‘They’re not serving everyone’: Aboriginal Studio 10 host Narelda Jacobs says she SUPPORTS defunding the US police force
- Aboriginal Studio 10 host defiantly backed calls for police forces to be defunded
- Presenter said police forces need to ‘protect all members of the community’
- Jacobs also backed protesters who took to streets across Australia on Saturday
- Finance minister Matthias Cormann called protests ‘reckless’ during a pandemic
- Jacobs criticised him for not understanding challenges of Aboriginal population
Indigenous Studio 10 host Narelda Jacobs has defiantly backed calls for police forces in the US to be defunded as she threw her support behind the Black Lives Matter protesters who took to the streets across Australia on Saturday.
The Aboriginal presenter said law enforcement needed to be reformed to be more inclusive in the wake of the death African-American man George Floyd during an arrest in the US city of Minneapolis on May 25.
‘If that’s what it’s gonna take to protect all members of the community and not just some members then that’s what it’s going to take,’ she said on Monday morning.
Pictured: Demonstrators take part in a Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney on Saturday. Studio 10 host Narelda Jacobs has backed the demonstrations and supported calls in the US for police forces to be defunded
‘At the moment people think the police there are serving a certain section of the community and not serving everyone.’
Jacobs said videos of underhand police tactics to combat protests – like tear gassing random protesters in Minneapolis from moving squad cars – showed the police were no longer fit for purpose.
‘They’re just standing on the side of the road being tear gassed as cars are going past,’ Jacobs said.
‘That is just ridiculous – they’re not serving anyone.’
Celebrities and high-profile politicians in the US have been leading calls in recent days for police departments to be defunded.
Activists are demanding cities reroute the massive funds allocated for policing and divert them into resources that will help black communities thrive, such as education, housing and social services.
Jacobs said a video showing random protesters in Minneapolis being tear gassed from moving squad cars – showed the police were no longer fit for purpose
Police clash with protesters inside Central Station after a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney on Saturday. Jacobs hit out at finance minister Matthias Cormann for calling the mass protest during a pandemic ‘completely reckless and irresponsible’
Jacobs also hit back at finance minister Matthias Cormann, who on Monday called Black Lives Matter protests across Australia’s largest cities ‘completely reckless and irresponsible’ given the threat of a COVID-19 second wave.
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane to demonstrate about Aboriginal deaths in custody and the death of George Floyd.
‘It was upsetting because he called the protesters selfish, reckless and self-indulgent,’ she said.
‘That was so upsetting to me as a fellow Western Australian because Matthias Cormann knows full well the rate of indigenous incarceration in WA is among the highest if not the highest in Australia.
‘He should have said ‘I understand’ – in not saying that I think he was completely irresponsible because the figures really do speak for themselves.’
The Network 10 journalist has been outspoken about Aboriginal deaths in custody as anger has grown globally in recent weeks on the subject of police brutality.
A demonstrator carries a sign as they protest in downtown Minneapolis on May 30
Last week she spoke about the similarities between Australia and America, referring to the two police officers charged in the past year with the murder of Aboriginal Australians.
‘A lot of people here – I’ve heard them say how lucky we are to live in Australia,’ Jacobs said on Tuesday.
‘I quickly thought well it’s not so lucky for 420 families who have had loved ones die in custody since 1991 in Australia.’
Finance minister Matthias Cormann on Monday called the Black Lives Matter protests across Australia’s largest cities ‘completely reckless and irresponsible’ given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
She mentioned the case of Joyce Clarke, 29, who was allegedly shot dead by a police officer on a street in Geraldton in mid-western Western Australia last September.
A policeman is also accused of shooting dead Kumanjayi Walker, a 19-year-old Aboriginal man, during a botched arrest in the Northern Territory in November.
‘I have the utmost respect for police for authorities in general – they are keeping us safe during the pandemic,’ Jacobs said.
‘It’s important though we don’t live under a cloud and we don’t bury our heads in the sand or are ignorant – we have two police officers in Australia currently who are charged with murder.’