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Sudanese heritage youth in Australia are frequently maligned by fear-mongering and racism

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Sudanese heritage youth in Australia are frequently maligned by fear-mongering and racism

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This has become a common occurrence, traceable back at least to the media reporting of the murder of South Sudanese Melburnian Liep Gony in 2007. The then immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, responded by restricting the numbers of refugees resettled in Australia, citing “African gangs” and the failure of African refugees to integrate.

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Recent criminal incidents in Melbourne involving young people of African heritage have enabled the media and politicians such as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to again capitalise on the opportunity to demonise those of African descent in Australia.

This has become a common occurrence, traceable back at least to the media reporting of the murder of South Sudanese Melburnian Liep Gony in 2007. The then immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, responded by restricting the numbers of refugees resettled in Australia, citing "African gangs" and the failure of African refugees to integrate.

Reporting after the 2008 murder of Daniel Thongjang Awak in Adelaide suggested that his death was tribal and gang-related, despite no evidence to prove this.

Read more: A degree doesn't count for South Sudanese job seekers

After the murder of Alex Ngong Akol in Adelaide in 2009, his alleged criminality was used in an attempt to justify his murder and the Sudanese community was likened to grieving chimpanzees.

More recently, the "Apex gang" in Melbourne has been portrayed by the media as a violent gang of predominantly young African-heritage men. Clarifications were later given from those including Victorian Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane suggesting that they were not a gang, but a culturally diverse group of youth connected through social media.

Child soldiers or Aussies

Media and political discourse about South Sudanese and African-heritage young people positions them with deficits. It depicts them as having experiences of trauma and war or as child soldiers, and having low levels of literacy and education.

This line of thought holds that this results in their supposed inability to integrate into Australian society and their predisposition to violence and criminality.

Almost none of the young people currently accused of criminal behaviour are in the age-bracket to have been born or lived in Sudan. Most families who were resettled in Australia had been living in refugee camps or as urban refugees in Kenya, Uganda or Egypt for at least ten years prior to arriving in Australia.

Therefore, most of the current youth (aged 15-24 years) are unlikely to have experienced war directly or been child soldiers.

Since the mid-1990s, 27,679 people who identify their birthplace as Sudan or South Sudan have migrated to Australia. South Sudan became an independent country in 2011 after more than 20 years of civil war between northern and southern Sudanese.

The second civil war in Sudan, which ran from 1983 to 2005, resulted in the death of more than 2 million people and the displacement of more than 4 million.

A small number of those displaced by this conflict were resettled in Australia under Australia's Humanitarian Entrant Program for refugees. The peak period of resettlement of Sudanese-born refugees was from 2003 to 2006.

Only about 3,000 Sudanese or South Sudanese born people have been resettled in Australia in the past ten years. A young person of South Sudanese heritage who is currently 20 years old was likely to be no more than eight when they arrived in Australia, meaning they have experienced most of their life and schooling in Australia.

Impacts of education and employment

While there is acknowledgement that there are young people of South Sudanese heritage who are engaging in criminal activity, it is debated as to whether the crime rates are any higher in this group than in the wider Australian population.

For those young people who are engaging in criminal activities, there are a range of underlying factors that must be tackled to improve future outcomes for this group.

For young people with South Sudanese heritage, racism is one of the key causes of early school-leaving and dropout. A study of refugee youth arrivals (more than 60% African heritage) found that school completion rates for refugee students are significantly lower (62%) than for other Australians (86%).

One of the key predictors of school completion was experiences of discrimination. Little is being done in many schools and communities to tackle underlying racism. If anything, current media and political discourses further fuel racism and discrimination.

Read more: South Sudan's famine is the fallout from a spiralling ethnic war

Despite some of the early educational challenges, South Sudanese Australians are successfully completing tertiary education in significant numbers. But this is not transferring into professional employment.

A recent study in the ACT found that while 42% of the 72 South Sudanese participants had tertiary qualifications, 96% of this participant group were seeking employment - with many unemployed or underemployed, despite their qualifications.

The unemployment rate in the South Sudanese community is 28.6%: five times the national unemployment rate of 5.7%. This unemployment rate impedes integration to the Australian community. Research from the US and UK suggest the need for urgent investigation of the impact of racism on the employment of South Sudanese in Australia.

