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| home | news lHounded out of Australia for speaking the truth about Aborigines
Exclusive by Lester Holloway 22 June 2004 -BBC UK - A black filmmaker who made a television documentary on Aborigines has been hounded out of Australia after receiving death threats BBC journalist David Akinsanya was forced to leave Australia ahead of schedule following a newspaper interview he gave to at Sydney newspaper criticising Australians their treatment of Aborigines. His comments provoked a storm of protest and he received deaths threats from Australians angry at the accusation that they were a racist society. Akinsanya had been filming a TV documentary about riots sparked by the death of an Aboriginal teenager in February. In an interview to the Sydney Herald-Sun in March, Akinsanya described his "shock" at the conditions Aborigines were living in. He told the paper: "I am doing this story as a black man, and white Australia might not like what I have found because, looking from the outside, it doesn't look good." He added: "As a black man I feel I am treated better in Britain as a stranger than Aborigines are treated in their own land." Akinsanya and his documentary team were forced to leave Australia two days early for their own safety. One Australian phone-in radio show featured a string of hostile callers, with many callers furious at the accusation of racism. The hour-long BBC documentary, called ‘The Boy from the Block’ is due to be screened on BBC2 on 8th July as part of the ‘This World’ series. The film will look at the case of Thomas Hickey, a 17-year-old Aborigine who was impaled on a metal fence after allegedly being chased by police. The death sparked riots in the Sydney satellite town of Redfern.
Akinsanya said he was shocked at the level of poverty, unemployment and despair. "They are a very gentile people, but the situation they’re in is terrible. Around 40% of them are alcoholics. "I saw ten year old kids smoking a bomb [joint]. They want to get out of their brains. Why should these people have to live like that in their own country?" "After the [Sydney Herald-Sun] interview I had hate mail. I had to leave a couple of days earlier. There was a talk show when loads of Australians phoned in to complain about me." Akinsanya warned Australians the film would make "very uncomfortable viewing." He added: "Australia needs to rethink how it engages with the Aboriginal community and the system it provides, which does not engage them." London-based writer Nana Ocran said the reaction of white Australians showed an unwillingness to face up to racism and how it oppresses Aborigines. She said: "That level of anger is based on fear and having the finger pointed at you, particularly if there are a few home truths. A lot of anger must come from denial." Statistics show that Aborigines are ten times more likely to end up in prison than the rest of the population, and that although they make up just 2% of the population, but account for 20% of prosecutions for minor offences such as bad language and offensive conduct. Once convicted, 15% of indigenous offenders are sent to prison, compared to 6.6% of all offenders. A spokesman for the Australian High Commission in London said the death threats Akinsanya received were "a matter of great concern", but denied Australians were racist towards Aboriginal peoples. He said: "As a general rule Australians like to hold the values of judging people as individuals – a ‘fair-go’ attitude. There is a tremendous amount of good work that happens in Australia and the media, the international media inparticular, doesn’t reflect that. "We acknowledge there is a lot of work to be done, and the work we are doing on health, education, alcoholism and life expectancy will continue." The spokesman said one million Australians recently turned out to march on reconciliation day. Clarification 6/7/2004 - On 22 June Blink published an article 'Aborigines has been hounded out of Australia'. In it, we said that BBC documentary filmmaker David Akinsanya had received a hostile reaction in Australia following an interview with an Australian newspaper in which he had talked about the treatment and conditions of the Aboriginal people. The programme 'The Boy from the Block' is due to be broadcast on Thursday 8th July. The BBC’s publicity department conveyed concerns about the article yesterday (5 July). Blink stands by the story. However we wish to clarify that Mr Akinsanya did not receive any actual death threats. The interview did provoke a hostile reaction from some Australians and as a result Mr Akinsanya took the decision to leave Australia ahead of schedule. Critical comments were posted onto the Australian newspapers’ website, but no ‘hate mail’ was sent directly to Mr Akinsanya. We are happy to clarify this. Source: Blink (UK) The Boy from The Block 1 July, 2004 - Seventeen-year-old Aboriginal Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to friends and family, died on Valentine's Day 2004. He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also called The Block. The Block is a largely Aboriginal district where TJ lived with his mother and six sisters. No-one knows exactly what happened but it is likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and some cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could. But the following day The Block erupted into violence amid rumours he had been chased to his death by police officers - an allegation strongly denied by the police. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle with scores of Aboriginal youths. While the rest of the nation was shocked by the images of the violence, many Redfern Aboriginals said that white Australia "had it coming." They told the programme they felt like second-class citizens in their own country and claimed the police discriminated against them. With unique access to TJ's family, reporter David Akinsanya investigates the story behind the riots and asks why Aboriginals have disastrously failed to integrate into their own country. He also asks why so many white Australians have a stereotypical image of their indigenous neighbours as layabouts and drunks. The Boy from the Block
