Where are the Jewish voices when an Aboriginal boy is killed?

Jews are quick to respond to antisemitism but too often silent about other racist attacks, writes GEORGE NEWHOUSE. 

WARNING: This article contains details of a violent death and the name of a First Nations child who is now deceased.

A man was charged with murder this week after a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy died from head injuries sustained in a brutal, unprovoked and probably racist attack.

Police in Western Australia say the young boy was bashed with a metal pole by a man who did not know him. Witnesses report hearing racist taunts before the attack.

Teenager Cassius Turvey was a “vibrant, caring jokester” who loved school, family and his mates, according to his mother, Noongar-Yamatji woman Mechelle Turvey.

He was walking home from school with a group of his friends when a 21-year-old man allegedly got out of a black ute and attacked him. His family believe that Cassius was targeted because of his race.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has attempted to downplay the influence of racism in the attack.

“It may be a case of mistaken identity, it may be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I would not want anyone in the community to jump to any conclusions at this time,” he said.

Perhaps the Commissioner could have gone on to explain when is the right time and place for the murder of a 15-year-old Aboriginal child?

It seems disingenuous, if not dangerous, to dismiss the issue of race when witnesses heard racist taunts and there is no other known reason for the attack. Why did the accused man identify an Aboriginal child in a school uniform as the target for a bashing? It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that his appearance as an Aboriginal boy made him vulnerable.

If Cassius had been wearing a Jewish school uniform, I suspect Jewish leaders would have been quick to attribute the motivation of the attacker to antisemitism.

But the outcry that happens whenever there is a whiff of antisemitism was conspicuously absent in the wake of what was what has all the hallmarks of a racist attack on an Aboriginal teenager. 

I find it disturbing that Jewish community leaders are vocal when swastikas are daubed near schools and childcare centres or when Jewish students feel unsafe being involved in campus debates but, to date, I have heard no public comment from our leaders about Cassius’s death.

Racist violence isn’t merely a historical phenomenon: it continues to plague our nation. Many Australians fail to see the way that the violence plays out through our systems.

It can be seen in the targeted police harassment of Aboriginal adults and children which leads to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

It is visible in a justice system that denies bail to Aboriginal people and imposes prison sentences on them at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people.

It is exposed in the substandard health care and poor health outcomes for Aboriginal people. The average life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is 10 years less than other Australians, worse in remote areas. In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal people receive just 16% of the Medicare funding of an average Australian.

You can see it in the high rates of Aboriginal child removals from their families. The number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care has doubled since the Stolen Generations report.

After the Holocaust, the Jewish community responds reflexively to the scourge of antisemitism whenever it raises its ugly head. As recently as this week, a campaign was launched against Kanye West following his overtly antisemitic statements.

But if we want to ensure that our history is never repeated, we need to stamp out injustice and discrimination wherever we see it, not just when we are the targets.

Dr Martin Luther King captured the compulsion on us all to speak out about any injustice when he said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

Cassius’s death should inspire the Jewish community to stand with the First Nations peoples of this land, as allies, and loudly condemn all forms of racism including insidious systemic racism.

Our leaders should be speaking out and supporting Cassius’s family to fight for a better future for all children. I look forward to hearing their voices.

Photo: An online memorial to Cassius Turvey (Twitter)