The disappearance of our children should always stop the nation

RIP to Kumanjayi Little Baby

This week, Mparntwe, and communities across the country, are mourning the tragic loss of Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was disappeared from a room on Old Timers town camp on Sunday night.

The extensive search for the beautiful five-year-old girl spanned nearly five days, with community members, her family, and the wider town joining the effort to find her.

The Tangentyere Council, which represents the town camps and provides primary services, said earlier this week that there had been an overwhelming response from the local community to their call to assist in the search.

CEO Walter Shaw had said that by Wednesday, over 300 people had volunteered to search for Kumanjayi Little Baby.

This was so important because those first few days are most critical in searches for missing persons. Often, an absence of searching and an absence of public awareness can affect searches and aids in entrenching disappearance.

Tragically, Kumanjayi’s body was found by the Todd River on Thursday.

The man alleged to have abducted Kumanjayi Little Baby was found by members of the community last night, and was arrested by NT police according to the Guardian’s Indigenous affairs reporter Douglas Smith.

Her family, friends, and wider community are now in a state of grief, which is shared across the nation.

Yesterday, Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother released a statement:

To Kumanjayi Little Baby,

Me and Ramsiah miss and love you.

I know you are in heaven with the rest of the family with Jesus and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Me and your brother will meet you one day.

We are giving our lives to Jesus.

It is going to be so hard to live the rest of our lives without you.

Ramsiah wants to tell you that when he sees you in heaven, he is going to give you the biggest hug ever.

Already, sections of the media and social media have begun framing this tragedy in terms of dysfunction and deviance, because this is often the only way mainstream media outlets know how to write stories of tragedy in our communities.

There have been sections that have victim-blamed the parents, who have equated poverty with a lack of care, with no understanding of the history of the town camps as described by Black Witnesses, and who have named and printed images of ‘riots’, stoking Facebook comments that black communities are ‘ungrateful’ to police. All of these comments and tropes are as predictable as they are inaccurate, and should be condemned outright.

This is because the focus should always be on Kumanjayi Little Baby, and on ensuring her memory and how she was in the living is presenced, and brought to the forefront, always.

What this tragedy has shown us is the enormous depth of care and love from Black communities towards our children. It has shown again how the loss of any one of our children hurts us all. It has demonstrated just how much Kumanjayi Little Baby was loved, and how she was loved, not only in life, but also in death.

This love is demonstrated in many ways, perhaps inconceivable to other Australians, who don’t have to fight to have their children seen as grievable.

The love is shown through the searches, through her family who spoke out in the media, and yes, through the community’s anger: an outright, most visible expression of their grief.

It has shown how the disappearance of our children should always be taken as a priority; that it should stop the nation; that wherever we are, we should all be doing our roles to search for our loved ones.

Our children are at the centre: They always have been.

The time now is for allowing the community to grieve, continuing to support them in their grief, and always, always, centring the family at every point.

Yapa Elder Robin Granites said today in a statement shared by SNAICC:

“It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering.

“Everyone is feeling very upset and emotions are very high, I understand that.

“What has happened this week is not our way. Our children are precious, of course we are feeling hurt and angry at what has happened.

“This man has been caught, thanks to community action, and we must now let justice take its course while we take time to mourn Kumanjayi Little Baby and support our family.”

NOTE: This piece has been edited from the newsletter version to include Mr Granite’s statement.