David Akinsanya 7 July 2004 - Before I went to Australia and met Aboriginals, I had a romantic image of them and how they lived. I imagined them to be a dark-skinned people, the men with bushy beards, eking out a living in the country's outback. Instead I found a lost people, bereft of their culture and struggling to survive as outsiders in a European society they have no real hope of being integrated in. I went to Sydney to investigate how and why the death of an Aboriginal teenager sparked Australia's worst riots in recent years. Seventeen-year-old Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to family and friends, died on Valentine's Day 2004. He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also known as The Block. No-one knows exactly what happened that day, but it's likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could. The following day The Block, a largely Aboriginal district where TJ lived, erupted into violence amid rumours that the police had chased him to his death. This is vehemently denied by the local police. The violence lasted for hours and its intensity shocked the nation as it was broadcast on TV screens across Australia. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle between Aboriginal youths and the police. I spent one month with TJ's mother, Gail Hickey, and her six daughters. Through them I hoped to get a sense of what life was like for Aboriginals on The Block. Gail's life is a daily grind; her husband is in jail and she survives on government handouts. She doesn't have a home of her own, so spends her time staying with family and friends. This isn't unusual within the culture she comes from. With no permanent home or fixed routine it's difficult to get the girls to attend school regularly. It's the same story with many other Aboriginal kids. The Block is made up of a few inner-city streets that were handed over to Aboriginals in the 1970s to run and manage themselves. The government of the day bought run-down housing stock as a first step towards giving the indigenous population the chance to determine their own affairs. But the experiment hasn't exactly been a great success. My taxi dropped me outside Redfern train station. I'd asked the driver to take me to The Block but he told me he preferred to stop on the main road as taxis are targeted there.
I was anxious about what I was going to find. Despite having been to many run down areas all over the world I didn't know what to expect from The Block - or its people. Outside the station, watching over the shabby, main street were two police officers standing in the baking sun. The police were a permanent fixture during my five week stay here. My first glimpse of the notorious Block was a group of men and women, some obviously worse for drink, taking cover from the sun under a few trees. They were sitting on crates, cardboard and an assortment of broken chairs, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. One man was on his back and seemed to be semi-conscious. It may have been shocking but it certainly wasn't as dangerous as people had made out. They were warm, friendly and everyone shook my hand as they introduced themselves. My anxieties evaporated. I asked whether the guy on his back was drunk but they told me he was on heroin, which they say is as easy to get hold of on The Block as beer in a pub. I knew that alcoholism was a real problem in many Aboriginal communities, but I was surprised to learn about the heroin problem. I spoke to some of the riot ringleaders, who said that TJ's death had brought to a head years of tensions with the local police. They claimed they were second class citizens in their own land and that - sooner or later - their frustrations were bound to spill over into violence They said white Australia had it coming. It seems extraordinary that many white Australians have never met, or even seen, an Aboriginal. In Sydney they didn't appear to be integrated into the city at all. I didn't see a single Aboriginal commuting on trains, working in shops or even employed as a porter at my hotel. Having spent a month with Gail Hickey and her family, I ended up feeling that there is no easy solution to the problems facing Australia's indigenous people. Until Aboriginals themselves can find a way of managing their own affairs more successfully, they are going to remain foreigners in their own land. Just before I left Sydney I went to the opening of the new Redfern community centre. It was ironic that at the launch, the organisers had to bring in didgeridoo players from outside to entertain the guests. There were no local Aboriginals who could provide this service. It is also ironic that I was unable to find Aboriginal handicraft made in Australia. Tourists are going home with boomerangs made in China. Source: BBC The Boy from The Block: Send us your comments In February, 2004, scores of Aboriginal youths rioted in the streets of Redfern, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. The violence happened amid rumours the police had chased 17-year-old local boy Thomas Hickey to his death on Valentine's Day - an allegation the police strongly deny. They were the worst race riots Australia has ever seen. In what became running battles against local law enforcement, cars were smashed, the local railway station was set on fire and more than 40 police officers were injured. While the rest of the nation was shocked by the images of the violence, many Redfern Aboriginals said that white Australia "had it coming." Some of them told the BBC's This World programme they felt like second-class citizens in their own country and claimed the police discriminated against them. If you would like to comment on the programme or on any of the issues raised, please email us. Click here to send us your comments. The views expressed on these pages are not necessarily the views of the BBC. The comments published will reflect the balance of opionion we receive. I watched your programme tonight with great interest. It's time Aborigines conformed and contributed to the country like all the other residents as it is a marvellous country to live in. In tonight's documentary I was a bit suprised that no one asked the