Yuendumu community members gather at third Alice Springs vigil for Kumanjayi White

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
More than 100 members of Kumanjayi White's family and community have travelled hundreds of kilometres to gather in Alice Springs for the town's third vigil mourning the young Warlpiri man.
The 24-year-old died in police custody last month after he was restrained by plain-clothed police on the floor of an Alice Springs supermarket.
His death has sparked an outpouring of grief and anger, with rallies and vigils held across the country demanding "justice" and an end to Indigenous deaths in custody.
Members from Mr White's home community of Yuendumu travelled to Alice Springs on Wednesday to repeat those calls and his family's demands for an independent investigation into the incident.
The vigil began with community members walking from the Alice Springs court house lawns to the Coles supermarket where Mr White died on May 27.
Media were asked to stay outside, but a few community members — led by Warlpiri women — went inside the store and ceremonially swept branches in the aisles, in a traditional ceremony called "finishing up".
The crowd of about 200 then returned to the lawns, where Mr White's grandfather Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, a senior Warlpiri elder, was the first to speak.
"We want justice, we want justice," he said with anger.
"Enough is enough. Say it with me, enough is enough."
Mr Hargraves said he wanted witnesses to the incident to come forward and "tell us what happened".
"Because [police] won't give us CCTV ... and we are demanding that we do not want police-to-police investigating," he said.
"We want the two police that were involved to stand down.
The family has also requested that police "cease making public statements that allege criminality and denigrate the character of Kumanjayi".
The NT Police Force has said two officers detained Mr White after an alleged altercation with a security guard who accused him of shoplifting.
The ABC understands one of the officers was NT police prosecutor Steven Haig.
NT Police Acting Commissioner Martin Dole has rejected requests for the investigation to be handed to an external body, saying there are strict procedures regarding "deaths involving police contact with the public".
He has also said the "integrity" of evidence, including CCTV, needs to be maintained while police continue their criminal investigation into the incident.
Lynette Tasman, one of Mr White's grandmothers, also spoke at the vigil, saying the family was "heartbroken".
"We are so sad and hurt, so hurt that our loved one was taken away," she said.
"When are we going to get justice? We're humans too, even though we're black."
Ms Tasman said many of her family members had worked in the police force, "supporting the law".
"Where's that law for us? Where's the truth?" she said.
In an emotional address to the crowd, Warlpiri woman Valerie Napaljarri Martin said her community was suffering.
"When are we going to have justice for our kids?" she said.
"He was only hungry ... why for this, we have to lose another young fella, our family, our young, just emerging.
"Shame on Australia. It's a disgrace, how we are living."
The vigil comes just days after the death of another Indigenous man in police custody in the Northern Territory.
On Saturday, a respected Wadeye elder died at Royal Darwin Hospital while in the custody of federal police, about a week after he was detained at Darwin airport.
Arrernte woman Barbara Shaw, who helped organise Wednesday's vigil, reflected on that death as well as she called for action.
She also spoke about how Mr White was living in supported accommodation in Alice Springs because of his disabilities.
"No one is taking responsibility for our service providers, no one is checking up on our carers," she said.
"We're the only people that can care for our people, but we don't have the skills.
"Service providers are not giving Aboriginal people a chance to take care of our own."