RedHanded - #4 BLM - Ms Dhu

Episode Date: October 23, 2020

This month in our Black Lives Matter series, we discuss the death of Ms Dhu. During the two day's Ms Dhu spent in police custody in Western Australia, she was dropped to the floor, lifted by her hands and feet, and another prisoner was dragged into her cell to stare at her. She went through all of this while being verbally abused and suffering from sepsis. She died of preventable causes aged just twenty-two, while a white officer stood over her saying she was "faking it". This is Ms Dhu's story. Sheila Humphries TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V3SX0H7pHc Guardian database of indigenous deaths in custody: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2018/aug/28/deaths-inside-indigenous-australian-deaths-in-custody  Sources: https://redhandedpodcast.com/episodes   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello. I can't remember how we start these ones, but welcome to the fourth installment of our Black Lives Matter series. We will be doing these for the rest of 2020. Our aim with this is to highlight one Black Lives Matter case from all over the world every month. So we keep thinking about it and we don't just tweet about it for a week and then forget. Exactly. And I don't even think that's said in sort of a cynical way as if people who have been doing it don't really care or anything. It's just so hard, isn't it? We have so much going on with our lives at the moment with COVID, with political situations, our own personal,

you know, health, mental health, whatever it may be. So this is just a way for us to try and keep it in the newsfeed. That's it, really. And also, when you're forming an opinion on something, political or otherwise, it's a process. You shouldn't just decide what you think and then never readdress it again. You have to keep engaging with yourself in a discourse about your opinions on things. Otherwise, you just become set in your ways and no one can tell you. No one can tell you. And we all know people like that.

So in previous episodes, we have kicked off with some statistics and they have got quite a reaction. Some people have even emailed us to enlighten us that those statistics were wrong. They're not. They weren't. They aren't. They're conducted by the government. So if they were wrong, it's far more likely that they would be made to look better, not worse. And if you are going to email us debating statistics, try not to begin your argument with the blacks. It doesn't help your I'm not racist, but argument. I think that was actually in the email. And I was like, are you a meme?

Sometimes that doesn't feel real. And obviously, we know that we do have a wide range of people who are going to listen to these, who maybe even just come across them by accident, don't know who we are. But I just think they were arguing about the stats, but they were also about the stats but they were also pointing out that kind of really baffling still zombie of an idea that people

message in and say but it's more white people and I'm like do we have to talk about percentages and proportionality because that's the point of what we're trying to say and that's why it's a problem yeah do you understand how the census works yeah Yeah. It's not about absolute numbers, because if it were, of course, more white people die in any situation. But you have to talk about it proportionally and proportionally, which part of the population is dying disproportionately at the hands of police. And that's what we're here to talk about. So thank you. But, you know, don't expect a response necessarily if you're going to email something like that, because we don't have time and you are kind of wrong. So that's it. But apart from, you know, the people who haven't enjoyed our coverage so far, there

have been lots of people who have enjoyed our coverage of the BLM cases. Enjoyed, maybe not the right word, who have appreciated our coverage of the BLM cases that we have done so far. Particularly, I did want to point out one person, a lady named Carla Cumberbatch. That name may sound familiar because she is Darren Cumberbatch's sister, the gentleman we talked about who died in police custody here in the UK in our episode last month. And Carla actually sent us a message on Instagram. And then I actually spoke with her on the phone on Sunday morning. And I just wanted to say like what an incredible woman because you know she's got her whole life she's got her family she's got her job she's doing all of that but she's still fighting for justice for her brother

and on top of that for her to take the time to thank us the way that she did and want to ask to speak on the phone just to say how well she thought we had covered her brother's case and to take the time to say thank you when she thought we had covered her brother's case and to take the time to say thank you when she absolutely didn't need to and nor did we ever expect anyone in his family to hear it. I cried. It was very overwhelming. So thank you, Carla, for listening and for sharing it in the groups that you did. It means so much. So let's continue with statistics, seeing as you all seem to like them so much. If these statistics make you feel a bit funny, think about why that is. I saw a really interesting argument in an article that was like, the reason that white people get angry at pro-black movements is because pro-white

movements have always been anti-black. That's a good point. I guess from the point of view of white people, when you are the majority in a majority white country, and you have a pro-white movement, it is always going to feel racial. It can't not. But if you have a minority group that is, you know, pushing the rights of that group, it's hard then maybe for white people, some white people to not see that as being racially tinged, even though it isn't, because it is again, once again, we're coming back to proportionality. So yeah, that's an interesting point, actually. So let's stick with proportionality. 30% of Australia's prison population is made up of Indigenous Australians. And Indigenous Australians make up just 3% of the population of Australia. So that's 10 times a disproportionality there.

