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Yamaji rally for Justice
by Joyce Capewell 8 November 2013
Wayne Warner, father of hit and run victim, Christine ‘Pie’ Ryan, speaking at the rally outside Geraldton Courthouse. Image: Charmaine Green
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or a second time within a month hundreds of proud Yamaji people gathered outside the Geraldton Courthouse calling for justice for Christine ‘Pie’ Ryan and Horace ‘Ossie’ Bydner who were tragically killed in a drunken hit and run car accident on October 5 in Geraldton. The occasion for the largest rally seen in Geraldton was the appearance of the non-Aboriginal driver who was charged with the hit and run accident. As was the case that I wrote about in First Nations Telegraph last week after attending the funeral of Pie and witnessing the overwhelming grief on the faces of her family, especially that of her
Son of Horace ‘Ossie’ Bydner at the rally in Geraldton calling for justice for his father. Image: Joyce Capewell
seven young children, yesterday’s rally was also full of emotion and palpable grief. But this time the rally gave family members and friends the
opportunity to blow off some built up anger that’s been festering since the avoidable accident. It was a very emotional and distressing gathering for our Yamaji people. I was overwhelmed with emotions as I looked about and saw hundreds of Yamaji’s gathered to seek justice. When I spotted one of the young teenage daughters of Pie and also a young handsome man, Ossie’s son, in among the large crowd of Yamaji people and others I was overcome with sadness but also pride. Yamaji people are also overwhelmed by the support of the Noongah peoples from down south and around the nation and many
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The Yamaji rally for justice in Geraldton yesterday. Images: Joyce Capewell
non-Aboriginal people who have been sending in their support for the rally and the call for justice since the tragic accident became public. The Yamaji community of Geraldton has a very sad and heartbreaking history - with regards to the Government justice system’s appalling racism practices, as I am sure many other Aboriginal communities around the nation are familiar with and also experience such practices on a daily basis. The Geraldton Yamaji community was traumatized in 1987 by the death in custody of Eddie Cameron that forced them to the extreme of rioting as a way of drawing attention to the discrimination from police. Back then Eddie, 23, was arrested for burglary and placed in a solitary cell. A couple of hours later he was found hanging by his own bootlaces. Over three hundred Yamaji people rioted on the streets for the popular footballer and son of a local political activist who many believe was incapable of hanging himself. The racism practices against Aboriginal people is demonstrated to the extreme by the Government justice system; I can certainly vouch for this, due to working a 20 year period in the Department of Corrective Services system. I have seen the practices of racism towards Aboriginal people time and time again, within the justice system and can vouch it is a despicable and grim reality. How terrible, Aboriginal Page 2
people are still being subjected to deplorable racism, oppression and suppression practices stemming from the http://goo.gl/VLefqe justice system, since invasion days. The nation’s extensive racism practices towards Aboriginal peoples continues to stem from the Australian Governments, its justice system and many other government run departments. I and many other Aboriginal people are of the opinion there are two Government justice systems in existence in this country today: one for Aboriginals and one for non-Aboriginals. We Aboriginals recognise injustice and discriminatory practices when we see it; we know what it smells like, sounds like, and feels like. And it’s totally different to what nonAboriginal people experience. Aboriginals appear to be treated, and feel as if we are still a race of people under the Flora and Fauna Act or another era where we had no rights at all. Many Yamaji people expressed this feeling yesterday and I am of the opinion Yamaji people have decided they will not continue to tolerate racism in any form from the justice system anymore. Yamajis will demand action taken by the Government to rectify its harrowing racism practices within its justice system towards Aboriginal people. Yamaji people are calling for the Western Australian Police Commissioner, Mr Karl Callaghan and the WA Police Minister, Liz Harvey to attend to these matters.
Ossie Bydner’s adopted parents
We also call on WA DCS Commissioner, Mr James McMahon and the DCS Minister, Mr Joe Francis to also seek solutions and amend all the appalling racism practices towards Aboriginals with the Government DCS system. The local television news stated the charges for the non-Aboriginal offender of the hit and run car accident, had been wrong and he now faces upgraded charges. However the Yamaji peoples are shocked the offender has received a measly five thousand dollars bail condition, regarding the death of Pie and Ossie. How can someone who was charged with failing to stop, failing to render assistance, leaving the scene of the accident and driving with a blood alcohol reading in excess of 0.5 – not to mention he killed two of our people – be allowed to walk out of the courthouse with a couple of thousand dollars bail? Now if that was a Yamaji driver who was charged with failing to stop, failing to render assistance, leaving the scene of the accident and driving with a blood alcohol reading in excess of 0.5 – not to mention he killed two white people, of which one was a woman who had seven young children – do you really believe he would walk out of the Geraldton Court House with a couple of thousand dollars bail? View YouTube video: http://goo. gl/RBNpCD