Underpinning media portrayals and educational and employment outcomes is a key theme. Call it what you like - racism, discrimination or simply not fitting the mould of what people like Dutton would have you believe is Australian.

By propagating a fear of "African gangs" with the comment that "people are scared to go out to restaurants of a night-time", Dutton feeds discourses of white nationalism where the black African "other" cannot belong in Australia.

Many Melburnians have rebutted this negative discourse, filling Twitter feeds with #MelbourneBitesBack, taking photos as they dine out in Melbourne.

However, the long-term impacts for the South Sudanese community are likely to be increased exclusion, fear and contempt, rather than what is really required for successful integration - a sense of belonging and inclusion.

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Sudanese heritage youth in Australia are frequently maligned by fear-mongering and racism

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Recent media reports of South Sudanese 'crime gangs' do nothing to offer young people what they most need: inclusion, acceptance and employment.

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Victoria Police establish African-Australian community taskforce to tackle youth crime

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Victoria Police establish African-Australian community taskforce to tackle youth crime

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Victoria Police have established a community taskforce with African-Australian leaders to tackle youth crime, amid what the Chief Commissioner has described as an increase in public disorder and misbehaviour.

Victoria's police chief acknowledges an increase in public disorder and misbehaviour by African youths

But he says claims Victoria is unsafe are 'complete and utter garbage'

African-Australian leaders say community members have received death threats over the issue

The taskforce will meet for the first time on Friday and is supported by senior African leaders in Melbourne.

Returning from a period of sick leave following a fatigue-related illness, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said he had met with community leaders to discuss how African-Australian youth crime had changed in recent times.

Chief Commissioner Ashton said the force had been dealing with home invasions and car-jackings for some time, and generally "catching the offenders quickly".

"What's changed over and above that ... has been an increase in public disorder and public behaviour, misbehaviour in public by groups of young people," he said.

"That's been a bit different to what we've been dealing with.

"We've had a number of instances where we had to call out our public order response teams.

"There's been plenty of footage in the media of recent times with that occurring. That's probably changed a bit."

African community receiving death threats

Victoria Police said the taskforce would assist law enforcement by:

Providing information to police on emerging issues and hot spots, allowing police to act swiftly

Establishing a more efficient channel for police to engage with African-Australian leaders and provide advice on how they can assist in preventing youth crimes and antisocial behaviour

Providing police with information on incidents of racial vilification and other hate crimes aimed at African Australians

Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the third element of the taskforce was necessary due to threats being made to law-abiding members of the African community.

"I know [that] a number of people here today and others in the community have been subjected ... to death threats," he said.

"I think it's really important this community has the opportunity to connect with Victoria Police to look at how best we can protect the community, how we can investigate these matters, if it's to do with racial vilification or hate crimes."

African-Australian Kot Monoah said the media coverage of the issue in recent weeks had negatively affected a broad range of community members.

"Yesterday we were at Eagle Stadium in Werribee," he said.

"We saw a young person from an African community coaching young people and someone approached [and said] 'if you ever touch my child, we're going kill you'.

"The other incident is ... a group of young people who are doing very well at university saying 'we don't have a chance with the sorts of reporting that is happening. We'd better move overseas ... where this sort of coverage is not there'."

Dutton's concerns 'complete and utter garbage': Ashton

Crime committed by African youth has received nationwide media attention in recent weeks, after Federal MP Greg Hunt described African gang crime as being "out of control" in Melbourne.

His comments came after several recent headline-grabbing crimes which were blamed on groups of young African men, including the trashing of an Airbnb property in Werribee and the repeated destruction of a community centre in Tarneit.

They were followed by similar concerns voiced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton, who claimed Melburnians were too frightened to dine out because of the problem.

But Chief Commissioner Ashton described claims that Victoria was not a safe place to live as "complete and utter garbage".

"There are people being affected by crime, and that's always been the case and it's the same in every city in Australia ..., [but] Victoria is one of the safest places in the world to live," he said.

"The concept that somehow it's unsafe to go out of dinner ... I think everyone in this room would go out places for dinner, I don't think anyone's sitting with the sheets cowering over their heads.

He acknowledged that people were concerned by what they had read and seen on the issue but said the crime rate in Victoria was actually going down.

"I don't think it's a crisis ... I think if you put it into context you've got a few hundred offenders engaging in offending in a city of 4.5 million people," he said.

