Black Deaths in Custody

Digital Strategies of Indigenous Mobilisation

Abstract

Aboriginal Deaths in Custody has constituted a pressing issue for Indigenous communities in Australia since the 1980s. Yet, despite the constant demands for justice raised by Indigenous leaders and activists, this problem rose to public prominence in June 2020, as demonstrations against police brutality spread around the globe in response to the murder of George Floyd. The events of Minneapolis struck a chord with the many Australian Indigenous families and communities who had lost their loved ones to police violence, sparking a series of protests across Australia’s major urban centres. Thus, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, like never before, came together both online and in person to demonstrate solidarity and stand with the Black Lives Matter movement while exposing the very local plight of Black Deaths in Custody. In particular, digital platforms have played a key role in the framing of alternative narratives. Hence, drawing from Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Theory, with references to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s work on decolonising methodologies, this paper examines the online rhetorical and visual strategies adopted by Indigenous activists to protest the loss of ‘Blak’ lives in police custody. Primarily, I have looked at the website and Facebook page Stop Black Deaths in Custody, along with the digital materials circulated on social media by Indigenous activist groups. Of particular interest is the media work of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (W.A.R.), a collective of young Aboriginal men and women who have been at the forefront of the BLM protests in Australia. The findings reflect the transnational dimension of the communicative tactics employed to mobilise local and global publics. Indeed, the resources used by Indigenous activists aim to establish affective resonances, gathering national and international support to effect meaningful change.