DISTURBING and threatening racist messages have left African-Australians living in fear following a teenager’s tragic death over the weekend.
Terrified young Sudanese Aussies say they have clocked xenophobic posts directed at their community on social media and some have even shared a sickening message which encourages people to “kill” black people.
A photo of message — which is understood to have been scrawled into dirt at Andrews Farm, a northern suburb of Adelaide over the weekend — has been shared widely on social media.
“No n***ers. Kill them,” the message reads.
“What a disappointing week it’s been in Australia,” one young Sudanese woman wrote along side the image on Facebook.
“This picture was taken in the northern suburbs in Adelaide SA. Are the racist groups going to start hunting African-Australians like animals?
“Is my baby brother going to be safe walking to and from school? Or playing in the nearby park? Are we going to continue living like second-class citizens?”
Other Sudanese Australians shared the post saying they have seen a recent spike in vile abuse directed at their community on social media too.
Some in the community have pointed their fingers at the Federal Government for creating a hostile political climate, following the violent death of Melbourne teenager Laa Chol over the weekend.
“Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton have opened a can of worms and will be held responsible for every single action that comes into play as a result of their comments,” wrote one Sudanese Australian alongside a picture of the racist message in South Australia.
Ms Chol’s tragic death came after a spate of horrific home invasions, public bashings and out-of-control parties — which have been associated with a perceived African gang problem, particularly in Victoria.
However, many in the Sudanese community say media coverage such as Channel 7’s Sunday Night story on African gangs in Victoria — which was lambasted as “racist bulls**t” — and quotes given by federal politicians including Mr Turbbull and Mr Dutton, have created a hostile backlash towards them.
Just last week, Mr Turnbull said there was “real concern about Sudanese gangs” in Melbourne and defended comments from Mr Dutton suggesting people were afraid to go out for dinner in the Victorian capital because of the fear of “African gangs”.
Father Daniel Gai Aleu, at Holy Apostles Anglican Church in Sunshine in Melbourne, said comments such as these had done irreparable damage to the Sudanese community in Australia.
“Even as a priest I feel insecure,” he told The Guardian. “(Shoppers) will call the security guy and say, ‘Look, this is a Sudanese’, and they will follow me.
“I can say I’m an Australian but my colour only betrays me. What can I do?”
The Federal Government has jumped on figures from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency (CSA), to the end of March which show Sudanese-born people are 57 times more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery in Victoria than their Australian-born counterparts.
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge said there is no “Sudanese problem in NSW or Queensland.
“There isn’t the Sudanese problem in NSW, nor in Queensland, despite the fact that there is a similar-sized Sudanese population in Sydney, so to me that says it’s actually a law-and-order problem right here in Victoria,” he told Sky News earlier this week.
Yesterday, Chief Inspector Bob Fitzgerald for Blacktown area command in Western Sydney said local integration schemes have ensured the suburb’s 567 Sudanese and South Sudanese immigrants find their feet in Australia.
“We do have problems (similar to those seen in Melbourne) on occasion, but they are nowhere near as near as frequent as people suggest,” he said.
“And, when these things do happen, we find they are carried out by people from a range of backgrounds from Filipinos, Anglos, islanders … people from all over the world.
“We don’t have mass gangs roaming the street. You might see groups of Sudanese people on the street, but you’ll see people of lots of different cultures hanging together as well.”
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