"If you look across the totality of the Victorian crime situation, the last two quarters we've reduced total crime in the state. We're continuing to do that."

'Street gang behaviour', not organised gangs

Chief Commissioner Ashton said Victoria Police would continue to take a "zero-tolerance" approach to youth offending, which he said was often the result of complex issues of social disadvantage and unemployment.

"We will continue to make arrests, we will continue to investigate and crack down on criminal behaviour, like we have been doing," he said.

But he reiterated that while police were describing the incidents as "street gang behaviour", the force did not consider the crimes as being committed by "structured, organised gangs" of people.

"What this is, it's young people coming together, networking through social media, coming together and engaging in criminal activity," he said.

"It's much more loosely organised than many might think in that regard. I think that's the point - it's not structured and organised, like a bikie gang or other gangs in Victoria."

Community leader Richard Deng also criticised politicians for using the term "African gangs".

"We love to call them gangs, African gangs, and the majority of these kids are born here, they're bloody Australian. Let's call them that way."

Young Africans' 'racially profiled'

Mr Monoah acknowledged there were behavioural issues some young people, often compounded by the use of drugs and alcohol, that needed tackling.

But he criticised politicians and the media for their handling of the issue.

"These sorts of issues, it is our duty and responsibility as a society to address them without obviously mixing them with politics or without mixing them with any other messaging," he said.

He said a number of young people had been racially profiled in shopping centres and parks as a result of the recent attention to the issue.

"It impacts on a number of law-abiding, innocent people," he said.

Mr Deng also called on politicians and the media not to divide the community over the issue.

"I would like to say again to the politicians - it is time you join hands with the community, engage, let's put politics aside and work together," he said.

"Using crime for political gain is not acceptable. As a community, we call on all politicians to work with us, work with Victoria Police, as a way forward."

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African-Australian community taskforce established to tackle youth crime

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Victoria Police will work with African-Australian leaders to tackle youth crime following "an increase in public disorder and misbehaviour" but the Chief Commissioner says claims Victoria is not a safe place to live are "utter garbage".

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Just before Channel 7 aired a Sunday Night special devoted to Melbourne's "African gangs" problem earlier this month, the race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, went on Twitter to criticise a promotion spot as "fear-mongering and racial hysteria".

The same could be said of a string of stories in the Australian media in recent months on violent incidents committed by "African gangs" or people of "African appearance". The death of a 19-year-old Sudanese woman at a party in Melbourne earlier this month was linked in some reports with gang violence - something Victorian police ruled out. Even a gate-crashing incident at a teenager's birthday party this week was deemed a news story of national importance by The Australian due to the culprits' racial identity.

Such media coverage is, sadly, something African-Australians have been exposed to before - it seems to have popped up regularly in some form over the past ten years, at least. Before this, it was the Lebanese who were said to be forming menacing gangs, and before them, the Vietnamese and the Italians. The Australian media have a poor record in dealing with difference and diversity.

The central issue here is not that violent incidents are being covered - it's the media's duty to report on issues of public safety. The problem is the disproportionate amount of attention focused on the so-called African gang problem in Melbourne and the way these incidents are being discussed.

The power of labels

Among the universe of labels available to describe these crime incidents in Melbourne, the media have, predictably, fallen back on the familiar ground of racial or national identity. Seemingly unconcerned with the great diversity that defines Africa, the label "African gangs" has become lazy shorthand for anyone of African descent. One wonders whether a white person from Africa would be included under this "African gangs" umbrella.

One of the questions many migrants have is why their nationality, race and cultural background has become such a defining feature in crime coverage when the whiteness of other criminal offenders is essentially ignored and rendered invisible.

Read more: Sudanese heritage youth in Australia are frequently maligned by fear-mongering and racism

As Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton perhaps inadvertently suggested last week when he railed against "a major law and order problem in Victoria" that wasn't happening elsewhere, why haven't the media blamed these incidents on "Melbourne gangs"?

Or, while we're at it, why not call them "male gangs" or, as has sometimes been used in an attempt to include non-black offenders, "youth gangs"?

Of course, none of this would improve the media coverage of the recent Melbourne violence. These labels are just as useless in describing the complex mixture of social, cultural and economic factors behind these offences as a focus on racial identity. As the Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane has said, there's not even consensus on whether "gangs" have been involved at all.

