Indigenous Community Mourns the Anniversary of Cameron Doomadgee’s Death : Melbourne Indymedia

To date no charges have been laid against the perpetrators despite eyewitness evidence of police mistreatment and medical evidence indicating that Doomadgee bled to death in police custody without medical treatment. Police have been accused of hiding evidence in an alleged surveillance tape of the night Doomagee died. A Crime and Misconduct Commission investigation cleared police involved and an inquest has failed to lead to any convictions.

The anniversary comes at a bad time for the Palm Island Community who face 95% unemployment, severe housing shortages that have resulted in an average of 17 people per house and water shortages that may result in evacuation of the island. The QLD government has ineffective at solving these problems that indigenous people say are intentional and genocidal. These living conditions continue to alienate people from their culture and deprived of decent human living conditions which most Australians take for granted.

A vigil was held outside Queensland Parliament House in Brisbane on Friday. Attended by Doomagee’s relatives and supporters from the local community, people called for and end to police racism and the continuing crimes of aboriginal deaths in custody at a rate of one a day nationally.

Aunty Jean, from the local indigenous spokeswoman called for the reinvigoration of the black power movement to see their rights recognised. She also called for the help from the white community to help them fight back against the neglect of the Queensland government. She spoke a prayer for the family and all aboriginal people touched by deaths in custody.

Doomagee family members were present. Alec Doomadgee, Cameron Doomagee’s cousin and local Brisbane media activist with 4AAAfm said that it was ‘horrible’ being black, because there is so much racism in the community. He said that Cameron Doomagee was “good man, he wasn’t a trouble maker… he wasn’t a small man though… it’s hard to believe his liver could have been split in half by a fall on some steps.”

Local Brisbane indigenous activist Sam Watson noted that the Qld government could be easily mobilised by a bomb scare on the buses, but seemed unable or unwilling to prosecute the killers of Doomagee. The police officer implicated was in fact, promoted to a better post on the Gold Coast a fact that has had no attention from the mainstream media.

The Redfern mob sent a statement of solidarity, calling for justice for all aboriginal people “who seem to die so easily in police custody”.

Brisbane indigenous activists are calling for a big national mobilisation for aboriginal rights for Human Rights day December 10.