2022-11-09
“First Nations youth are key to the continuation of the oldest living culture in the world and they are being targeted in racially motivated violence.” Said Senator Lidia Thorpe, as 22 year old Lehon Sutton and his 14 year old brother in law were hunted and violently assaulted a week after Cassius Turvey was attacked.
“The details of this assault are, horrifically, similar to the attack on Cassius Turvey: homemade weapons, racial slurs, claims of ‘mistaken identity.’ These predators know exactly who we are: Aboriginal people on Aboriginal land.” Said Thorpe.
The following lines are attributable to Senator Lidia Thorpe:
“The world has seen how racism kills in this country. It’s no secret. Despite rallies, despite vigils, despite telling the media that Blak lives matter, racist attacks are happening in this country every day against First Nations people. It’s been going on for over 200 years. It’s relentless.”
“These boys were stalked by a 4WD before it pulled up next to them, chased them and cut them off multiple times before a man exited the vehicle. A second car pulled up seconds later and a man jumped out with a metal pole, running towards the teenager.
“The violence didn’t stop with the assault. Police attended the scene, no one was arrested, despite Lehon telling officers that he wanted to press charges on the spot. Police claimed that they were ‘too busy’ and Lehon needed to contact his local police station the next day.
“Two weeks passed and Lehon hadn’t heard anything from police, so he took his story to The West Australian who published CCTV footage of the assault. After seeing this footage, a man attended a local police station and was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.
"Why aren’t the police investigating racially motivated violence?! Our kids are dying! Even with this footage, this story has barely been mentioned outside of Western Australia. Where is the national outrage? Blak lives matter. Our babies matter.
“Lehon Sutton’s cousin was one of the First Nations kids who drowned in the Swan River after being chased by police in 2018, as police were investigating boys jumping fences. Why are police willing to chase children over trespassing, but fail to arrest an alleged perpetrator of violent assault at the scene? The answer is systemic racism.” Said Thorpe.