But at least these alternative labels would carry less of the injurious baggage that racial labels do.

Race equals identity

Not only do racial labels implicate all Africans in violent crime, they also keep alive that most pernicious of links between race and behaviour. If the race of offenders is the only part of their identity worth mentioning in news reports, then it stands to reason this has a causal link with their behaviour. Other complex factors that contribute to crime get ignored.

Journalists may argue that in the rush of their overworked lives, they seldom have the time to explore these types of stories in more depth. They certainly don't have time to gather information on the offenders' upbringing, background, education, socioeconomic status and their past experiences with violence and injustice - perceived or otherwise.

But why then consistently fall back on race and nationality? Perhaps it is something about these young offenders' backgrounds - a source of "cultural incompatibility", in the language of soft racism. But many of these offenders are legally Australian. Many were likely born in Australia or spent their formative years in Australia.

Read more: Racist reporting still rife in Australian media

The damage caused by all of this is real, and the fact that politicians, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are buying into such narratives is a point of anxiety for Australians with African heritage.

This type of bias has been shown to have negative impacts on the wellbeing and sense of belonging of African-Australians.

Indeed, some Sudanese-Australians now live in fear of racially charged attacks due to the overwhelmingly negative media coverage. As one 19-year-old African-Australian put it at a rally outside Channel 7 last weekend:

The damage that it's doing to our community is inconceivable. I want the wider Australian community to see the pain we are going through, and understand the pain. All we want is a fair go in this society. To show who we are as people and ... not lazy journalism.

Alternative voices in the media

It seems inevitable this sort of media coverage will continue - it has a long history. It is also not simply the fault of individual journalists, many of whom are hard-working, intelligent and conscientious. Rather, it is the result of far more entrenched attitudes toward race in Australia, one that involves objectified notions of racial or cultural hierarchies and a newly reinvigorated politics of fear of migrants.

Read more: Shock horror: the big end of town has finally discovered Australia's media is a whitewash

As researchers at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural in the UK pointed out 40 years ago, journalists do not sit outside their cultural and political contexts, but often reflect and reinforce them.

One way of changing the narrative is through social media, community media and ethnic minority media. Whether it be the subversion of the "African gangs" problem on Twitter, or in the media produced by people of African heritage, alternative interpretations do exist.

It's also incumbent on mainstream media to give a voice to those in the African community who feel impacted by biased reporting. Some news outlets are doing this. But it's equally important these media organisations take a hard look at their coverage of these issues and the power of the words they use. Media are not the cause of racism, but they do have the power to shift public attitudes and increase understanding in society.

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Why the media are to blame for racialising Melbourne's 'African gang' problem

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The problem is the disproportionate amount of attention on the so-called African gang problem and the way these incidents are being reported.

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SBS voices; The label #AfricanGangs is dehumanising

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SBS voices; The label #AfricanGangs is dehumanising

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said that Melbournians were too "afraid to go to restaurants due to their fear of African gangs." The sensationalised news coverage on the issue has created the

, an assertion that the

through his show on T

also urged politicians to be honest about their agenda in criminalising African youth.

Despite the fact that Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency shows that

with big drops in abductions, burglaries, theft, deception and drug dealing, and that majority

] of the crimes were committed by Australian-born Victorians, Victoria continues to be positioned as 'terror zone' terrorised by African gangs. The problem with these "tough on crime" racialised statements and attitudes is that they win votes in this country.

Negative labelling also extends to how people respond to victims of violent crimes. In the last week, a young Sudanese girl

was murdered following a brawl that ensued after a party. The immediate comments that were made by Peter Dutton wrongly conflated her death with 'Sudanese gangs' violence, therefore influencing the public's reaction and sensitivity to her death. A young woman's murder was used to push a political agenda, reducing her death into a political spectacle.
The label of the #AfricanGang Stories matter...many stories matter
To insist on a single story of any person is to assume that the single story about them is their story. The single story emphasises that Africans cannot embody multiple stories which ultimately denies them the opportunity to be complex- which is a privilege afforded to other people. Africans too are, and can be multi-storied.

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The single story of Africans as dangerous criminals or uncivilised animals is just as offensive as it is untrue.

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not very useful as i have to pay for it - it is a book

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Abstract

Place, Race and Politics presents an integrated analysis of the social and political processes that combined to construct a media-driven 'crisis' concerning African youth crime in the city of Melbourne, Australia.

