“Karrinjarla Muwajarri”
We are Calling for an Indefinite Police Ceasefire.
Yuendumu community statement :
There has been a lot of attention on our community of Yuendumu since NT Police Constable Zachary Rolfe shot and killed our loved one, Kumanjayi Walker, on 9 November 2019. We are grieving this injustice, and the injustice of Rolfe’s acquittal. Above all, we remember that Yapakurlangu Warnkaru Matters, Black Lives Matter.
We demand:
1. No guns in remote communities.
2. NT Police must be defunded at large.
3. Only Warlpiri governance and authority in our community.
4. An end to all discriminatory powers and laws that were introduced with the NT Intervention.
5. A restoration of laws and structures that respect our local community control.
6. That funding be redirected from punitive agencies to community-controlled services.
7. Kids on Country not in Custody.
8. We need a Black Media Watch to stop the racism in media reporting on our First Nations people.
9. Defamatory content about Kumanjayi Walker must be immediately withdrawn from publication.
10. PAW Media and Elders need to approve any media visits to Yuendumu and any media reporting must be accountable by coming back to our community.
11. Journalists need to work using a cultural safety framework, local protocols and trauma informed processes. They must listen to and act upon the cultural guidance of our community.
12. We want culturally safe mental health support for community members with trauma and PTSD. This support must be for the longer term and address our shared and individual PTSD.
14. A retrial for Zachary Rolfe in Alice Springs.
15. An independent investigation.
16. We want Rolfe to face our customary lore at Yuendumu.
We are calling for a National Day of Action on June 18 to demand justice for Walker, justice for the many deaths of First Nations people in custody, an end to the discriminatory Intervention powers and reassertion of community control.
We want other First Nations families, communities and supporters to join us in protest, amplify our voices and put forward your own demands for justice. Let’s come out in big numbers and build collective power together to force change.
13. An end to racism in NT courts.
