Racism in the Justice System

Most Australians were appalled and shocked by the television exposure of the treatment of a few Aboriginal children detained in the Northern Territory. It looked like scenes from Guantanamo Bay as a boy of about 16 was shown chained hands, neck and feet to a chair with a hood over his head for about 2 hours. Other children were locked in small dark cells without water for up to 24 hours or more. They were between 14 and 17 years old.

A boy managed to escape from his cell and found himself in the small but completely enclosed cement courtyard. He begged to be let out and began to break the barred windows and the door with a large piece of metal. It was then that the guards fired tear gas into the compound, which also entered the other cells. The boys were so traumatized that they dropped out.

At this point, they were dragged out and a garden hose was used to wash them after stripping. Other atrocities were just as bad. This was simply unexpected behavior on the part of the guards within a system that is in charge of the welfare and care of these children.

If it’s happening in one place, then it’s happening in others and, equally, in other countries. The deliberate shooting of black children and adults by police in the United States along with other atrocities come to mind. This is racism within the justice system and governments are to blame. Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is setting up a tribunal to examine the facts shown.

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