Combining original research and analysis alongside published sources, the authors carefully dissect the anatomy of a racialized and politicized public discourse and delve into the profound impact of this on African-Australian communities in Melbourne. Drawing on political and media analysis and community-based research, the authors investigate how South Sudanese Australians in Melbourne came to be identified, supposedly, as a unique threat to community safety, the role played by the media, state and federal politics, the policing and perceptions of race in this process, and the physical and emotional impacts on affected communities of the law and order crisis concerning 'African crime'.

While deeply rooted in local conditions, the book resonates with similar examples of the criminalization and othering of racialized communities, the surveillance and exclusion of 'crimmigrants', and with popular punitivism and the rise of far-right politics globally in response to deeply felt anxieties about rapid social, economic and cultural change.

Original language

English

Place of Publication

Bingley UK

Publisher
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Number of pages

135

Edition

1st

ISBN (Electronic)

9781800430457, 9781800430471

ISBN (Print)

9781800430464

Publication status

Published -

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Other files and links

Cite this

Weber, L., Blaustein, J., Benier, K. , Wickes, R., & Johns, D. (2021). Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis . (1st ed.) Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

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AB - Place, Race and Politics presents an integrated analysis of the social and political processes that combined to construct a media-driven 'crisis' concerning African youth crime in the city of Melbourne, Australia.Combining original research and analysis alongside published sources, the authors carefully dissect the anatomy of a racialized and politicized public discourse and delve into the profound impact of this on African-Australian communities in Melbourne. Drawing on political and media analysis and community-based research, the authors investigate how South Sudanese Australians in Melbourne came to be identified, supposedly, as a unique threat to community safety, the role played by the media, state and federal politics, the policing and perceptions of race in this process, and the physical and emotional impacts on affected communities of the law and order crisis concerning 'African crime'.While deeply rooted in local conditions, the book resonates with similar examples of the criminalization and othering of racialized communities, the surveillance and exclusion of 'crimmigrants', and with popular punitivism and the rise of far-right politics globally in response to deeply felt anxieties about rapid social, economic and cultural change.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Place, Race and Politics presents an integrated analysis of the social and political processes that combined to construct a media-driven 'crisis' concerning African youth crime in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Combining original research and analysis alongside published sources, the authors carefully dissect the anatomy of a racialized and politicized public discourse and delve into the profound impact of this on African-Australian communities in Melbourne.

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COMMENTThe label #AfricanGangs is dehumanising

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COMMENTThe label #AfricanGangs is dehumanising

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Dorcas Mbugua is an employment and industrial lawyer living in Melbourne. She is one of the outspoken African Australians who took to her social media to criticise the statement made by the PM through an open letter. She wrote:

"You owe the African Australian community an apology…being a young migrant nation, the misconceptions about Africans in Australia already exist without your help. It is insulting to the Australian community at large to spread fake news in an attempt to retain political power."

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African community leaders have hit back at the Prime Minister over his "gang violence" comments, saying that using immigrants for "political gain" will only create further division.

Malcolm Turnbull this week criticised the Victorian Government for not doing more about Melbourne's "growing gang violence and lawlessness", and police on Tuesday said the city had a problem with a small number of African youth involved in gang behaviour.

South Sudanese community leader Richard Deng invited Mr Turnbull to visit his community and speak directly to the kids.

"What disappointed me as a community leader is to see a Prime Minister of our country trying to say these are 'African gangs' - these are the children of Australia," Mr Deng told ABC News Breakfast.

"He's the Prime Minister, he needs to join hands with the State Government and police to support these kids.

"I invite Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to come to Victoria and see the community leaders."

Mr Deng said a number of kids in his area had become disengaged with the community and fallen in with "ringleaders" who pushed them into crime.

He said it was limited to a "tiny number" of kids of African descent and he did not like to use the word "gangs".

"To be honest with you there are no gangs in Victoria," he said.

"There are just a group of young kids who are going together in a group and they are terrorising people because they are going in a group."

"These are young people who like to make a name for themselves to look tough in front of the Victorian police, for example."

Mr Deng said engaging these kids with employment and school would prove more beneficial than giving them labels.

"To make it clear, we don't support those youths who are not law-abiding citizens," he said.

"The law will deal with them and we want to make sure those who need support need to be supported through employment and education."

