Last Valentine's Day saw a rally commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of TJ Hickey, a 17 year old Aboriginal boy who was impaled on a fence after falling off his bike in Redfern. The community believes that this accidental death occurred because Hickey was being pursued by police at the time (a police inquest has found that the death was a "freak incident"). And so every year on this date, they march to request justice.
The media was quick to report this year's march as violent following the apprehending of at least one young man at the protest for merely walking outside the protest area designated by the police, despite the fact that the march, whilst impassioned and emotional, was peaceful according to community members. Further arrests were planned due to some protesters directing offensive language towards the police. Threats were made to the community by the police forces, who claimed that due to the traffic disruption caused, this would be the last commemoration rally they would be allowed to have.
In King's Cross in 2012, two Aboriginal teenagers aged 14 and 17 were shot, wounded and further assaulted by police after the car they had stolen had lost control and mounted footpaths, injuring two women. Police, as well as member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, were quick to defend the actions of the police, despite released video footage showing excessive force being used by the police. The Aboriginal community members who protested outside parliament house following the incident questioned how quickly the officers were to pull guns on two unarmed, cornered teenagers.
On Sunday, two incredibly wealthy long-term friends had a violent altercation on a Bondi footpath. Reports state that James Packer and David Gyngell engaged in a vicious street brawl; shocking onlookers with the brutality of their actions. The two men traded blows, wrestled on the ground, engaged each other in headlocks, and eventually had to be forcibly separated by security guards. Whilst latest reports today state that police are now finally investigating this violent public incident, the photos taken by onlookers have reportedly been purchased by News Limited for a tidy $200,000.
The slow police reaction on what appears to be a violent and distressing incident, is telling. So too are the public and media responses to it. It appears that many, rather than seeing this street brawl as the violent actions of two grown and influential men clearly unable to control their tempers and react in responsible and rational ways, are viewing it as some rich-boy sideshow entertainment. Indeed, when comments such as “billion dollar biffo” or “glass jaw” are used, street violence becomes almost comedic.
Why is it then that different standards are applied when rich white men behave badly, and indeed, illegally?
Considering all it takes for a young Aboriginal man to be apprehended and escorted into a police station is for him to breach some arbitrary police line at a protest, why it has taken a good two days for a police investigation to seemingly be launched on a documented brutal street incident?
If Packer and Gyngell were Aboriginal men fighting in Redfern, would they have been wounded by guns and then violently dragged off each other by police, rather than let alone for a few days whilst a good portion of the media downplays their violent acts? Packer and Gyngell were not, after all, just threatening the safety of each other. They had to be separated by security guards, thus threatening their safety and the safety of the general public witnessing their actions.
Police action, and the response of key commentators, seems to be directly proportional to the privilege of the perpetrators. The more socially privileged you are, the less severe your transgressions are perceived to be; by those that enforce law and by the general public response.
Yet when perpetrators come from marginalised backgrounds, extraordinary police action seemingly becomes excusable. This should not be the case. Law enforcement should not be applied so unevenly. Rich white men should not be above the law, and poor black men should not be disproportionately brutalised by it.
It is high time that people stopped excusing the actions of those that least need assistance, whilst turning a blind eye towards brutality directed towards the most vulnerable in society.