Fight dem back!

Police admit memorial cross burning was accidental- a month late

From the ABC:

Candle, not racists, set fire to Alice memorial
By Kirsty Nancarrow

Police have revealed that the burning of a memorial cross to an Aboriginal man who was murdered in Alice Springs was an accident.

Kwementyeye Ryder’s body was found near the Todd River in the Central Australian town in July.

Five men have been charged with his murder.

The burning of his cross in late September sparked concerns from his family that the town was becoming racist.

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News brief · 20 October 2009

Memorial to murdered Alice Springs aboriginal man vandalised

From the ABC:

Murder case stokes Alice’s racial tensions

By Sara Everingham for AM | abc.net.au/am

The cross at the place where Kwementyaye Ryder died
was burnt on Friday night. (aliceonline.com.au: Dave Richards)

Emotions have been running high in Alice Springs because of suspicions that the recent death of an Aboriginal man was the result of a racially motivated attack.

Five white men have been charged with the murder of the 33-year-old man, who for cultural reasons is now known as Kwementyaye Ryder.

His family wants everyone to remain calm but that may be easier said than done, after a memorial to the dead man was burnt at the weekend.

Kwementyaye Ryder’s aunt, Margie Lynch says the town of Alice Springs is still in shock two months after the man’s death.

“Immediately everyone is affected. The local community is affected. Both Aboriginal people and white people,” she said.

Kwementyaye Ryder was found lying on the side of a road after an alleged fight with a group of men seen in a car.

Police say the car had earlier been seen driving through the dry bed of the Todd River, disturbing groups of Aboriginal people who were camping.

Five white men aged between 19 and 24 have been charged with murder and are facing the courts.

Read the rest of this entry… »

Kwementyere Ryder’s sister-in-law, Karen Liddle, says those men are well known in the community.

“Our families are intermarried and connected through school, sport and all that. It was really hard for us to cope with,” she said.

The families of two of the accused have met Ms Liddle and her husband to express their condolences.

Police are at pains to say the alleged attack was not racially motivated.

But the acting commander in Alice Springs, Kym Davies, agrees the death has the potential to fuel racial tension.

“In this matter there has been a great deal of work done by a number of people, not the least the families to try and quell any uprisings or any outbreaks of violence,” he said.

“And to the Ryder family, they are to be congratulated for the work that they have done in this area, and they have made no bones about the fact that they would like calm, and that has happened so there has not been any incidents as a result of that death.”

But the fragile peace is under threat.

A white cross at the place where Kwementyaye Ryder died is now only just standing up after being burnt on Friday night.

Kwementyaye Ryder’s mother, Theresa Ryder, says she is deeply upset.

“The people that are responsible for doing this, it is not a really good thing for us families, you know. It broke our hearts,” she told the editor of Alice Online, Dave Richards.

“They should leave us alone then, leave our cross alone.”

Ms Ryder, who is a well-known watercolour artist, says many in Alice Springs have given her support, but she says the town is not the place it once was.

“Alice Springs was once a happy town where my kids grew up and went to school, made a lot of friends with the school friends that they grew up with,” she said.

“Now it is a very sad town. The town is not the same any more. This town is full racist thing, you know.”

The family is frustrated more is not being done to promote understanding and also that there is little discussion about ways to bring different groups together in Alice Springs.

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News brief · 28 September 2009

Indigenous youth 28 times more likely to be arrested

From The Australian:

Figures indicate a police race bias in juvenile arrests

Stephen Lunn, Social affairs writer | September 28, 2009

POLICE across Australia are far more likely to arrest young Aborigines and see that they go to court than non-indigenous juveniles, who are considerably more likely to be let off with a warning or caution.

A groundbreaking study by the Australian Institute of Criminology to be published today paints a disturbing picture of young Aborigines’ contact with police. It may go some way to explaining why indigenous 10 to 17-year-olds are 28 times more likely to be in detention than non-indigenous youths.

Pulling together for the first time comparative national data on young people’s contact with police and the courts, the AIC report reveals the differential treatment of indigenous children doesn’t stop at the front gate of the juvenile justice system.

