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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of people who have passed away, and descriptions of these deaths.

One year has passed since George Floyds death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Floyds name is imprinted upon our consciousness, as it should be.

However, in Australia we know less about the more than 474 Indigenous people who have died in police or prison custody in the 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

While Floyds death and the Black Lives Matter movement sparked extensive media attention, Australian Indigenous deaths in custody have had a harder time attracting sustained coverage, particularly from mainstream news outlets. Media attention on the issue has been episodic and too often absent.

As Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire says, there is a national apathy in response to First Nations deaths in custody. McQuire, who consistently reports on deaths in custody as an independent journalist, says: When Aboriginal people die in custody there is a national silence. Some deaths in custody break through, but many more pass unnoticed.

The royal commission stated that to reduce Aboriginal deaths in custody it is critical to reduce imprisonment rates (which have doubled since 1991), and to improve the exercise of the duty of care owed to people in custody.

Two Indigenous deaths in custody, 20 years apart, demonstrate the failure to achieve both.

In 1994, 30-year-old Aboriginal woman Ms Beetson died of treatable heart disease in Sydneys Mulawa womens prison.

She was admitted to prison unwell; previous open-heart surgery and other concerns were highlighted on her admittance form. She was given a cursory medical examination and her symptoms were put down to drug withdrawal. Over a week, she became weaker and sicker, received no effective medical attention and died alone in a cell.

In 2014, Yamatji woman Ms Dhu, 22, was arrested for unpaid fines, against royal commission recommendations. She was held in a South Hedland, WA, police watch house for three days in intense pain and growing sicker.

The usual assumptions were made about drug withdrawal and that she was faking it. She died of staphylococcal septicaemia and pneumonia.

Twenty years apart, the circumstances around Ms Beetsons and Ms Dhus deaths reflect the same inadequate medical treatment, inhumanity, lack of professionalism and failures. Both medical conditions were treatable and both deaths preventable.

But the story of Ms Dhus case broke through, due to local and effective activism, and because the media landscape had started to change.

Read more: Not criminals or passive victims: media need to reframe their representation of Aboriginal deaths in custody

The year before Ms Dhus death, The Guardian began publishing an online Australian edition. Guardian journalist Calla Wahlquist reported at least one story every day from the inquest into Ms Dhus death.

The Guardians sustained deaths in custody reporting and its Deaths Inside database have made a difference to deaths in custody coverage.

Media attention was important in helping to create the conditions for the royal commissions establishment. Among the more influential and agenda-setting stories were those by Western Australian freelance journalist Jan Mayman reporting on Roebourne teenager John Pats 1983 death for The Age, and a 1985 Four Corners program presented by David Marr.

In its report and recommendations, the royal commission recognised the important role of the media as a form of collective conscience, contributing to the possibility of increased justice for Aboriginal people.

The release of the royal commissions final report was a Black-lives-just-could-matter moment in Australia.

Here was the blueprint for transforming the life chances of Aboriginal people, and the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Implementing the reports 339 recommendations could reduce imprisonment rates, deaths in custody, inequality and disadvantage.

When the report was released, the media was again interested and engaged. Aboriginal peoples points of view were heard, and Aboriginal deaths in custody became an important story that put individual deaths into context. However, this kind of reporting soon fell away.

Four years after the report, governments were claiming successful implementation of the royal commissions recommendations. However, the Australian Institute of Criminology was reporting deaths in prison at record levels.

Research by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism found the media uncritically reported government implementation claims as if they were true.

While First Nations journalists, such as Amy McQuire, Gamilaraay and Yawalaraay woman Loreena Allam and Muruwari man Allan Clarke, are telling stories of injustice meted out to Aboriginal people, non-Indigenous journalists must also keep telling stories about the injustices caused by colonisation.

It took an event in the US to spark the Indigenous lives matter response across Australia. Journalists must continue to report on the chain of events that lead to Black deaths at the hands of the state.

