Apartheid Minus the Passbooks

My first introduction to Redfern came only a few minutes after I visited a radical flat. Nine Blacks, three girls and five boys and an older black were brought in for a cup of coffee by the young lawyer. They had been picked up for trespass when they were sleeping in some backyard. None of them had anywhere to live. What few possessions they had, had either been stolen by the police or left where they were picked up. Not yet sober they had been charged, appeared before the magistrate and remanded for three days.

Several were from Queensland. They couldn't return. All had been convicted there and were subject to Queensland's laws under which they were bound to live on reservations as directed by the Government. A situation no different from South Africa — only the Passbook was missing. The old fellow kept talking about his canvas paintings — they were missing. So was his bankbook with the record of his sixty dollars, so was his set of teeth. It was not anticipated that the police would be returning any of the missing gear.

An hour or so later the leader of the local Black development project arrived. For an hour he talked, quietly but firmly. His approach was essentially integrationalist. He saw the present as offering opportunities to break through in white society. I was told that his views would represent the views of 90—95% of Blacks. Even those who were on the receiving end of his advice tended to judge success in terms of a good job and education. After an hour or so the nine blacks were told that a bed had been found and that efforts would be made to find jobs. But the warning was there. They were being assisted by a Black self-help project — if they didn't shape up then the welfare of the total community would not be sacrificed for them.

I don't think it is easy for any black leader to put it on his brothers and sisters like that. But that is the only choice they have in Redfern. In order to establish the community spirit, in order to establish a local development programme they have had to fight the South Sydney Council, the Federal Government, the local white citizens and the despair among their own people that had grown out of 150 years of being kicked by the whites.