source: Atlanta Black Star
published: 29 August 2016

Black Lives Matter in Australia. As attention has been paid to Black women who have lost their lives while in police custody and in encounters with law enforcement in the United States — women such as Sandra Bland, Miriam Carey, Rekia Boyd and Korryn Gaines — there is another name to add to the list, halfway around the world.

This month marked the second anniversary of the death of Julieka Dhu, 22, an Indigenous Yamatji woman who was arrested on Aug. 2, 2014 for failure to pay A$3,600 (US$2,742) in fines. She is referred to as Ms. Dhu, out of cultural respect for Aboriginal people’s avoidance of referring to the name of a dead person.

Ms. Dhu was taken into custody in Port Hedland in Western Australia. On Aug. 4, she was dead in a jail, in a case that bears similarities to Sandra Bland in Texas.

Two years later, there is no justice, as the family seeks the results of an official investigation into her death, and demands the release of the video footage of her final moments alive — so that Australia may come face-to-face with its racism against Black people.

Read full article >