How we can do this:

We can report the facts, for instance, Indigenous adult and youth apprehension and imprisonment rates, Aboriginal youth and adult suicide rates, coronial inquest findings and recommendations.

We can interview witnesses, family members and representatives, police and prison officers, and other experts and report what they and other informed commentators say about the facts, consequences and causes of those deaths.

We can investigate and discern the patterns emerging from these deaths; the similar facts and common factors, the same systemic failures, the ongoing evidence of institutional racism.

Through our journalism we need to honour each person who has died, and try to bring some comfort to their affected families and communities.

As investigative journalist Allan Clarke says:

Australia, we can do better and we must do better.

See here for resources and guides for what we as journalists can do.

More here:
Australia's news media play an important role reminding the country that Black lives still matter - The Conversation Australia & New Zealand

Theembattled co-founder of Black Lives Matter announced on Thursday that shes resigning as executive director amid criticism over her lavish lifestyle.

Patrisse Cullors,37 who has been at the helm of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for nearly six years said she is leaving to focus on a book and TV deal.

Her last day with the foundation is Friday.

Ive created the infrastructure and the support, and the necessary bones and foundation, so that I can leave, Cullors said. It feels like the time is right.

But her resignation comes amid controversy over the groups finances and Cullors personal wealth including an alleged real estate buying spree in which she snagged four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US, according to property records reported last month.

But Cullors said her departure has been in the works and is not tied to those attacks.

Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I dont operate off of what the right thinks about me, Cullors said.

The BLM foundation revealed in February that it took in just over $90 million last year, following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a black man whose last breaths under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer inspired protests globally.

The foundation said it ended 2020 with a balance of more than $60 million, after spending nearly a quarter of its assets on operating expenses, grants to black-led organizations and other charitable giving.

Critics of the foundation contend more of that money should have gone to the families of black victims of police brutality who have been unable to access the resources needed to deal with their trauma and loss.

That is the most tragic aspect, said the Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, president of an Oklahoma City BLM chapter and a representative of the #BLM10, a national group of organizers that has publicly criticized the foundation over funding and transparency.

I know some of (the families) are feeling exploited, their pain exploited, and thats not something that I ever want to be affiliated with, Dickerson said.

Cullors and the foundation have said they do support families without making public announcements or disclosing dollar amounts.

With Post wires

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Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigns amid ...

Rashad Turner, founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM) in St. Paul, Minn., has disassociated himself from the civil rights movement after publicly questioning its leadership its nonprofit arm.

Now the leader of a pro-school choice group called Minnesota Parent Union, Turner says that BLM does not actually help Black families and puts direct attacks on Black kids, Fox News reported.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

"In 2015, I was the founder of Black Lives Matter in St. Paul. I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies Black lives do matter. However, after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding Black families," Turner said.

Turner published a YouTube video that states that BLM has a desire to "disrupt the nuclear family structure."

"And they cared even less," Turner added, "about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis. That was made clear when they publicly denounced charter schools alongside the teachers' union."

"I was an insider in Black Lives Matter and I learned the ugly truth the moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the Black family. But it does create barriers to a better education for Black children."

In the summer of 2020, BLM received more than $90 million from supportersfollowingthe deaths of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor.

When asked about donating the money to Black families, the founders have said that they do not publicly announce or disclose who they gave the money to or how much.

As Changing America previously reported, the organization has been under a lot of scrutiny since co-founder Patrisse Cullors of BLM Global Network Foundation stepped down.

The controversy surrounding the self-described "Marxists" four homes that are estimated to be more than $3 million has followers of the movement questioning its leaderships motives.

That is the most tragic aspect, Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, president of an Oklahoma City BLM chapter and a representative of the #BLM10, told the Post. I know some of [the families] are feeling exploited, their pain exploited, and thats not something that I ever want to be affiliated with."

Cullors said her reason for stepping down had to do with her book and TV deal.

READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA

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Former leader of Black Lives Matter slams the organization for stances on Black families and education | TheHill - The Hill

Maria Norris said she and other protesters were met with tear gas and force from Asheville police after a peaceful protest Sunday night. Asheville Citizen Times

From May 29-June 6,2020, hundreds of protesters poured into the streets of Asheville to demand justice for the murder of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis manwho was killed after a white police officer kneeled on his neck fornearly9 minutes.

While some days were filled withmultigenerationalgroups marching through downtown streets chanting, I cantbreathe - Floyd's words before he died -and No justice, no peace, otherdayswere clouded withchemical fogs after police shot pepper balls and tear gas into the crowds.

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Since those tense days that included city-imposed curfews last year, the Asheville Police Departmenthas madesome changes to how it handles protests.

In March, Police Chief David Zack presenteda report of its actionsto City Council.

The study, called an "After Action Report," suggested 11technical changes to police practice and policy, includingrequiring officers to turn on their body cameras while they are policing protests or shooting chemical weapons.

Asheville police 'underreported' use of force, Chief Zack says

The reportalsosuggestedthings some activists find outrageous. The final recommendation: APD will continue to review best practices on crowd control tactics,including the use ofchemical weapons.

Clouds of teargas rise as protesters meet police after hundreds crossed the Bowen Bridge May 31, 2020 in reaction to the death of George Floyd.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

In July, City Councilunanimouslypassed ameasureto give reparations to Black residents,through promoting homeownership and business opportunities. But, for the 2022 budget, the citys finance department suggested putting just about$1 million into the reparations fund until it can arrange a commission to study the action further (and there is also $200,000 set aside for the study).

For the 2021 and 2022 budgets, the city has moved somefunding and responsibilities away fromthe policeand into different departments,including animal control and noise ordinanceenforcement, but its a far cry from the 50% reduction in police spending that many activists called for last year.

Perhaps the most visible change to the city is theVance Monument:a 75-foot granite obelisk honoringa Confederate-era governor and senator who enslaved people. Crews have been taking it down since May 18, and it is expected to be totally gone by June 2.

Blocks from the Vance Monument are seen on the ground as the obelisk is disassembled May 25, 2021 in Asheville.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

Still, thepeople who marchedlast summerare divided over what kind of progress has really been made.TheCitizen Timesspoke withfour activistsabout whatthey thinkhas changed since the protests, whats yet to be done, and what the legacy is of the movement in peoples consciousness.

Asheville police investigating officers in spring Black Lives Matter protests

Oralene Simmons is the founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.In the 1960s, she integrated the all-whiteMars Hill College.She was the first Black student enrolled.Her great grandfather, Joseph Anderson, was enslavedand held as collateral to guaranteeone of theloansused to buildthe college.

Simmons wasnt a member of Black Lives Matter, but she admired their work.

Ifeel that it was a movement. And notjusta phrase that people could shout about or have bumper stickers, that it really meant a lot to so many people, she said.

Simmons was on the committee that was established todecide the future of theVance Monument.Shethinks its a good thing that its been taken down,andalsothinksits a step in the right direction thatthe police budget for2022allocates more money for officer training. She believes the department needs to scrutinize who exactly theyre hiring, be rigorous in their accreditation process, and providetransparencywith the public when they do something wrong.

Oralene Simmons is the founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.In the 1960s, she integrated the all-whiteMars Hill College.She was the first Black student enrolled.Her great grandfather, Joseph Anderson, was enslavedand held as collateral to guaranteeone of theloansused to buildthe college.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

There must be transparency in policing, and policehave tobe held accountable, she said. No one is above the law, and no one is below the law.

As a mother and grandmother ofBlack sonsand grandsons,Simmonssaid she thinks about their interactions with police an awful lot,to the point where I am afraid.

She thinks the department must do everything it can to make sure that another killing of a Black person, like the murder of George Floyd, does not happen in Asheville.

