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MPM732 Critical Thinking for Managers: Assessment 2
The Echo of Injustice
Good morning and welcome to the annual Sorry Day breakfast.
Today we remember Kevin Rudd’s words on that first auspicious Sorry Day and his apology for the indignity and degradation inflicted on the Aboriginal people. He inspired us with his pledge that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
Yet sadly eight years later, those words echo emptily. As recent tragedies have shown, indignity and injustice continue.
For today we await the findings of yet another coronial inquest into an Aboriginal death in custody. This is a sad story where had justice prevailed, a young Aboriginal woman would be alive today. Let me tell you Ms Dhu’s story.
In August 2014, 22-year-old Ms Dhu was locked up at Port Hedland police station to pay off unpaid fines. She complained of extreme pain in her ribs, inflicted by her partner before she was arrested. She was taken to hospital twice, given painkillers and dismissed as suffering from drug withdrawal, despite her pleas for help and having severe physical symptoms. In her last 20 hours, fellow inmates heard her calling for help, sobbing in agony and vomiting. At one point she couldn’t get up, and CCTV shows her being yanked by a constable, who loses her grip and drops Ms Dhu’s head on the concrete floor. The sergeant whispers “you’re a junkie and this is the last time you’re going to hospital”. He was right. Ms Dhu suffered a heart attack on her third visit to hospital and an hour later was dead. An autopsy found she had acute septicaemia and pneumonia, and an infection caused by an abscess on her broken ribs.
The UN Declaration of Human Rights states that we are all born equal in dignity and rights. It states that we have the right to medical care.
Ms Dhu had the right to be treated with dignity and respect. She had the right to medical attention. She had the right to justice.
As one of the witnesses at Ms Dhu’s inquest pointed out, this would never have happened to a middle class white person with those symptoms.
Almost unbelievably, Ms Dhu died as the echoes of another tragic death in custody in WA had barely faded – the sad death of Mr Ward after an unnecessary trip across the desert.
Mr Ward’s fate was sealed when he was picked up for drink driving in Laverton in January 2009. A respected elder in his community, he was kept overnight at the police station, not offered bail and the next morning was put in the back of a van for a four hour trip across the desert to Kalgoorlie court. That van had no air-conditioning and the guards did not check on him on the way or offer water – a requirement of transporting prisoners.
This cost Mr Ward his life. What kind of treatment is this, to be forced to travel in conditions we wouldn’t subject an animal to and be left to die, less than a metre from two other human beings? He had the right to be treated with dignity and respect. He had the right to justice. These rights were taken from him and ultimately caused his death.
The Coroner investigating Mr Ward’s death recommended a review of all people in custody to ensure that they’re treated with humanity and are not subject to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. What happened then to Ms Dhu five years later? Why weren’t the lessons from Mr Ward’s death enough to save her?
Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 25 years ago, an average of 15 Aboriginal people a year has died in custody. This is five more deaths a year than before the Royal Commission.
Today, Aboriginal people are 15 times more likely than non-indigenous, to be incarcerated.
That’s despite the Royal Commission’s recommendation that imprisonment be a last resort. That’s despite the Coronial inquest into Mr Ward’s death calling for more education for prison and justice officers, so they understand the rights of prisoners to be offered bail and legal advice. That’s despite Kevin Rudd promising that we would not see the injustices of the past repeated.
These stories of injustice carry echoes from 200 years ago when whitefellas first came here and set out to oppress the Aboriginal people. My ancestor was the first Police Commissioner in South Australia and led a controversial delegation that hanged two Aboriginal men as an example to their tribe. These men were supposed to be protected under British law but the Commissioner overruled that law and decided they should hang. That my forefather was one of the founding leaders of this country should be a source of great pride, but instead I share this history in shame. For what has really changed? The stories of Ms Dhu and Mr Ward show us that these prejudices still exist, through which some people in power give themselves permission to commit crimes against their fellow human beings.
The traditions of the Aboriginal people rely on the word of mouth of the elders passing stories from one generation to another. These echoes over time ensure the cultures and languages of the Aboriginal nations survive.
But there is a sad echo etched on this proud history and it resonates from the European settlement of Australia, through to the Royal Commission of 25 years ago, through Mr Ward’s last hours in the van and Ms Dhu’s painful, drawn out death. It’s the echo of injustice and the inability of successive governments to carry out Royal Commission and Coronial recommendations and ensure human rights and dignity for Aboriginal people.
We must silence this echo.
When you leave here today, sign up to the cause for justice for Ms Dhu. Her family and their supporters are calling for change and need us to donate or volunteer. I will put my efforts into this cause and I urge you to – because we believe in equality, we believe in human rights and we believe in justice. It’s time to make sure these injustices never, ever happen again.
Words: 1014.
Analysis: The Echo of Injustice:
The Echo of Injustice speech uses the tools of critical discourse analysis to build the case that injustice against Aboriginal people continues, particularly in relation to deaths in custody.
The speech uses the overarching theory of Dilts’ logical levels (Dilts 2014) to build towards the ultimate purpose of calling on the audience to become part of the solution. Other tools used throughout the speech include language tricks and argumentative moves.
