Justice for Walker: Warlpiri responses to the police shooting of Kumunjayi Walker

Justice for Walker: Warlpiri responses to the police shooting of Kumunjayi Walker Journal Article

The Australian Journal of Anthropology

  • Author(s): Hargraves, Ned Jampijinpa, Fernandez-Brown, Samara, Nelson, Harry Jakamarra, Granites, Robin Japanangka, Robertson, Eddie Jampijinpa, Martin, Valerie Napaljarri, Brown, Margaret Napanangka, Williams, Warren Japanangka, Williams, Louanna Napangardi, Curran, Georgia
  • Published: 2022
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
  • ISBN: 1035-8811

Abstract: The police shooting of Kumunjayi Walker in Yuendumu in November 2019 instigated an immediate and determined response from Warlpiri families who were shocked and saddened by the death of a loved one in the prime of his life and enraged by this latest event in a long string of colonial injustices. This article collates perspectives as expressed in interviews and public statements from Warlpiri spokespeople who have been on the frontline of the fight for Justice for Walker. Incorporating the initial responses in the days after the shooting, the links to the Coniston massacre in Warlpiri and neighbouring country in 1928, the ongoing horror of Aboriginal deaths in custody and the escalating energy behind the Black Lives Matter campaigns across the world, this article illustrates, through Warlpiri voices, the ways in which people from Yuendumu have expertly used the techniques of activist campaigns in their resolute fight for justice for Walker, for all Aboriginal people across Australia and for Black and First Nations people world-wide.

  • Urls: https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.12446
  • Keywords: Aboriginal deaths in custody, Black Lives Matter, Kumunjayi Walker, police violence, settler colonialism, ‘truth telling’, Warlpiri, Yuendumu

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Suggested Citation
Hargraves, Ned Jampijinpa, Fernandez-Brown, Samara, Nelson, Harry Jakamarra, Granites, Robin Japanangka, Robertson, Eddie Jampijinpa, Martin, Valerie Napaljarri, Brown, Margaret Napanangka, Williams, Warren Japanangka, Williams, Louanna Napangardi, Curran, Georgia, 2022, Justice for Walker: Warlpiri responses to the police shooting of Kumunjayi Walker, Journal Article, viewed 16 February 2025, https://www.nintione.com.au/?p=38298.

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