That is staggering. And this is what we're saying. Like, if you compare like for like, maybe there are more white people in prison, but you have to understand 30% of the incarcerated population is made up of a group that is just 3% of the entire population. That is the point that we're trying to make. And also actually coming back to your point about some white people struggling with the idea of like pro-white groups and what that means if you know you're a pro-black group, pro-black group, that even sounds weird to say, you know what I mean, is the idea that we've discussed on the show before where the people who are already in a point of privilege given the status quo, some people will always feel like equality is some sort of zero-sum game if they give it away to somebody else, that somehow it's being taken directly from them. Whereas if you are in a minority group or in a press group, you just trying to demand equality, which is all that we're asking for, doesn't take it away from somebody else. So I guess, yeah, it's always going to be the people who are in a privileged position based on the status quo are going to feel like it's being taken directly from them to be given to somebody else. And I actually watch this thing, and I think this is quite a common analogy, but I watched this guy

talk about it. And I actually thought it was such an interesting way of putting it. He was talking about racism and about kind of the way in which privilege works and why it can be difficult for some white people to see their own privilege because this is the argument that's often made is what he called the monopoly analogy and basically he was saying like it's like a group of white people sat around playing monopoly and they play monopoly for like three hours and in the corner of the room there's just a black guy and a few other minorities getting the shit kicked out of them and then at the end of those three hours then they're like oh i oh, I'm sorry about that. Do you want to play? Actually, you can play now.

And all the rules are the same. You can like roll the dice as much as we do. You can have all of the same, like, you know, all the rules still count for you. It's fair, right? It's equal. But like in those three hours you were playing and those people getting the shit kicked out of them, you've already bought everything there is to buy. own everything that's on this monopoly board so everybody now playing and having the same equal rules quote unquote it doesn't make it equal that's the point that's such a good analogy wasn't it i wish i could say it was mine it wasn't at all i heard it somewhere it's probably quite a well-known one but it was something i've just heard about i was like that is such a good analogy because it's argument that some people will use analogy, because it's an argument that some

people will use of saying, but it's equal now. And it's not because it's based on generations of systemic oppression. It's not a new game. It's not a new round. It's the same game. Exactly. Let's start again, then. Let's start again. Wipe the board. Let's start again. And then that would be actual equality. But it's not what you're saying. So I just thought that was such a good analogy. So back to our statistics. Currently, 4.7 of all indigenous Australian men are in prison compared to 0.3% of their non-indigenous counterparts. Australia's attitude towards its incarcerated indigenous population has historically been so poor that in 1991, a royal commission was begun to investigate indigenous deaths in custody. Since then, 434 indigenous people have died in custody.

And one of those deaths was Ms. Du. Ms. Du, of course, does have a first name, but out of respect for indigenous Australian customs, we won't be using it here today. She grew up in Western Australia as part of the Yamaji people. She moved in with her grandmother aged three after her parents broke up. And she grew up a happy, smiley and kind child. But post high school, she ended up hanging out with a bad crowd. Aged 21, she found herself in a relationship with a 42-year-old man named Dion Ruffin. He had several

children already from a previous partner. And unknown to Miss Du, he also had a history of domestic violence. On the 2nd of August 2014, police arrived at Miss Du and Dion Ruffin's shared house in South Hedland, northwestern Australia. There was a report that Ruffin had violated the terms of his apprehended violence order. The South Hedland police also found an outstanding warrant for Miss Du for a fine of $200. So where does this come from? Basically, Miss Du had received a fine four years earlier when she was just 17 years old.

