Black lives matter everywhere

At The Autistic Realm Australia, we honour Diversity as Autistic Reality, acknowledging and supporting all our members whatever their history, expression of identity or support needs. We try to practice Radical Inclusion in all aspects of our work and are open to having gaps and unrecognised privilege pointed out.

This week along with the rest of the world we were transfixed by the tragic death of George Floyd who was murdered by the Minneapolis Police. Georges life was stolen by systematic, institutionalised racism.

While we grieve for George Floyd and the many lives stolen, Australia cannot ignore our own elephant in the room and seize on this moment to make real change.

432 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have died in custody since 1991, when the deaths in custody report was published. Representing 28% of our prison population but only 3% of the Australian population they are also the most incarcerated people in the world.

As a country we need to come together to send the message to our government that “enough is enough” and that we will not be a silent accomplice while the oldest continuous culture on the planet is silently extinguished.

David Dungay Jr.

He was a Dunghutti man, an uncle. He had a talent for poetry that made his family endlessly proud.

He was held down by six corrections officers in a prone position until he died and twice injected with sedatives because he ate rice crackers in his cell.

Dungay’s last words were also “I can’t breathe”.

An officer replied “If you can talk, you can breathe”.

Section on David Dungay Jr is from Source: www.theconversation.com

Author:

Alison Whittaker Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney