A quarter of the way into the 21st century, violence has become routine and people have become desensitised.

How do we explain the silent acceptance of state-sponsored violence? Has the horror of Israel’s genocide numbed people into a kind of silent acquiescence?

In New South Wales, Indigenous deaths in custody at the hands of law enforcement and custodial officers are happening more frequently.

An acquiescence to violence in general, and by law enforcement officers in particular, has flow-on effects that ensure none of us are safe.

Dunghutti man Paul Silva delivered a powerful call for action last November 1 to end First Nations deaths in custody and police brutalisation at a rally at Sydney Town Hall.

He referenced NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan who said, on October 14, it was “profoundly distressing” that there had already been 12 Aboriginal deaths in custody in NSW so far. Last year recorded the highest number of Indigenous deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991.

This damning statistic is a scathing indictment of law enforcement and the judicial system.

The ongoing and profound distress of family members and loved ones could be seen at the rally. Families gathered around large posters of their son, daughter, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, mother or father and husband or wife killed by police or prison officers.

The trauma was palpable in their stories told by means of oratory, poetry and song.

Those seeking justice are largely confronted by silence, indifference, deflection, inaction and little or no recognition of their dignity as victims of state-sponsored violence.

Family members have informed me that inside the agencies of government lurks a bureaucratic cruelty that seems designed to crush people; opaque laws and regulations, government entities working at cross purposes, endless paperwork and doubt and suspicion at every turn.

Yet, in the face of this inertia, loved ones, human rights activists, lawyers, criminologists, researchers and others continue........

© Green Left Weekly