In at least two states, Western Australia and South Australia, young Aborigines are more likely to be convicted in children’s courts than non-indigenous juveniles for the same type of offences, the report shows. No other states provided data on conviction rates.

In Western Australia, the one state that issued statistics on sentencing, young Aborigines are more than twice as likely as non-indigenous juveniles to be given a jail term after being found guilty.

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The AIC study, “Juveniles’ contact with the criminal justice system in Australia”, finds that in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, police are more likely to arrest and refer to court young Aborigines, compared with non-indigenous youths. Information from Victoria and Tasmania was not available.

“(In NSW in 2007-08), 48 per cent of indigenous juveniles were transferred to court, compared to 21 per cent of non-indigenous juveniles,” the report says.

“And 32 per cent of non-indigenous juveniles receive warnings compared with 18 per cent of indigenous juveniles.

“(In Queensland in 2006-07), indigenous juveniles were more likely to be processed by way of arrest (39 per cent) than any other method, while non-indigenous juveniles were more likely to be dealt with via a caution (49 per cent) than any other method of processing.”

In Western Australia, where half of all juveniles arrested are Aboriginal, 71 per cent of the cautions issued in 2005 were to non-indigenous youths, 29 per cent to Aboriginal juveniles.

In South Australia in 2005 (the most recent data available), 55 per cent of juveniles of “Aboriginal appearance” were transferred to youth court compared with 41 per cent of those of “non-Aboriginal appearance”, while in the Northern Territory last year 23 per cent of non-indigenous youths received a caution compared with 16 per cent of Aborigines.

AIC director Adam Tomison said the fact that many young indigenous Australians lived in disadvantaged circumstances went a long way to explaining their increased contact with police.

“In terms of whether there is bias or racism in their treatment, I think you would need to do further studies looking at police contact in disadvantaged communities where there are kids of different backgrounds,” Dr Tomison told The Australian.

“Then we would start to tease out how much of this is an issue of Aboriginality and how much is poverty and disadvantage.

“Also geography comes into play. Authorities in states with more remote communities have fewer options to divert juveniles from detention. If there are two young offenders, and one is from a relatively good home in an urban environment with plenty of treatment options around him and the other is from a remote location where similar options are extremely limited, who is more likely to be put in detention?”

The report notes that once indigenous juveniles reach children’s courts, data is harder to come by, as indigenous status is not reported in most states. Only WA and South Australia provided figures on indigenous outcomes in court.

“(While they) cannot be considered representative of the other jurisdictions or of Australia’s children’s courts generally, they nonetheless provide an important, albeit partial, insight into the contact that indigenous juveniles have with the children’s courts,” the report says.

“(In South Australia), 29 per cent of juveniles of ‘Aboriginal appearance’ were found guilty of charges of larceny and receiving offences, 21 per cent of offences against good order and 20 per cent of criminal trespass. This compares with 18 per cent of juveniles of non-Aboriginal appearance found guilty of larceny and receiving, 17 per cent of offences against good order and 12per cent of criminal trespass.”

WA’s data from 2005 also shows discrepancies between the conviction rate for indigenous and non-indigenous youth.

“Eighty-two per cent of indigenous males were found guilty compared with 76 per cent of non-indigenous males before the children’s court,” the report says. “For female juveniles, this disparity was even more pronounced, with 79 per cent of indigenous females found guilty compared with 66 per cent of non-indigenous females.”

If convicted, jail was a more likely outcome for Aboriginal youths. “A considerably higher proportion of distinct indigenous juveniles (22 per cent) were sentenced to custodial penalties than non-indigenous juveniles (9 per cent) during 2005,” the AIC found. “Conversely, a considerably higher proportion of distinct non-indigenous juveniles (35 per cent) received a fine than distinct indigenous juveniles.”

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News brief · 28 September 2009

Racist t-shirts on sale in Alice Springs - National Indigenous Times

From the National Indigenous Times:

MAIN PICTURE: The vehicle, with ‘GANGSTA’ plates parked across the road from the Alice Springs council chambers yesterday. INSET LEFT: The sign taped to the window of the car.

