Tears streamed down Nyawech Fouch’s face as she recalled the day her cousin was killed by two men in a random and racially motivated attack in Melbourne’s southeast more than a decade ago.
‘The last words they said to (him) were ‘let’s take our anger out on some n*****’ and then they went and attacked my cousin,’ she said in front of a crowd of hundreds outside Channel 7 in Melbourne.
Saturday’s protest was against perceived unfair media coverage and political commentary against African Australians, particularly accusations that gangs of Sudanese youths are running rampant in Melbourne.
Protesters called for changes to be made in the way the news media on crimes involving African youth.
One of the event organisers described such stories as ‘fear mongering’.
Tears streamed down Nyawech Fouch’s (pictured) face as she recalled the day her cousin was killed by two men in a random and racially motivated attack in Melbourne’s southeast more than a decade ago
Saturday’s protest was against perceived unfair media coverage and political commentary against African Australians, particularly accusations that gangs of Sudanese youths are running rampant in Melbourne
‘The pain is so much. My whole family is traumatised by what the media has done to our family, our friends, to the people around us,’ Ms Fouch said.
Her cousin, Liep Gony, 18, died in hospital in 2007 after suffering head injuries.
He had been left to die on a Noble Park nature strip.
Ms Fouch, 21, said she was sharing her story in the hope of changing the way the media, especially Channel 7, portrayed the Sudanese community and showing that words have an impact.
‘He did not ask for his life to be taken away but because he fit the description they decided they want to kill my cousin,’ she said.
Ms Fouch, 21, (pictured left) said she was sharing her story in the hope of changing the way the media, especially Channel 7, portrayed the Sudanese community and showing that words have an impact
‘All of us live in fear, everyday I am terrorised. The minute that I came to Australia I have lived in fear my whole life,’ one protester said during the rally
The protest is in response to ongoing reporting in the media connecting crime and gang violence to people of African descent
‘All of us live in fear, everyday I am terrorised. The minute that I came to Australia I have lived in fear my whole life.’
Yet she said she forgave the two white men who killed her cousin, and ‘every person who has ever stereotyped a black man’, asking people to ‘please let us live our lives in peace’.
‘Let us show you who we are, what we do, show you our character, we are more than what the media portrays us to be. Give us a chance at life,’ she said.
Mr Gony’s mother, Martha Ojulo, also broke down in tears telling protesters her son’s life was taken ‘because he was black’.
Protesters carried signs outside 7 News studios during the rally against what they said was unfair coverage from the news outlet
Protest co-organiser Thon Makuach, a friend of Sudanese-Australian Laa Chol who was killed last week at a party in a Melbourne CBD apartment, said he was a proud Australian who condemned gang violence
People hold signs aloft at the Channel 7 Protest in Melbourne on Saturday
Another young man said: ‘Let us show you that we are more than the media portrays us to be.’
‘Don’t measure us in skin colour. If you are going to talk about crime and you are going to attach our name to it, you can go to any station in Melbourne, go around the corner, and see any nationality is able to commit crime,’ the youth told the crowd in Docklands.
Protest co-organiser Thon Makuach, a friend of African-Australian Laa Chol who was killed last week at a party in a Melbourne CBD apartment, said he was a proud Australian who condemned gang violence.
Protest organisers led chants of ‘tell Channel 7 enough is enough’ and ‘we are students and leaders, not African gangs’ before marching to A’Beckett Street in Melbourne, where Ms Chol was killed
‘We condemn that [gang violence]. We are going to work with these youths, the numbers are going to drop and … please do not argue with me, please work with me,’ he said.
Protest organisers led chants of ‘tell Channel 7 enough is enough’ and ‘we are students and leaders, not African gangs’ before marching to A’Beckett Street in Melbourne, where Ms Chol was killed.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency’s ‘characteristics of of chronic offenders’ study, 59.5 per cent of single offences committed in Victoria were by Australian born residents.
‘Enough is Enough’ protest outside the Channel 7 studio in Melbourne, Saturday, July 28, 2018. Hundreds of people have gathered in Melbourne to protest against perceived unfair media coverage of African Australians.
A placard is seen during the ‘Enough is Enough’ protest outside the Channel 7 studio in Melbourne
People born from ‘all other countries’ made up 19.1 per cent while ‘unknown’ constituted 21.4 per cent of all singe offences.
For incidents greater than 10 per person, Australian born offenders made up 84.3 per cent, ‘all other countries’ 12.0 per cent and ‘unknown’ 3.6 per cent.
‘Overall, 67.7% of alleged offenders in this study were born in Australia, 17.6% were born overseas and 14.7% had an unknown country of birth,’ the study read.
The mother of murdered 18-year-old Liep Gony (white shift and red scarf) is seen during the ‘Enough is Enough’ protest outside the Channel 7 studio in Melbourne
Protesters also wore blue in memory of 19-year-old Laa Chol, who was killed after a fight broke out in a Melbourne CBD apartment during a party on on Friday 20 July
‘The majority of offenders in every offending frequency group were born in Australia, accounting for between 59.5% and 84.3% of each group.
‘However, this analysis was limited by the 61,337 offenders with an unknown country of birth. These offenders were not evenly distributed across the offending frequency groups, with a greater number of offenders in the one incident group recorded for unknown country of birth.’
The study outlined that ‘a small proportion, 6.3%, of alleged offenders in Victoria were responsible for a large proportion of crime, 43.9%, of offender incidents.’
Hundreds of protesters gathered to show support for the African-Australian community in Melbourne