"This is the only way forward as a country. Using [our] community for political gain is not a solution," he said.

Ahmed Hassan, the director of outreach group Youth Activating Youth, said the Victorian Government was already working hard to create meaningful opportunities for disengaged youths.

"We need to continue this and it has to come from a federal level where the Prime Minister has to support the State Government initiatives," he said.

"The community leaders are pushing these agendas, we are on the ground, we are working through youth justice and through the schools and through sporting clubs."

African migrants 'face unfair stigma'

Community advocates said saturation media coverage of a "gang crisis" was fuelling discrimination against young African immigrants, who were increasingly "viewed as criminals wherever they go".

Anthony Kelly from Smart Justice - a group of organisations led by Victoria's Federation of Community Legal Centres - said the "black crime association" in mainstream media was a key factor behind the practice of racial profiling by police.

"Being stopped prolifically is a very common experience for African young people in Melbourne - being stopped by police and being asked what they're doing and to account for themselves," Mr Kelly said.

"Victoria Police are starting to train against that, against those biases, but we do know that it still occurs."

Mr Kelly said the "political football" over youth crime could have major consequences for African young people.

"Because there's a racialised element to this law-and-order panic, we see a vast array of discriminatory and criminalisation effects. They get viewed as criminals wherever they go."

We asked how you thought stigma against the African community based on the actions of a small number could be prevented.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said she was disappointed the Prime Minister was trying to get political mileage out of the issue.

"I'd appreciate maybe the Commonwealth Government focusing on some other issues like how we provide migration support to immigrants coming in to our community," Ms Neville told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"Stop cutting youth employment programs that are also so critical, TAFE programs, university, all of those things that are so critical to really getting to some of the root causes of this issue, rather than playing politics of this nature."

African-Australian Multicultural Employment and Youth Services CEO Berhan Ahmed said African communities were sick of the partisan political fighting.

"I agree with the Victorian police, they were Africans and there are Africans in this violent crime, but this should not be stigmatising the whole African community," Dr Ahmed told the ABC's PM program.

"These criminals have to be punished, but not the community, and that's important - to put a line between the criminals and the African community at large."

On Tuesday, Victoria Police Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said African youth were overrepresented in serious and violent crime and public disorder offences.

"These young thugs, these young criminals, they're not an organised crime group like a Middle Eastern organised crime group or an outlaw motorcycle gang. But they're behaving like street gangs, so let's call them that - that's what they are," Acting Commissioner Patton said.

The State Opposition has proposed mandatory sentencing for repeat serious criminals, and called for the State Government to scrap Youth Control Orders - a sentencing alternative requiring offenders to take part in education or work, rather than detaining them.

Crime statistics show an overrepresentation of Sudanese-born and Kenyan-born offenders in some categories.

There was a sharp rise in Sudanese-born offenders involved in aggravated burglaries, from 20 in the 2014-15 financial year to 98 two years later, according to Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency.

However, the statistics also show that a Victorian is more than 25 times more likely to be seriously assaulted by someone born in Australia or New Zealand than someone born in Sudan or Kenya.

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'There are no gangs': African community leaders issue challenge to PM

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African community leaders dispute the suggestion young criminals are forming gangs, and hit back at Malcolm Turnbull over his "gang violence" comments, saying that using immigrants for political gain will create further division.

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Abc article community leader and lawyer Nyadol Nyuon quotes

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Abc article community leader and lawyer Nyadol Nyuon quotes

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Despite this, research from the Productivity Commission now measures Victoria as the "most fearful state" in the nation, with a significant drop in the number of people reporting that they "feel safe at home".

South Sudanese community leader and lawyer Nyadol Nyuon says with some of the media and political commentary around the issue, it's no wonder.

"The public is being told that there's a crisis, that they live in a state that is becoming lawless," she said.

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'I'm black … I'm seen as a threat': Crime and panic on the streets of Melbourne

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'I'm black … I'm seen as a threat': Crime and panic on the streets of Melbourne

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Detective Acting Inspector Chugg says such incidents are becoming more common.

"We have certainly seen it happening more in recent times where people [are] not actually clearly seeing who's involved, but because of all the media attention they have jumped to the conclusion it's African offenders," she told Four Corners.