INSET RIGHT: The t-shirt offered for sale.

Alice Springs local responds to bashing death of black man by selling ‘white power’ t-shirts

ISSUE 185. - 04 Sep 2009

* LANGUAGE AND THEME WARNING: Readers are advised that the following story contains language and themes that some people - particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers - are likely to find extremely offensive.

By Chris Graham

NATIONAL, September 10, 2009: An Alice Springs resident has responded to the alleged bashing death of an Aboriginal man by five young white men by selling “Alice Springs White Power” t-shirts and caps from his car.

And it’s all happening outside the Alice Springs Town Council offices, with local police and council officials refusing at least two requests by local residents to shut the man down.

The t-shirts and caps were yesterday on display in the passenger side window of a 4WD ute parked directly across the road from the council chambers. The number plates on the vehicle read ‘GANGSTA’, and a hand-written sign was taped to the back passenger window advertising the shirts and caps.

The sign included pricing - $25 for a shirt, $25 for a cap or to [sic] for $35. The shirt includes a Nazi swastika symbol, and the sign includes a mobile number, 0410 366 701.

The sale of the merchandise follows the July 25 death of Donny Ryder, an Aboriginal trainee ranger, aged 33. Mr Ryder was walking home along an Alice Springs back street when a group of five white youths aged 19-24 allegedly alighted from a 4WD and bashed him to death.

The youths have each been charged with murder, and up to nine counts of reckless endangerment - about a half hour before the bashing death the youths also allegedly drove their vehicle at itinerant Aboriginal men and women camping on the dry bed of the Todd River.

Read the rest of this entry… »

Two residents who contacted the National Indigenous Times last night said the man had been seen making several sales of the t-shirts outside the council chambers. After complaining to council officers they were told no by-laws were being broken because the sign advertising the vehicle was situated inside - not outside - the vehicle.

One of the residents who complained (and requested anonymity) said: “The fact he was sitting out the front of the council building, probably within view of many security and CCTV cameras… I think it’s pretty brazen.

“By doing it in front of council he’s trying to assert some sort of power. He’s trying to say that he has immunity to spread hate around town.”

The residents told NIT that they also complained to local police but officers declined to take any action. Calls to the Northern Territory government also fell on deaf ears.

A spokesperson for NT Police this morning confirmed officers had received one complaint, but further comment was unavailable at the time of press. Alice Springs Police are, however, investigating the matter and trying to determine what laws, if any, Red may have broken, a spokesperson said.

We didn’t, however, have much trouble getting comment from the seller of the t-shirts.
Last night, NIT phoned the number in the ad. The owner of the vehicle is a local man in his late 40s. He identified himself only by his nickname, ‘Red’.

In a lengthy interview, Red unleashed a torrent of racial abuse, after initially claiming that the t-shirts and caps weren’t for sale.

“I’m not selling the t-shirts, I’m giving them to people who want them,” Red said. But when told NIT had photographs of the advertising signs in Red’s car, he replied, “You’re just some white c-nt who’s a f-cking n-gger lover.”

Red claimed the shirts were popular among local residents - even police had shelled out the $25.

“I’ve sold them to police…. I’ve sold them to nurses, school teachers…. No c-nt has ever come up to me and said nothing about it. I wear my shirts and hats everywhere I go,” he said.

He declined to say how many local police had bought his merchandise.

“What do you think, I’m f-cking stupid? I’m not telling you that. It’s just a number.”

He also claimed that the merchandise was not a response to the death of Mr Ryder and that he had been distributing them for a year.

“It’s got nothing to do with that sh-t. It’s just my way to sticking it up the black c-nts. It’s not illegal, I’ve sold to cops,” he said.

However, one local resident contacted by the National Indigenous Times said the vehicle was well known around Alice Springs, and the sign advertising the shirts had only appeared since the death of Mr Ryder.

Red did concede, however, that the bashing death of Mr Ryder was “going too far”.

“I don’t condone what they done to him at all. No c-nts should get killed, black or white. That’s going too far. [But] if they’d just actually touched him up….”

