Today, the Refugee Action Collective Queensland stands with Aboriginal communities across Australia.
Since Europeans came in the 1770’s, Aboriginal Australians have borne the brutal brunt of the invasion wars.
Human rights abuses and genocidal acts have continued to the present day with Aboriginal communities & families, and especially children, suffering the tragic and sustained consequences.
RAC Qld is not shocked or surprised at the brutality meted out to vulnerable children at the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre. We are not surprised about the mistreatment, degradation and overrepresentation of Aboriginal men and women, and kids, that happens in prisons across the country. Aboriginal people are regularly mistreated, abused and killed in jails and other institutions. It is not in question. It is fact.
Such disregard for humanity has continued for over 200 years in Australia.
We are not shocked at the racism, criminalisation and demonisation Australian society imposes on indigenous peoples across the country in the name of ‘law and order’. Aboriginal Australia has spoken out many, many times, loud and clear, about the injustices and atrocities Australian society has inflicted upon their communities. Many powerful and eloquent leaders have led the way in exposing these abuses and actioning change. They have told us all.
Today RAC Qld stands with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders in their continued fight for justice.
We join them in saying #BuildCommunitiesNotPrisons
Australian society regularly turns a blind eye to human rights abuses. We do not.
We have seen similar treatment at Australia’s onshore and offshore immigration detention centres, as it is meted out to those who are treated as less valuable, not as important, or troublemakers. The exclusion (regularly violent) of those who do not belong in “our“ society. Many, many times aboriginal leaders and elders have stood with RAC Qld at rallies and marches. They understand the implications for us all, when human rights abuses go unchecked.
Aboriginal communities and people in Australia are strong and independent. Aboriginal Australia is resilient, capable and self determined. They know what indigenous families and kids need and they know how to get it.
We stand in solidarity with our friends, brothers and sisters.
We too demand an end to the incarceration of children and for our governments and institutions to facilitate self-determination for Aboriginal people.
RAC Qld stands beside Aboriginal Australia today, and every day.
We urge everyone to come to King George Square in Brisbane today, 30 July 2016 and join the emergency rally against child detention and torture.
The event details are on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1756147071328364/
RAC QLD respectfully acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first Australians, and pays its respects to elders past, present and future..