6 September 202022 December 2022 4WardEverUK

The families fighting for justice for indigenous deaths in custody

source: Marie Claire
published: 21 August 2020

After Yorta Yorta woman Aunty Tanya Day died in December 2017, her children began looking for traces of her memory in her bedroom. They already had much of it close to their hearts.

Their mother, 55, was a proud community woman. She had helped run the co-op in her home town of Echuca and had assisted at the childcare centre. She was an excellent cook and used her skills to make big batches of food for elders and the community, as well as bake cupcakes with her grandchildren.

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13 June 202022 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Race protests turn spotlight on rights of indigenous Australians

source: Guam Daily Post
published: 12 June 2020

“I can’t breathe, please don’t! Let me up, please! Help please! I can’t breathe!” The last words not of George Floyd, but of Aboriginal man David Dungay Jr. as he laying dying on the floor of his jail cell in Australia, a case strikingly similar to the one that has sparked mass protests against racial injustice.

The death of 26-year-old Dungay in 2015 garnered relatively little attention in Australia, where indigenous people account for a disproportionate number of prisoners and rank near the bottom on economic and social indicators.

But the reaction to Floyd’s death in Minneapolis has inspired protests in every major city in the country, prompting some indigenous Australians to question why it took an American incident to turn the spotlight on their plight.

11 June 202022 December 2022 4WardEverUK

US must take ‘serious action’ to halt police killings says UN chief

source: UN News
published: 28 May 2020

The UN human rights chief on Thursday condemned the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd while in police custody in the city of Minneapolis, calling it the latest in “a long line of killings of unarmed African Americans by US police officers and members of the public”.

“I am dismayed to have to add George Floyd’s name to that of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and many other unarmed African Americans who have died over the years at the hands of the police – as well as people such as Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin who were killed by armed members of the public”, said High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in statement.