And what was this fine for? Well, it was because she was found drunk on a beach and admitted to taking ecstasy. She spent a night in the cells and she was given the $200 fine by the children's court. That seems excessive. She's just drunk on a beach as a 17 year old. And yes, she admits to taking ecstasy, but she's not admitting, nor is it proven that she's like fucking supplying it like some drug lord. And the children's court make her spend a night in the cells and a $200 fine. That's crazy.

Yeah, it does seem quite heavy handed. It really does. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I feel like Australia's drinking culture is up there with Britain's drinking culture. I cannot imagine that finding drunk teenagers on the beach was not a common thing. And tell me that they are finding and throwing in the cells all of the drunk white 17 year old teenagers that they're finding. I don't believe it. I won't believe you. I do think not that this is particularly pertinent or important. It just popped into my

head and this is how I operate. I don't think you can drink on beaches in Australia. I think it's illegal like in America. Oh. In LA you can't drink on the beach. God. I know what's the point. That's like the best bit. Yeah, exactly. I remember like when I was in LA, I went to Manhattan Beach where my friend is from. And it was my birthday. And I was like, oh, I just want to like get drunk on the beach. And he was like, no, you can't do that.

And I was like, what? This is an outrage. I just feel like there are too many rules across the world about where you can and cannot drink. Because in America, you can't like drink on the street, can you? No, I think in Britain, because you can basically drink anywhere, apart from like at the wheel of your car. I think we just expect that it's just fine everywhere, but it's not. Can you imagine?

Because like I remember I was in New York for like an event and then after the event, we stayed a few days after. And me and my friends went to like a wine shop and we bought a bunch of bottles and I think we were talking about drinking it in the park or drinking it on the way to wherever we were going out and the guy heard our accents heard us talking and he was like just so you know you cannot drink this on the streets like you were clearly planning to and I was like what I was like this what fucking outrage where am I we can't drink in the street i think it's because especially

like places like new york boston american cities were like formed by like fucking puritans in boston you cannot get a drink anywhere past fucking 11 p.m nowhere it's madness i mean this is just further compounding the drinking culture in england that i was just talking about but this is what i mean it's just proof let us be living proof to you that I cannot believe that, I don't know, there must be, even if you can't drink on the beach in Australia, they must be picking up fucking drunk teenagers all over the place.

A hundred percent. I mean, you're not really supposed to be drinking in parks, but we all did it, you know, and I would much rather have drunk on a beach than in a fucking adventure playground in Berkhamstead. So, Ms. Du had this fine and a few more trivial ones that had accumulated interest over four years. And by the time the police were at her house, she owed $3,000.

She was arrested alongside Dion Ruffin. And once in the cell, she was told she had to spend a further four days in the cell to pay off her debt. This practice is called cutting out, and it's essentially debtor's prison. Surely, if you're locking them up, you have to feed them, so they're still costing you money. Like, how is that settling a debt? It doesn't make any sense. What an absolute fucking waste of everybody's time.

I don't get it. Go make a pick-up rubbish if you're that bothered. Community service would make much more sense. Fucking scrape some chewing gum off some tables or something. I'm baffled. Once in custody, Ms. Du told officers that she was in pain. She was unspecific about what it was that was hurting, and the officers thought she was lying. However, she was being nonspecific because Dion Ruffin was seated very nearby. Ruffin had hit Ms. Du hard in the chest and broken several of her ribs

three months prior. And this was almost certainly Ms. Du's first opportunity to talk to someone about the injury or the abuse. After consistently telling officers of her pain, she was finally taken to the local hospital, Headland Health Campus. There, Dr. Annie Lang gave Ms. Du a brief examination, and she was given some paracetamol and given the second lowest priority score. When questioned afterwards, Dr. Annie Lang said that she thought Miss Du was, quote, exaggerating her position. And this is a really interesting thing. Once again, obviously you guys have seen there've been loads of programming around Black Lives Matter.

I try to watch as much of it as I can possibly manage without just feeling like I'm going to explode from sadness. And there was an interesting point that somebody was saying this idea that the further dehumanization of black people and of black bodies is this idea that they can't really even feel pain the same way that other people do. Even if she'd seen some of these injuries, maybe some of the like biased thinking is just, oh, but she's fine. It is diabolical.

