward stopping police shootings of First Nations people. Valerie Napaljarri Martin, deputy-chair of the Parumpurru Justice Committee elected at Yuendumu to instruct the Kumanjayi Walker matter said:
"The biggest problem we have in our community is racism in the police. Racism kills. Racism killed Kumanjayi Walker. Now look at what happened during the trial? A young fella, the same age as Kumanjayi, was shot at six times in Palmerston by police! He is fighting for his life. The police have no respect at all".
Ms. Martin continued,
"There is no justice in the kardiya system. We are feeling so empty that our beloved young fella has been taken away from us. Nothing can bring him back. We have been devastated by this injustice and the court has not fulfilled its responsibility to hold Rolfe accountable for what he has done. The court system has not recognised our needs as Warlpiri people."
Spokesperson for the Walker family, Japangardi, said:
"We thought we were coming to a neutral ground where we could have a multicultural jury instead of just white people. But still there was no yapa on the jury. We felt left out. Are we not part of Australia? We want yapa on the jury so that they can tell other jury members how we see it. It's always kardiya people, seeing through their eyes but they need to see it through our eyes too. "
He continued,
“No police have ever been charged and convicted of any wrong doing in relation to any deaths in custody for yapa. There are over 500 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody that still need justice. We will still fight. We will appeal this court decision. To other families fighting for justice, we say never back down. Keep fighting until justice prevails”.
Mr. Hargraves reiterates,
"Karrinjarla muwajarri meaning we want a ceasefire. No more guns in our communities. It must never happen again. The police must put down their weapons. We have been saying this since the beginning. We cannot walk around in fear in our own homes anymore."
Detailed statements from Mr. Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, the Walker family and Ms. Valerie Napaljarri Martin can be found attached.
Today, the police officer charged with the murder of Kumanjayi Walker was found not guilty.1
This verdict is shattering for his family and community who have been fighting tirelessly for justice for the past two long years.
Despite the deep injustice of today, the fight doesn't end here. What happened to Kumanjayi should never have happened — yet it is happening in First Nations communities across the country.
There have been 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the Royal Commission — and not a single conviction. The Royal Commission report was handed down 30 years ago — and nothing has changed.2
Every day that no justice is delivered and no reform is made, our people are paying the price. Just this week, another First Nations man was critically harmed by police violence in the Northern Territory.3
A system that overwhelmingly targets First Nations people and children, with no accountability, is a racist system. What we've seen today is the system allowing deaths in custody to persist.
This systemic racism and injustice has existed since colonisation. Historical government policies have led to the mass murder of First Nations people — the last documented massacre happened in Kumanjayi Walker's community, Yuendumu.
Racist policies and structures are not something of the past, they still exist today under different names. Successive governments have consistently wound back support for community-run programs and continued to impose paternalistic policies that see us overpoliced and over-surveilled.
The criminal justice system we see today is the modern-day legacy of the ongoing violence inflicted against our communities. Governments have taken no action — but actively enacted and sustained the systems that hurt us.
But in spite of all of this, our communities will keep fighting. Over the past two years the court process prevented Kumanjayi Walker's family from speaking their truth about what happened. Their story has power — it exposes the truth of what happened, and the reality of a racist criminal justice system.
Today, there was no justice. But things are changing. People are listening. The masses marched in the Black Lives Matter protests — we saw the same public outcry when people first heard Kumanjayi had been shot by police. People stood together, marched with Kumanjayi's community, and yelled Justice for Walker and I stand with Yuendumu.
It's this solidarity that helped catapult this case to the Supreme Court — which at times, felt like an impossibility. This trial itself has been an opportunity so many of our communities have been robbed of.
The result of this verdict is raw, our communities are in pain, as are the 500+ other families who have lost a loved one to deaths in custody. We know this trial meant so much to them.
This is not the end of Kumanjayi's story. This is not the end of the fight for justice. It has never been more vital to expose the criminal justice system that is stealing our loved ones at no consequence — and I hope I can count on you to stand with our communities these coming weeks, Sabine.
It's time to let us lead the change. We know how to keep our communities safe and prevent this from ever happening again. So no family or community ever has to go through what we've been through again.
In determination,
Larissa, Amy, Edie, Jordan, Tamika, Ethan, Jasmyn, and Samala.
All First Nations work at GetUp is led by a team of campaigners and organisers from the Widjabul Wia-bul, Gooreng Gooreng, Walpiri, Luritja-Pijantjajara, Wiradjuri, Noongar, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Warumungu, Muluridji, Lardil, Woppaburra, and Butchulla Nations.
References:
[1] NT police officer Zachary Rolfe found not guilty of murder over fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker, ABC News, 11 March 2022.
[2] 'Beyond heartbreaking': 500 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991 royal commission, The Guardian, 6 December 2021.
[3] Indigenous man shot by NT police south of Darwin in critical condition in hospital, The Guardian, 8 March 2022.