NT Police Charged With Murder Of Aboriginal Teen Kumanjayi Walker

Source: Newspix / Getty

NT Police Charged With Murder Of Aboriginal Teen Kumanjayi Walker

“The world is a ghetto” is a lyric that was made famous by the group WAR back in 1972 and they couldn’t have been more right.

According to The Guardian, an 19-year-old indigenous boy named Kumanjayi Walker from Yuendumu, the Northern Territory of Australia, was *allegedly* murdered by police and charges have been filed against the offending officer. Walker was shot dead on Saturday night when officers were sent to arrest him for breach of suspended sentence.

The charge was not made official until after hundreds of people filled the streets of Melbourne and Sydney carrying signs reading “Tell the truth” and “Justice for Walker” in protest of this obviously unwarranted death.

Kumanjayi Walker was shot, taken to the police station, and left unattended by medical staff for HOURS before he died. His family was not told of his condition until several hours later. This happened because Northern Territory health officials abandoned the small Yuendumu community claiming they “feared for their safety” due to “local unrest”.

“Staff safety is paramount,” the NT health department spokesperson said. “After liaising with police, Yuendumu Health Centre staff were supported to leave the community on Saturday afternoon, as did staff from other government and non-government services.”

The health professionals charged with helping Walker in their absence were located in Yuelamu, a town about an hour away from Walker’s bleeding body.

Chief Minister of the NT, Michael Gunner, had this to say about the criminal justice process:

“Saturday night was an awful night and we will be working together for a long time about how we deal with that together,” Gunner told people gathered at Yuendumu. “But there are important things I can promise today. One of them is to guarantee there will be an independent investigation.”

We can only pray that things in Australia are more fair and forthright than they are here in the states.

Rest in peace Kumanjayi Walker.