Red said the Alice Springs community was angry at the death of a white man allegedly bashed to death by several Aboriginal men earlier this year. He said he had grown up in the central Australian town and that Aboriginal people were the source of all the problems.

“[Aboriginal people] couldn’t even invent the f-cking wheel,” he said. “I’ve had enough sh-t from c-ons and n-gger lovers and c-nts coming into town who are not local.

“Go see the f-cking c-on camps, the c-on creeks. There’s a f-cking bottle shop across the road from the b-ong camp.

Another major problem was that the black people in town weren’t even ‘real c-ons’.

“A lot of the c-nts in town are mongrels. Their mum f-cked a g-n way back. Some dumb white g-n jockey c-nt rooting a n-gger… it comes out a half caste. It’s a f-cking mongrel,” he said.

He pointed to the fact jails in the Territory were full of black criminals as proof that Aboriginal people were the cause of Alice Springs’ problems.

“… 80 percent inside were f-cking n-ggers for doing shit,” he said, later conceding that he knew because he’d “done time… for flogging the f-ck out of some c-ons”.

Red said that “n-gger lover d-ckhead lawyers and reporters” only made the problem worse because they defended Aboriginal people.

Asked if he had any solutions for Alice Springs’ problems, Red was initially silent. He replied: “Take all the c-on camps out of town, put ‘em back out in the bush. They’re bludging f-cking leeches. We’ve gotta build more fences… get better security.”

A spokesperson for Alice Springs Town Council this morning told NIT that the council was unable to act because there had had been no indication “paraphernalia” was being sold. Instead, council was advised that a singlet with offensive material was visible from the outside of the vehicle.

At the time of press, the council was unable to explain why local residents had yesterday been given detailed information from council officers about by-laws relating to advertising being displayed on the inside of the vehicle.

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News brief · 10 September 2009

NT man guilty of aggravated assault

From the ABC:

Darwin man guilty of aggravated assault

A Darwin man accused of stabbing a guest at a party at his neighbour’s flat has been found guilty of aggravated assault by a Supreme Court jury.

The jury took six hours to convict 50-year-old Ian McBurnie, who became angry about noise coming from a downstairs unit last year, and began yelling racial insults and throwing plastic bags full of water on the guests below.

The argument became more heated until McBurnie ran downstairs and stabbed one of the party-goers under the arm.

He was released on bail until his sentencing later this month.

News brief · 4 October 2008

Racist hostel faces legal action

From the Sunday Times:

Hostel facing racist eviction
April 10, 2008

A PROMINENT Sydney-based human rights lawyer will represent a group of Aboriginal women who were allegedly asked to leave a backpacker hostel in Alice Springs because of the colour of their skin.

Sixteen Aboriginal women and children from the community of Yuendumu had travelled to Alice Springs in March to attend classes organised by The Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

After checking in at the Haven Hostel at the weekend they were then asked to leave, with management telling them that other guests felt frightened.

Lawyer George Newhouse, who will take their case to Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination commissioner Tony Fitzgerald, today said there was “no excuse” for the hostel’s alleged conduct.

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News brief · 14 April 2008

Racist hotel caught out in a lie

From Crikey:

The Alice Springs hostel that turns out blackpackers
Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Guy Rundle writes:

Asked the best defence, Marshal Foch once replied “attaquez, attaquez, attaquez!”

Faced with accusations of racism for asking eight Aboriginal guests to leave, the Haven Hostel in Alice Springs came up with the claim that it was a hostel for “international guests only”. Not much of a defence, but enough to muddy the waters. Who knows, eh, some hostels do restrict who can stay there on the basis of taking foreign backpackers only.

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News brief · 12 March 2008

Racist hotel throws out Aborigines

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

‘Pure racism’: Aborigines chucked out after checking in
Dylan Welch
March 11, 2008

The Alice Springs backpacker hostel at the centre of racial discrimination claims is owned by one of the largest Northern Territory touring companies in Australia, which purports to educate its tour clients about local Aboriginal culture.

Adventure Tours Australia, which last year sold tours to more than 90,000 people according to its website, owns the Haven Backpacker Resort in Alice Springs.