I know that there are so many other mothers that feel that way and thinkcould this happen?she said.

Asheville protests: Munition that hit demonstrator in head likely fired by state trooper

Idris Salaamis a chefwhoworked security for protestersduring the marcheslast summer. He was hit in the hand with a tear gas canister on the JeffBowen Bridge. He said it burned his body, and his phone.

He joined the protests without any group affiliation.

I've always been against police brutality and everything going back to, I guess, when I was a kid, and I have always wanted to be with people who were trying to fight for change, andeverything else. And I had a friend thatrantheBlack Lives Mattermarch last year, and he asked me to be security, Salaam said.

Idris Salaamis a chefwhoworked security for protestersduring the marcheslast summer. He was hit in the hand with a tear gas canister on the JeffBowen Bridge. He said it burned his body, and his phone.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

Over the years, police brutality in Asheville had worn on him, he named thepolice killing ofJai Lateef Solveig Williamsand beating ofJohnnieRushassituations that especially weighedon his mind.

Stuff like thatthat has been going on and going on and going on, and they kept saying Yeah we'regonnachange, we'regonnachange.I said, No, you guys are not trying to change. I just got fed up, he said.

Salaam also thinks the increased funding forofficertraining, along withthe moving of noise enforcementordinance outside of police jurisdiction,is a good thing,but its not enough.

I could tell you right now that the demands(of last summers protests)have not been met, he said.

It bothers him how secretive the police are with their body camera footage. He thinksit should be released as soon as its asked for.

Healsothinks the Vance Monument coming down is a positive development.

Heshould not have a monument in the middle of the city representing him, Salaam said. He thinks it should be replaced with something dedicated to any one of the numerous notable Black people whove grown up in Asheville: Nina Simone, for example.

The Vance Monument is disassembled in Pack Square May 25, 2021.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

Heknows the city passed a plan to give residents reparations, but he doesnt understand why its taking so long and why neither he, nor people in his community have been consulted about it.

They're just not doing anything they said they would do, he said, But in the meantime, we've seen hotels go up left and right. Like, what's going on?

Salaam says,for him, one of the protestslegacies is thedeep distrusthe has ofthe policeafter being shot at.

Asheville's black voices: Outrage, fear, hope and plans for change

That's one of the images that stuck in my head. I mean, I'm not afraid of police or anything. But it makes me wonder like, wow, these guys wouldactually do that? Whatever trustIhadin the police is gone. I don't trust them whatsoever, he said.

Healsosaid he gets stopped by police as he walks around his neighborhood, which does the opposite of build trust.

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Gritsisthecommunity outreach coordinator with the Racial Justice Coalition in Asheville. They (Grits uses the pronoun they) area 20-year-old abolitionist.Similar toSalaam, they have misgivings about the reparations process. Theyare also critical of the police budget.

They didn't divest 50% of the police budget, Grits said, it was really just shifting money within the police budget.

If they are having conversations about reimagining public safety and eventual divestment, I'm not hearing it, they said. Not only did they not divest from the police, they also have dragged their feet to create conversations or spaces where folks can talk about what it means to reimagine public safety.

Grits cites the same two instancesof brutality by APD, which Salaam said activated him, but Grits has a different reading: After each incident, the department put in new policies to prevent brutality and killing, but they didnt work.

Reform cannot work, Grits said, The city is just trying to hop on the reform train again. It's ridiculous.

What initiatives are we putting in place outside of cops?The system itself is rotten. So where's the social worker?Wheres themutual aid?Wheresthe mental health practitioners? Wheresharm reduction?Whereiscrisis response?Because cops can't do that rightnow, Grits said.

Hundreds crossed the Bowen Bridge to protest the death of George Floyd in Asheville May 31, 2020.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)

Even if community elders are saying,We need police,more police,it's because there are no alternatives. Data shows when we put more police in neighborhoods, violent crimesstill go up, because they're nearly reactive, Grits said.