Dilts’ logical levels (Dilts 2014) can be seen weaved throughout the speech, building the elements of the argument. The environment is made clear by the reference to Kevin Rudd (Rudd 2008), and the speech uses this reference to make its primary claim – that the promises of his apology speech, to give justice and dignity to the Aboriginal people, have not been realised.
The logical level of behaviour is brought to life through the stories of Ms Dhu and Mr Ward, which give a clear explanation of the human behaviour at play. The stories lead into a discussion of human capability, in the fact that people have not learnt from past deaths, inquests and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Australian Legal Information Institute 1998). This is the level where the core of the problem lies – that it is human failing, or lack of capability, that is leading to these deaths.
Values and identity are presented together in the story of the ancestor. By rejecting that ancestor’s values and beliefs the speaker entrenches their own, that Australia has a shameful history of deep prejudice that is continuing. This is entwined with the speaker’s sense of identity as their sense of self is tied closely to their belief in justice and dignity for all people.
This discussion then leads into the speech’s ultimate purpose to ask the audience to support the campaign for justice for Ms Dhu. The speaker makes it clear that this purpose is aligned closely to the values and identity of the audience, by appealing to their mutual beliefs in calling for people to sign up to the cause.
Argumentative moves are another critical discourse analysis tool used throughout the speech.
Assuring is used several times as the speech quotes authoritative sources, which are the evidence-base for the argument, that injustices against Aboriginal people continue despite many opportunities and recommendations to create change. The assuring begins with the reference to Kevin Rudd who as Prime Minister, held one of the most powerful positions in Australia when he claimed that injustices wouldn’t continue in his apology speech. References to the findings of the Coroner’s Court (Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2009), the Royal Commission (Australian Legal Information Institute 1998) and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948) add to the evidence base. The reference to the witness saying a white person would have been treated similarly (Special Broadcasting Service 2016), adds authority to this question which would have been a much weaker point had it been posed by the speaker.
Evaluating language plays an important role throughout the speech, particularly in conjunction with the stories. Storytelling is one of the most important components of this speech in ensuring the audience has an emotional investment in the argument – but not personal stories as described by Brookfield (Brookfield 2012). Rather it’s the case studies of two deaths in custody presented with emotional and evaluative language that builds the case: “almost unbelievably” and “conditions we wouldn’t subject an animal to” are some examples.
The speaker shares a personal story of her ancestor which serves two purposes. It provides evidence to support the claim that injustices against Aboriginal people have a long history. Second, it is used as a discounting tool to highlight how the ancestors’ values were in opposition to commonly-held modern beliefs: “...should be a source of great pride, but instead I share this history in shame.”
The arguments put forward in the speech are strengthened by the use of some of the language tricks as outlined by Brookfield (Brookfield 2012), in particular repetition, symbolism and assuming the voice of the majority.
The speech uses repetition in several ways. The word injustice is the key word for the entire speech, starting from paraphrasing Kevin Rudd. This is then used in the repetition of key phrases that build the speech’s claim: “...the right to be treated with dignity and respect...the right to justice.” The final line of the speech again appeals with that key word, “...make sure these injustices never, never happen again.”
Repetition is combined with the trick of assuming the voice of the majority in the final paragraph. Having spoken mostly in third person throughout, in this final appeal, the speaker assumes the audience shares the same beliefs she has built the case for: “...we believe in equality, we believe in human rights and we believe in injustice.”
Symbolism is another language trick which is more dominant towards the end as the speaker works in the echo metaphor. Although mentioned briefly as the argument is introduced “...those words echo emptily”, the metaphor is given more meaning through the analogy of the verbal sharing of Aboriginal dreamtime stories in comparison with the tragic stories that have become part of this nation’s fabric. The final use of this symbol, “we must silence this echo”, represents the vision for the whole speech, before the speaker makes her call to action.
By weaving language tricks like repetition and symbolism and argumentative moves of assuring, evaluating and discounting throughout the speech, on a theoretical basis of Dilts’ logical levels, the speaker has built a strong case that recent Aboriginal deaths in custody show that injustices against Aboriginal people are continuing.
Words: 943.
References
Dilts, Robert B 2014, ‘A Brief History of Logical Levels’,NLP University, retrieved 8 September 2016, <http://www.nlpu.com/Articles/LevelsSummary.htm>
Brookfield, S 2012, Teaching for Critical Thinking: tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions, Jossey-Bass, retrieved 2 August 2016, Ebook library database.
Rudd, K 2008, ‘Motion offering an apology to Australia’s Indigenous people’s’, transcript, Creative Spirits, 13 February 2008, viewed 12 July 2016, <https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/sorry-apology-to-stolen-generations>.
United Nations 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, retrieved 7 September 2016, <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf>
Special Broadcasting Service 2016, Paying with her life: Justice for JuliekaDhu, NITV, retrieved 2 September 2016, <http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/feature/paying-her-life-justice-julieka-dhu>
Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2009, Record of Investigation into Death, State Coroner of Western Australia, retrieved 2 September 2016, <http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20090615/ward/ward_finding.pdf>
Australian Legal Information Institute 1998, National Report Volume 1, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, retrieved 7 September 2016, <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/>