The resort has been bitterly criticised for ejecting a group of indigenous guests because it said it catered only “for international backpacking tourists, which the group was not”.

Read the rest of this entry… »

Yet, in a blurb on its website, the company states its tours place an emphasis on “the unique scenery, wildlife and Aboriginal culture of each area”.

“Don’t blame us if you finish your tour and start telling strangers about all the weird and wonderful facts you’ve learnt about rocks, plants, animals, aboriginal [sic] culture, all the great people you’ve met and how wonderful it is to be alive!” the website states.

The Aborigines, mostly women, had travelled to Alice Springs to take life-saving classes in preparation for the opening of a swimming pool in their community of Yuendumu, located about 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

They were allegedly asked to leave the Haven Hostel after checking in, because of complaints by other guests.

“They said that it was because of the colour of our skin and they didn’t like us,” group member Bethany Langdon said of the hostel management.

The Royal Life Saving Society of Australia said the ejection was “purely racist” in intention.

“It was a very feeble excuse about a complaint having been made but, looking into that, there was no complaint, there was no reason, it was just pure racism,” the society’s chief executive, Rob Bradley told ABC Television last night.

In ownership documents the hostel is listed as the property of Ken Hart and Greg Zammit, who also own Adventure Tours Australia, formerly called Northern Territory Adventure Tours.

Adventure Tours Australia, established in 1993, has won numerous tourism awards, including the Northern Territory’s tourism awards, the Brolgas.

Another member of the life-saving class, Sharelle Young, said: “They should apologise to us face-to-face and just say sorry.”

Ms Langdon and other members of her remote community are reportedly considering legal action against the Alice Springs hostel’s management following their ejection.

“When we booked in, the manager, she gave us the keys to the rooms and we went and put our stuff in the rooms.

“We all went outside and the manager came out and told me that we weren’t suitable to stay there,” Ms Langdon told ABC Radio today.

“They said [it was] because we were Aboriginal. Other customers were making complaints that they were scared of us.

“I felt like I wanted to cry because it made me feel like I wasn’t an Australian, like I wasn’t wanted there.”

Mr Bradley said the incident soured the occasion for the Yuendumu community.

“We have worked over a long period of time to build the partnerships, to build the trust with 11 indigenous communities around the NT,” he told ABC Radio.

“This is a big stumbling block. I hope it doesn’t put people off.”

The territory’s anti-discrimination commissioner, Tony Fitzgerald, said the women could have a strong case.

“If the story is true, it’s disgraceful but it is not the only story exactly like this that we have heard anecdotally at the commission,” he said.

“The challenge for us is to convince people who do suffer this sort of unfair treatment to make a complaint so that we can investigate it and follow it through.”

The Haven Hostel released a statement saying: “Haven Hostel is a backpackers’ hostel catering for international backpacking tourists, which the group was not.

“So [alternative] accommodation was sought and arranged with their consultation, on their behalf. We also offered to pay for that night’s accommodation.”

The group found another place to stay in Alice Springs to complete the training, the report said.

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News brief · 12 March 2008

Reward for info on racist graff

From the ABC:

Racist graffiti prompts council reward

Alice Springs Town Council is offering a $500 reward for anyone who comes forward with information about a recent spate of racist graffiti.

Mayor Fran Kilgariff says racial slurs have been spray painted on the road, footpaths and outside walls of businesses on Elders Street.

She says the content of the graffiti has far reaching effects on the whole community and will not be tolerated.

News brief · 2 March 2007

Trev runs out of ticker

The retirement home for Kiwi and Aussie Nazis who can’t handle the possibility of public exposure will need to expand their premesis soon.

Following on from the recent, very embarrassing backdown and retirement of Peter ‘Kromlek’ Campbell, it appears that Alice Springs’ infamous Nazi sticker bandit, Trevor Lewis has decided that life is much safer back under the rock. Reports surfaced on Trev’s Australia New Nation forum yesterday that ol’ Trev had “left the scene for good” and that “all attempts to get him back online have failed.” He even deleted his own account from his own forum.

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Fight dem back · 21 January 2006 · Discussion

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