Renowned Australian author Peter Carey wrote that “All white Australians know that every day [they] are the beneficiaries of genocide” but are we, as Jews, conscious of this fact? And are we, who know in our bones how racism and prejudice feel, doing enough to speak up about the ongoing discrimination and oppression that is happening around us?
Are any of us doing enough for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are still being removed from their families into the out-of-home care system at rates that are higher than during the Stolen Generations?
A staggering 21,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were in out-of-home care in June 2020. If no action is taken, that devastating number will double by 2029. And that number does not include children on permanent care orders or who have been adopted so the real figure is much higher.
How many of us are aware that:
- Aboriginal women are the fastest-growing cohort in prisons around Australia
- Aboriginal children as young as 10 are being locked up in youth detention.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples die, on average, around nine years earlier than others in this country.
- Last year was the 30th anniversary of RCIADIC, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and to our nation’s enduring shame the deaths in custody continue.
As Jews, we cannot deny the violence and injustice perpetrated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People since colonisation and we cannot stand by while it is happening today.
These injustices led Jewish lawyer and academic George Newhouse to establish the National Justice Project (NJP) a charity that fights to eradicate all forms of discrimination. The NJP assists many Indigenous families whose children have been improperly taken into state care, or those whose relatives have died in custody or as a result of prejudice in health care, or those who have been harmed by government policies and who desperately seek change.
The National Justice Project works directly with people and communities who have experienced discrimination and face barriers to justice. It stands alongside its clients in their fight for accountability and change. They are fearless advocates for systemic change who take on the most challenging cases which will advance human rights in our nation. They advocate for the development of law and a justice system which is fair, just and equitable.