Queensland Aboriginal community worker Sam Watson says he is outraged by the timing of plans to give 22 police officers bravery awards.
Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson says officers who were on Palm Island during the 2004 riot will be formally recognised.
But Mr Watson says the police are yet to make a formal apology to the family of Mulrunji Doomadgee, whose death in custody sparked the riot.
Five minutes after Lex Wotton is found guilty in a Qld court the ALP government anoints the racist Qld Police Force with awards just as they rewarded Chis Hurley for killing an aboriginal man on Palm Island.
NOTHING has changed in Queensland in fact it has got much worse for Murris under Labor.The official disdain for the indigenous population is palpable.It is now state policy on a massive crude scale I doubt can be matched in any other state. It is a sort of neo Apartheid where it's practiced in public secrecy especially now that no cabinet position exists with aboriginal affairs.
This is the real living context of the Intervention and what the Intervention means in terms of an ongoing campaign to disenfranchise further the indigenous population. Indigenous face a succession of take backs and vilification of which this is but one of many more to come.
And up there in the dais cheering on this racist venom are the Jacky Jackies who made their peace with Howard .
No wonder poor Lex had a panic attack! Lex Wotton is wonderful human being and an inspiring individual who has been set up as the fall guy by this system dedicated to perfecting racist cynicism.
Mulrunji is dead.So too is his teenage son. Wotton is to get sentenced. And Qld coppers win bravery awards...
And his horrific tragedy reflects what the whole community on Palm must be feeling.
Can you imagine it? Take a moment to consider what it must feel like to have your murderers rewarded....
This business has gone on for years.
In that time the victory has been limited to the Deputy Coroner's report and the fact the Hurley was charged. But now we are experiencing this massive backlash. -- a crude and brutal assertion of the power of state force over the whole Murri community.
That's what it means: cop rule over Murris.
As for the free hand this latest news gives the Qld coppers:"Hey black man! If I beat you up all I'm gonna get is an award for bravery! No matter what you do or how far I go. Ha. Ha."
If liberal Whitey wants to bathe in the all this shit about changing the Lord's Prayer in federal parliament and wallowing in an apparent heart felt apology then liberal Whitey is a stupid fool and needs a reality check.
Aside from the cops and the what have you, Australia's Aboriginal population's main enemy is the Australian Labor Party.So get that clear in our heads.They are the bourgeoisie's attack dogs at this present time -- here in Qld and at the front line of the "Intervention".
The intervention is but one prong of which this disgusting episode is another.
Sam Watson is presently drafting a petition to go out in support of Lex and I'll let people know where they can access it.Rallies have been called nationally so see what else you can do in support of that sort of initiative.
This situation -- and what can be done about it nationally -- will also be a key topic to be discussed at the upcoming Socialist Alliance national conference.
