Indigenous justice experts say dramatic scenes in the United States in the wake of the George Floyd killing are potent reminders to First Nations peoples to know their rights.
Key points:
- The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service offers carry cards with instructions for people under arrest
- Indigenous Australians, 3 per cent of the population, make up 30 per cent of prison inmates
- Australians have a view of Indigenous race relations through “rose-coloured glasses” says an ex-police officer
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) advocate, Naomi Murphy, and former police officer, Veronica Heritage-Gorrie, say the latest race-related upheavals in the US, and footage this week of a Sydney policeman sending an Indigenous youth crashing face-first to the ground, are reminders to all Australian families to educate their children on their legal rights and responsibilities.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up just 3 per cent of the Australian population yet account for about 30 per cent of the country’s prison inmates.
Ms Murphy said difficult conversations with children about how to interact with police had become the norm for Indigenous families across the country, conversations she wished she had as a child.