Aborigines what they want and how they saw themselves getting anywhere, but maybe that wasn't the real purpose of the programme. I think education is a key issue and the mother's efforts to ensure her children go to school and learn were encouraging. Let's hope. I have just seen this programme and I thought it was superb. I am an Australian on a working holiday, and although I'm from Perth, I was in Sydney at the time the Block riot occurred. If the documentary had any weakness, it was a failure to highlight the specific shortcomings of our current government. Bravo BBC for making such a documentary and highlighting a problem that I would otherwise not have known about, or understood the magnitude of. Studying in the United States for two years has given me some insight into the problems that the African American & Native American communities face there. This is another case of an ethnic minority group being forced into and later disenfranchised by an incoming foreign European society. I say again, bravo! Can we not focus our energy on involving the people that matter most in formulating solutions - Aboriginal elders, young people and white Australians? We are all involved and should be looking to create a better future together. I am moved and impressed by what I have just watched. The core of the Aboriginal pain, dilemma and despair resonates within all marginalised people. I only wish that my relatives in Australia could see the programme as they are deliberately blind to what is going on in their adopted country. Congrats to the production team. A very thought-provoking and well put together documentary from the "This World" team. David got to the crux of issues facing Aboriginal Australians without being sentimental or patronising. As I was born in Australia I watched the programme and I found it to be one-sided. The government gives the Aboriginal people everything. They only have to ask and they get. The white Australian has to work for everything they get. It is not a matter of integration, but acceptance and tolerance towards a culture that is different to the mainstream. What a very good programme. I have always felt very sorry for the Aboriginal people who seem to have been treated very badly by the white man. It was their country originally after all. Being an Australian citizen, currently working in the UK, I felt the documentary screened this evening fully portrays the state of Aboriginal affairs in 21st century Australia. For so many years now, there has been legislation, funding and task forces thrown at the indigenous population time after time to combat the amount of crime, drug use and poverty in their communities... to no avail. The problem is on both sides. Let's look at the facts and forget race for a second. There was a warrant out for the boy's arrest, he had drugs on him and was on the run from the police. He fell off his bike onto some railings and died because he was trying to get away. It seems like the people of Redfern are blaming everything and everyone around them without admitting that the boy was wrong in the first place. As an Australian citizen I was very interested to see how Australia would be portrayed in your story about TJ and the Redfern riots. I really enjoyed watching your programme and felt that it accurately presented the issues and did not make any judgements. The pictures you showed of the riots were actually the first I had seen as I am not able to hear much about Australia from England. I thank you for your unbiased reporting. The indigenous peoples of Australia have left us the oldest signs of the creative human spirit outside Africa. Despite this they did not even have the vote in Australia until 1967. Until the legal ownership of Australian lands are returned to their original owners, places like the Block will fester all over Australia. Undoubtedly wrongs were committed by European settlers, but current problems exist primarily because of a poverty cycle that exists in the Aboriginal community itself. As such, only the indigineous community can start to tackle its problems, albeit with assistance from government. I think what is happening in Australia to the original settlers is totally unacceptable and disgusting. While the Western world complains about Mugabe's treatment of a few white farmers, we are simply ignoring the plight of the Aborigines. The Aboriginals are given every chance to integrate and get given money that white Australians do not get Australia should do everything in its power to integrate the native people into its own society. Enough people from other countries are emigrating there. The Aboriginals are given every chance to integrate and get given money that white Australians do not get. When it comes to race relations I am ashamed to be an Australian. There are too many white Australians who base their view of other cultures on the stereotypes they learn from previous generations - a country that had the White Australia policy until the 1970s. It will take generations to change attitudes. A beautiful place but too many bigots and narrow-minded people. It's not the Aboriginals that should have to integrate. It's the Europeans who should have to adapt to indigenous Australia! The world should know how badly these people are treated I was disappointed and irritated after reading your article; a superficial account of the plight of the Australian Aboriginal that grossly failed to communicate the complexity of the situation. As an Australian, I feel angry that an Englishman feels justified indicting white Australia for problems initiated by English invasion. This situation requires compassion and understanding of a displaced culture struggling to find a footing in new Australia. It is by no means impossible - merely a lengthy and sensitive process. I was pleased to read David Akinsanya's article regarding the Sydney boy. I work for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Western Australia and at present there are curfews for Aboriginal youths in some suburbs and communities - set up to keep them away from the mainstream population. The world should know how badly these people are treated. Source: BBC
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