The NSW Police Minister Is Cranky That A Bunch Of School Kids Support Black Lives Matter
"We don't have a race problem here in Australia," David Elliott said on morning TV today.
NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott has slammed a Sydney school over anti-police placards made by students.
Elliott arced up on Sunrise this morning — the one breakfast show that faced a racial vilification lawsuit only last year.
“I don’t want to see taxpayers’ money going into an alleged education when children are going to walk away thinking that police are somehow racist,” he told hosts Kochie and Nat.
Year 5 and 6 kids at the North Shore’s Lindfield Learning Village had channelled their thoughts on what is a challenging and divisive time in the world, through arts and crafts.
Their Black Lives Matter signage included depictions of the Aboriginal flag, the black power symbol and messages of support such as “help black lives by donating and staying safe”.
I see David Elliott is taking the 1990 action comedy Kindergarten Cop as a literal manual today.
— Bhakthi (@bhakthi) April 21, 2021
“This sort of indoctrination is going to scare these children away from the police, it will put their lives in danger,” Elliott said today, two years after vocally supporting kids being strip-searched.
Commentators have also taken issue with the ACAB tonality. One of the posters had “Stop Killer Cops” centred around hashtagged messages such as “We all bleed red”, “Black people deserve to live”, “End white supremacy” and “Pigs out of the country”.
There’s also a sweet “#Save the turtles” motif thrown in for good measure.
“Our young people need us to think differently with them,” school principal Stephanie McConnell told Macquarie Matters last year.
“They need us to hear their voice, and we need to make sure they don’t feel disempowered by their educational experience.”
Elliott called the class activity biased and political indoctrination, before distancing the country’s police standards from America.
His comments come a week after the 30th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody where 474 Indigenous people have died over that period, while no police officer has ever been held criminally responsible.
“We don’t have a race problem here in Australia,” he said, before referencing a record number of Indigenous police recruits at the moment.
Record numbers of Aboriginal people joining the police? Against what? The country had segregation policy in the 70’s, legally Black stole children into the 70’s, literally had a White Australia policy – you don’t think this affected who was hired by institutions? https://t.co/UG1rQWAtvx
— Nakkiah Lui (@nakkiahlui) April 21, 2021
The materials have been taken down and the State Department of Education is reviewing the incident, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The comments on the poster are in no way endorsed by the department or represent the department’s view of police, who do an indispensable job of keeping the community safe and secure,” a NSW Education statement read.
Junkee reached out to Lindfield Learning Village for comment.
David Elliott showing us that, whilst all lives do indeed matter, not all opinions should.
— Yvonne McGruder (@YvMcGruder) April 21, 2021