So this theme of Miss Du being treated as an untrustworthy lowlife unfortunately was set to continue. By the time Miss Du was back at South Headland Police Station she had begun to enter sepsis and anyone who knows anything about sepsis that word sends a fucking chill down my spine. It is horrifying and obviously with this Miss Du spent the next 20 hellish hours screaming in pain shouting for help and vomiting but she received no sympathy or compassion whatsoever and remember not that that would make it okay but she's not in jail for like murdering a bunch of children she's there because she has an accumulated interest debt because of a fine she got when she was 17.

Yeah, and similarly to the Darren Cumberbatch case that we covered last time, when you're in police custody, you are supposed to be safe. That's the law. Definitely. They are responsible for your well-being, but no one gives a fuck here. Finally, on the 3rd of August, Miss Dew was taken back to Headland Health Campus. The hospital staff noted she was crying in pain and had a heart rate of 126 BPM.

That is far too high. That is outrageously high. I have to take my blood pressure really regularly because of the medication I'm on, and I have consistently low blood pressure, to the point that my doctor's like, it's nothing to worry about, but it's just really weird. And I'm like, I don't have any explanation for it and I never faint or anything but I do have really cold hands and feet. I'm really feinty faint all the fucking time. How are you? Well maybe we should take your blood pressure maybe you'll be low too. I also think I'm probably quite anemic and just don't really do anything about it I think that's probably it.

I'm super anemic that's why it's good I don't have periods anymore. Because otherwise, no thank you. So these doctors also noted that she looked incredibly dehydrated. But they didn't take her temperature because of, get this, a shortage of thermometers. What? Come on. What? You just reused the same one. They just put a plastic thing over it.

It's not like the mercury ones from like the olden days. I don't understand. It's not a shortage of thermometers, is it? Let's be honest. It's a shortage of giving a fuck. That's what it is. It is completely outrageous. So despite, again, all of her symptoms, symptoms that now cannot be faked

because she's got a high blood pressure and she's vomiting as well, she wasn't given a chest X-ray, even though that's where she's saying the pain is coming from. Instead, Dr Vafa Naderi used an ultrasound on Ms Du's chest and in the process of this ultrasound managed to miss all of the broken ribs and the massive infection that was beginning to spread. I just feel like if you've got that bad an infection as well, where you've got sepsis, surely even without a thermometer, you would be hot to the touch. Oh, on fire. Yeah.

So shut up with the shortage of thermometers. How are you not telling? Even for COVID, they're like, you don't need a thermometer. They're like, if you feel hot to the touch, that counts as you having a high temperature. Like, that's enough. This doctor did note down that he thought Misdu was suffering from, quote, behavioural issues and, quote, drug withdrawal.

Oh, fuck off. It would appear that the hospital had typecast Ms. Du as a drugged-up Indigenous Australian, and they couldn't really see past their preconceptions or prejudice and see her for the severely ill abuse victim she really was. After all of this, she was sent back to the police station, and this final visit would prove to be by far her worst. Ms Du spent the final night of her life alone in a cell without having an ounce of compassion shown towards her.

One of the people who came to visit her was Sergeant Rick Bond, but he wasn't there to comfort her. Instead, he pulled another inmate into her cell, pointed at her and said, quote, This is what happens. You end up like this woman here. It's a good deterrent not to take drugs. He then dragged the inmate away back to his cell and left Miss Du alone again. The next morning, Miss Du begged to be taken back to the hospital, saying that her legs had gone numb. Officer Shelley Burgess entered the cell and pulled Miss Dew into a

sitting position. She then let her go and watched Miss Dew's limp body fall down, hitting her head on the concrete floor. Shelley Burgess confirmed afterwards that before Miss Dew was taken to hospital for the final time, Sergeant Rick Bond whispered in Miss Dew's ear, quote, you're a fucking junkie and you've been to hospital twice before and this is not fucking on. At this point, Officer Shelley Burgess and another officer, Christopher Mater, carried Miss Du by her hands and feet to the back of a police van. As she was carried, she cried out in pain before Mater told her to, quote, shut up. Once back at the hospital, Ms. Du was placed in a wheelchair. Her head slumped backwards over the chair at a disturbing angle. Some reports suggest

that as Ms. Du was wheeled into the hospital with her feet dragging on the floor, she was already dead. Once in the hospital, Christopher Mater told staff, quote, she's just putting it on, she's faking it. And the hospital staff replied that Ms. Du had suffered a heart attack. Nurses made attempt to resuscitate Ms. Du while Mater stood continually insisting that she was faking the whole thing. I mean, she's dead. Oh, my God. I can't fucking cope. I don't want to advocate violence, but I want to stamp on this man's chest until he has a heart attack.