What I hear ispeoplesaying that we need to feel safe. We need to feel heard.Wewant to be comfortable in our community, Grits said. These were the demands of the movement,theysaid,butneither the city nor the police have taken steps to meet these demands in practical, transformational ways.

Dewana Little isthe executive director of the YMI Cultural Center,one of the oldest Blackcultural centers in the county.She said the two most visible changes in the last year are the removal of theVance Monument and the change in conversations about systematic racism.

Asheville police to investigate new Black Lives Matter protest excessive force complaints

Theres a danger, though, in relying too heavily on symbolic changes, she thinks.

The monument is not-- that'ssymbolic, that's not impact,right?SoI think about the money spent to take down the monument and how that could have beenused in the Black community to supportBlack businesses, support home ownership, support the elevation ofBlack people, she said.

Sheechoesthe concerns of the other activistsabout the reparations process.

We had a conversation. Just a conversation on, Oh! Reparations! Inclusion! And diversity! And equity! Little said.

Shesaysconversations arent enough.

The hold up to real change, toreallyaccomplishingtruereparations, isashiftinpower, she said.

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Little says the conversation about reparations has been happening for years. Even though reparationsisa radical shift from the status quo, she argues that it isnt actually that hard to figure out: (people ask) how do we do this? It's the same way you do it when you do it for white people. And that's the reality. Like it's not complicated. Use the same technique that you've been using for years to fund white people and use it to fund Black people.

Shethinks Black residents, not the city or the county, should have total control over the reparations process.

Itjustdon'tmake sense to me," she said. "It's like, why do yall have to have the power and control over the reparations committee? If you're really thinking of true reparations, why can't black people control their own reparations?

Littlesaidthatdifferent community organizations have told City Council effective ways to doreparations, even before the resolution passed.

So now you need a study to figure out what weve been telling you for all these years? And thats money that could be invested in our community, she said.

Even though there's reparations, and all of these things thatve happened like a year later, the impact is yet to be seen.

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Little also said shes disappointed in the police budget for the coming year. She says the call last year from activists was clear: defund the police, invest in other services for the community. The 2022 budget, she says, doesnt do that.

Though the activists agree there is more work to be done and disagree on what that might look like, theyre nearly unanimous in their understanding of the legacy of the marches: the power of collective action.

Salaam said those in power saw that if you do the people wrong, the power is in the people. And the people will show you that they're fed up.

Thepeople in Asheville saw how we can come together and make a difference. ... People thought Asheville was just real calm, present, progressive, but they saw that the people of Asheville don't play.

Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven is the cops and courts reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at cdonnellyderoven@citizentimes.com or follow her on twitter @plz_CLARify.

Read or Share this story: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2021/06/02/changes-asheville-one-year-after-black-lives-matter-2020-protest/5254418001/

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Asheville's Black Lives Matter protests: What's changed a year later? - Citizen Times

When videos of George Floyds killing in the US went viral last year, something world-changing happened: a movement fighting against structural injustice became internationally visible.

While statistics in America and Australia have long shown disproportionate numbers of Black deaths in police custody, too often these numbers have been obscured through institutional counter-claims.

But on May 25, 2020, nine minutes and 29 seconds of footage transformed the rules about what makes news news. Floyds killing convinced journalists that a story can tackle the root causes of a violent action, and doing so is crucial to understanding the broader framework of violence in which such actions occur.

Those few minutes made it impossible for others to re-write the history of Floyds death: his murder as a product of systemic violence was unambiguous.

Read more: Pain of police killings ripples outward to traumatize Black people and communities across US

When #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) began, it insisted on a conversation that reached into Americas racist past to explain atrocities in the present.

Its power lies in this deeper engagement with systemic issues, amplified through the capacity of social media to reach wider audiences. One example is citizen support for actions defacing public statues of slave traders and colonisers, which have been recognised as symbols of exclusionary and violent national cultures.

