Young South Sudanese 'constantly stopped' by police, as community grapples with Apex stigma
Updated
Deng Maleek, a university-educated youth worker, was on his way to meet with police to discuss issues facing the South Sudanese community, when he was pulled over and asked to provide his registration papers.
Key points:
- Young people from South Sudanese community report discrimination
- Police say officers respond to person's behaviour, not skin colour
- Teenagers feel targeted when travelling in groups after basketball training
The young South Sudanese man said the officers who stopped him implied he was an Apex gang member, an experience he described as not uncommon amongst his peers.
"Young people of Sudanese background find themselves constantly being stopped," he said.
"Young adults, not kids, who were engaged in education or working part time and congregate in public spaces and just to socialise, will be randomly checked [to see] if they are gang members."
Apex — a gang of young people from multiple cultural backgrounds — has risen to prominence in Victoria and is linked to carjackings, violent home invasions and armed robberies.
Members of the South Sudanese community said the focus was mainly on their children, a concern shared by Anthony Kelly from the Flemington and Kensington Legal Centre.
"The Apex gang is a convenient code word; essentially it means ethnic or African crime — it's a code word that can be used by a greater number of commentators, like a dog whistle," he said.
"We are seeing a whole series of exclusionary impacts from the racialised media coverage."
Mr Kelly said it was leading to hard-line anti-migration rhetoric and the risk of over-policing.
"We are already seeing anecdotally young people being stopped and questioned about whether they are part of the Apex gang and that itself is deeply concerning," he said.
Victoria Police deny racial profiling
Victoria Police deny there is racial profiling within the police force.
"We do not believe there is a problem with racial profiling within our organisation. Operationally, our police respond to a person's behaviour, not the colour of their skin," a statement read.
"Victoria Police has completed significant work to ensure we do not racially profile in any form over recent years."
Alcohol and drug counsellor Deng Malith works with a large portion of children from a South Sudanese background.
He said the media coverage which identified gangs with African youths was making Apex more attractive to young and disengaged members of the community.
"We all know that not the whole community is doing crimes," he said.
"These issues happen after these young people disengage from the school from their families and the media is giving them a legitimacy.
"They're giving them a title, giving them a group name — the community is powerless, they don't know what they should do."
'They are Aussies': South Sudanese father
Father-of-six Jeffah Thabach grew up in an Ethiopian refugee camp after fleeing war torn Sudan. He moved to Victoria in 2008.
He said South Sudanese young people were already struggling to find work and it was getting worse.
"Most of the youths have no job. They say they can't get a job because of discrimination," he said.
Mr Thabach is one of many parents concerned their children are being discouraged from completing high school.
"I'm totally distressed and depressed. Our community is in disarray, not knowing what to do," he said.
"The media becomes a challenge to our youth and our community at large.
"These kids, most of them, were born here in Australia and they have Australian values."
Many young people in the community were changing their names on job applications, he added, and others had moved to Alice Springs to get jobs.
Sukart Alex, who is running after-school basketball training to empower students, said older teenagers were being discriminated against.
"When they go to the station, people do discriminate against them because they are in a big group," he said.
"The majority of these kids are coming from training sessions and trying to get home they aren't wanting to cause trouble."
Mr Thabach said his 40-year-old cousin was recently yelled at in the street.
"He was called Apex when he is not. He was just travelling on the street — that is how the stigma is manifesting," he said.
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Topics: crime, law-crime-and-justice, crime-prevention, youth, community-and-society, police, immigration, melbourne-3000, vic
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