Imagine being like, oh, no, no, no. Like when medical professionals would be like, this is a dead person. And they'd be like, no, no, no, no. She's putting it on. Oh, my God. I just have no words. So Ms. Du had spent her final moments with a white man looking down on her, telling her that she was faking it and she was pronounced dead 53 minutes after she'd entered the hospital. An inquest into Ms Du's death was led by state coroner Rosalinda Fogliania. During the inquest, the court heard of how if Ms Du had been correctly diagnosed during her second visit to the hospital, her life could have been saved. They also heard that Ms Du's mother had phoned the South Headland police station twice while Ms Du was inside, but she was told she could not speak to her.

Fogliania also recommended that the law be changed to stop the practice of cutting out. Despite all of the damning reports, however, not one of the officers involved with Ms Du's death were charged. Shock. Absolute fucking shocking. 11 of them apparently received action from within the police force itself. If you're thinking, oh well at least that's something, let me stop you right there because the severest action that was taken was towards Officer Shelley Burgess, the woman who had sat Miss Due up in a sitting position and let her head smack the floor. And she was given a warning by the assistant police commissioner for her quote

lack of urgency. What? Basically what they mean here when they say a warning it's a letter maybe not even strongly worded letter it's just a letter being like we have to send this and since the incident at least two of the officers involved in mistu's death have been promoted hooray good just let that fucking virus spread ever higher up the chain of command. Cool. But one thing, I don't even know if it was directly related to this, but one thing has occurred since. And as of September 2019, laws were introduced to limit the practice of cutting out. The group Sisters Inside, who fight for the rights of incarcerated women, criticised this though, saying that it had taken five years for the law to be changed. However,

their founder Debbie Kilrow shouted alleluia when she was told that the change in law would also clear any outstanding warrants for unpaid fines. So that is something because this is just an absolute fucking nonsense. So if you do want to know more about Australia's historically negative approach to its indigenous population, The Guardian have actually created a database of indigenous Australian deaths in police custody. We will link that database in the episode description in the show notes and on our website so you guys can go and take a look if that is something you are interested in. And we've got a bit more homework for you as well. We strongly recommend a TED Talk by a lady called Sheila Humphries, which is not directly about Ms. Du or even death in custody, really,

but it gives a huge insight into the life of an Indigenous Australian and how she was forced into glorified slavery when she was growing up. Again, we'll link it downstairs. Lastly, if you're wondering why we know so much detail about Ms. Du's case, it's because the whole of her time in custody was recorded on CCTV. And you can find it online easily, but fair warning, it's pretty tough to watch. Yep. I don't know how much more everyone can take of just watching this kind of thing. And I do think as well, a couple of people have mentioned it on our Facebook group and I think it's a really important point to take this idea of the re-traumatization of black people when we share violence committed against black people that is caught on videotape. I think that is a really important point to mention. I think you know when George Floyd's murder happened I saw

that footage everywhere, kept seeing it. I am yet to watch the entire thing through because I just can't do it and I can just imagine, I know I can't imagine how a black person would feel going on to their social media and having to be re-traumatized by seeing that footage again and again and again so I would just say if you want to go see this kind of thing for your own understanding about what is really going on then yes absolutely do absolutely do that. But I would say think and think again and then think again before you maybe share it on social media. That's it. So yeah, thank you guys so much for listening to this month's episode

as part of our BLM series. We will be back again next month with another case. Keep reading, keep learning, keep questioning, keep your mind open. Precisely. We'll see you guys next time. Bye. See you next time. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. Precisely. We'll see you guys next L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death.

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