Thread by @worldzonfire

1/17 This is a lengthy thread, but it’s important. The mood at court today was sombre. One of my Aboriginal clients was to be sentenced. He was born on a mission & grew up witnessing drug & alcohol fuelled violence within his family, community & inflicted upon himself 😢

2/17 As a young teen, he ran away from the mish to the streets where he slept rough & began injecting speed & heroin. He said he shot up anything, just to take the pain of living away.

3/17 Not surprisingly he was in Juvy by 14. Under the authority of the State, he was sexually assaulted. That was in 2001. It’s now 2023 & he has been in & out of custody ever since. This is the common trajectory for Aboriginal people.

4/17 He’s been under supervision on bonds and parole for 22 years. It’s the job of NSW Community Corrections to rehabilitate him under this supervision. But, corrections have failed to correct anything. The system has perpetuated the never ending cycle of drugs/crime/jail.

5/17 Before the court today is yet another sentencing report by Community Corrections. They say he has a bad attitude & no insight into his offending. They say he continues to abuse drugs & that he normalises his offending.

6/17 The report doesn’t mention his childhood of social deprivation, his experience of witnessing & being the victim of alcohol fuelled violence. Nor does it mention the sexual assault by corrections at the juvenile institution when he was 14.

7/17 It doesn’t mention the trans generational trauma he experiences every single day as a result of invasion and attempted genocide of his culture. It was a disgusting & ignorant report that I criticised heavily.

8/17 I asked my client (who’s been on remand for months) if he voted in the referendum. He said he is illiterate & hadn’t heard any announcement on the loudspeaker. He knew the referendum was happening & said he would’ve voted yes if he could.

9/17 He told me about a family member muso who wrote the hit song ‘My People, My People’. He was killed in a car crash. Not long after he lost his Auntie and Grandma. His mum is on dialysis. He wants to go home to her and his 17 year old daughter.

10/17 He is a singer himself & has been writing songs in custody. He wants to help the jarjums avoid the toxic cycle he is trying to escape from today.

11/17 His criminal record is longer in pages than his age, 36. He is not alone. 30% of NSW inmates are Aboriginal. He is on remand with thousands and thousands of other Aboriginal men who are the intended target that the voice was meant to help.

12/17 As I pointed out the shameful statistics of the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in custody to the Magistrate, I remarked on the irony of the situation.

13/17 Only prisoners sentenced to 3 years or less are allowed to vote. Given he’s on remand (with thousands of other Aboriginal people) he was not eligible to vote for the voice. Let that sink in…

14/17 He is one of thousands & thousands of Aboriginal people sitting in custody today, not allowed to vote for a voice to represent them in Parliament. He has no vote in the voice. He literally has no voice.

15/17 There was ‘some’ justice today as we faced a magistrate who could see the irony & injustice & gave him a sentence that will see him released to his family soon.

16/17 Just because the voice did not succeed, doesn’t stop the gov’t from addressing the over representation of Aboriginal people in our gaols TODAY.

17/17 And after the shocking vote that shut down their voice, I hope the politicians leading the ‘No’ campaign walk the talk & support any & every piece of legislation that’s aimed to close the gap & deliver much needed social justice.