Now, the tenets of BLM are amplifying the struggles of Palestinians and making them more visible and understandable to a global audience.

Just as BLM is forcing a reckoning with systemic racism, there is new attention being paid to the origins of the Palestinians struggles: settler-colonialism, asymmetric power relations and racial discrimination.

This is central to explaining why public opinion and the medias reporting on Palestine have shifted profoundly in recent weeks.

This shift can be seen with the #SaveSheikhJarrah campaign on social media, which aimed to bring greater attention to the attempted expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah.

The campaign created new awareness of the context behind these actions, in part triggered by a widely shared video on social media depicting a Jewish settler telling a Palestinian resident, If I dont steal your home someone else will steal it.

This repudiates Israels insistence the broader conflict between Israel and the Palestinians be relegated to the past. The context around the expulsions has become inseparable from the violence itself, making history central to the present crisis.

Read more: Israel-Palestinian violence: why East Jerusalem has become a flashpoint in a decades-old conflict

This new style of messaging has also elevated the voices of people like writer Mohammed El-Kurd, one of the spokespeople for the campaign, who has appeared on major American news outlets describing the issue in terms of settler-colonialism and apartheid. After interviews on CNN and MSBNC, he was detained by Israeli security forces.

El-Kurd previously told his story in the 2012 documentary about Sheikh Jarrah, My Neighbourhood, at the age of 11. His articulate explanations and poise in interviews have resonated with audiences, bringing new clarity to millions about the situation Palestinians face.

Through all of this, Israels claim of self-defence to explain its actions in Gaza is being challenged by a wider recognition of the governments violations of international law.

Just as BLM has garnered increasing public support beyond the African American community in the past year, a broader alliance of prominent voices is rallying behind the Palestinian cause, as well.

The Black Lives Movement itself has tweeted its support for Palestinian liberation and ending settler colonialism in all forms.

And Palestinians are finding support from a wide spectrum of political figures, celebrities, athletes and other prominent individuals, wising up to the contradiction of progressive politics that exclude Palestine.

The alt-rock band Garbage, who rejected calls to cancel shows in Israel in 2016, have now used Instagram to support the Palestinians. Another band, Rage Against the Machine, has dismissed criticism from some fans to express its solidarity with Palestinians.

Many prominent figures have avoided wading into politics in the past because they can face a backlash when they do and dont speak out on issues. But theres a greater willingness among some to be more vocal on these issues now, a choice that parallels the ethical questions raised by BLM.

In a recent Instagram Live post with El-Kurd, actor and model Indya Moore, for instance, talked about the importance of solidarity between African Americans, Palestinians and Indigenous peoples in their mutual struggles against settler-colonialism and systemic racism.

In the UK, soccer players from Manchester United and Leicester City displayed Palestinian flags on the field after matches and [faced not disciplinary action but applause].

This is striking because not long ago, athletes were threatened with punishments for taking political stands such as kneeling during the national anthem before football games in the US. BLM has changed this it allowed those with a public platform to advocate on behalf of others without fear of recriminations.

The latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be holding. But there is a growing recognition ceasefires and calm are not the end of the story in a situation that has dragged on for decades.

The calls for change are continuing. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after the ceasefire its time for the root causes of the conflict to be addressed. And Palestinian solidarity rallies have seen huge turnouts since the ceasefire went into effect.

Read more: As the Palestinian minority takes to the streets, Israel is having its own Black Lives Matter moment

All these changes owe a debt to the impact BLM has had on public understanding, combined with the success of First Nations peoples nothing about us without us campaign on representation. This has forced the issue in Australia, highlighting the systemic bias of media coverage that ignores Palestinian voices.

However, change will not only require the sustained efforts by Palestinian people themselves, but also through the deep-rooted solidarity they have forged with other marginalised communities. That work continues.

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How Black Lives Matter is changing the conversation on Palestine - The Conversation AU