"It's unfair that I have to go the extra mile just to be a normal person." Awak Kongor

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For more than two years, media reports have portrayed Melbourne as a city under siege, in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African gangs. Four Corners spent weeks on the ground talking to those at the heart of this debate - teenagers, parents, victims, Victoria Police and the judiciary to get to the truth about "African" crime.

Panic in the night

"A carload of Africans has hit the front fence and are now hanging around in the front yard," comes the crackly voice over the police radio.

Four Corners is out on patrol with Victoria Police in Melbourne's north-west.

"Apparently there is a car full of people of African appearance... we have a couple of vans heading there... 251 [the sergeant] has just asked if there is a highway unit that can perhaps head there as well."

Detective Acting Inspector Helen Chugg and Senior Sergeant Jason Forster exchange looks. So far, the night has been quiet.

We arrive in St Albans to find an L-plater has badly overshot a roundabout during a driving lesson, smashing through the brick wall of a house.

The driver is a middle-aged Asian woman and there's a young South Asian man in the front yard who has rushed to help her.

Despite the initial report to police there are no people of "African appearance" involved.

In the driveway, a man is reassuring his elderly parents who clearly got a huge fright when the car crashed through their front fence.

"They stressed out. They thought it was Africans out the front for some reason, I don't know," the son says, exasperated. "They always watch the news."

Detective Acting Inspector Chugg says such incidents are becoming more common.

"We have certainly seen it happening more in recent times where people [are] not actually clearly seeing who's involved, but because of all the media attention they have jumped to the conclusion it's African offenders," she told Four Corners.

Tim Hansen, Commander of Melbourne's North West Metro Region, describes the past few months in Melbourne as having elements of "moral panic".

"We're seeing headlines and reporting that exacerbates the problem. Reporting on things that we're not necessarily seeing," he said.

"It's driving community angst and people are seeing African crime everywhere, which is not necessarily the case."

'Nobody feels safe'

For some people, the fear is based on reality.

In the suburb of Kings Park in Melbourne's west, Leah Meurer is unsure if she'll ever get over the night four teenagers broke down her backdoor and stormed into her bedroom.

"I don't know how they can say that the crime rate is falling. Nobody feels safe," she told Four Corners.

On March 2, Leah and her husband Gavin were asleep when the four teenagers broke in.

"I just remember yelling and screaming at us to 'shut up and give us money'. Gavin got out of the bed and physically pushed them out and shut the bedroom door on them," she said.

"He's then grabbed a baseball bat from underneath the bed, at which point a hammer's come through the bedroom door multiple times. [We had] literally our entire body weight on the door, trying to prevent them from getting to us."

Leah and her husband chased the young men out the front, but they couldn't stop them stealing both their cars.

Police are still looking for four teenagers described as being of African appearance over the home invasion. They arrested a 14-year-old, but charges against him had to be dropped due to a lack of evidence.

"Every time I see a black person down the street or just anywhere, it's like a trigger," Leah said.

"I think that's really unfair, and it shouldn't be like that. It's not them. They haven't done anything wrong to me, but I can't help but associate that night with them, and that's what's really unfair," Leah said.

'They look at me as a black thief'

Not far from where Leah lives, Four Corners meets 20-year-old Titan Debirioun. He was separated at birth from his parents during Sudan's brutal civil war and hasn't seen them since. He describes the past few months as "exhausting".

"You feel like you're representing your skin colour for everyone that's just like you. So you have to be an extra nice person, extra smart. Even if you're not feeling it that day, you just have to have a smile on, because if you don't, you look scary," he said.

Nineteen-year-old Pronto's parents are still in Africa but he lives in Melbourne with his aunt and is an aspiring rapper. He also can't escape the feeling that people are scared of him.

"I'm black, I'm 6'5", and I'm dark skin, really dark skin. So to other people that are not like me, I'm a threat," he told Four Corners.

"It's hard for me to walk these streets sometimes.

"I actually walk outside, go to a shop, try to buy something, and they look at me as a thief. Even though I have my money and my coins in my pocket, they still look at me as a black thief."

A few weeks ago, 23-year-old Awak Kongor was sitting in her car with some friends at a park near her home in Melbourne's west.

"We were just listening to music. Just waiting on another friend of ours. And I saw the patrol car drive past us, and I laughed, and I was like, 'Ha ha, what if they come and check us', because, you know, there's three black girls in the car."

The police did circle back.

After checking their IDs, they told Awak and her friends a neighbour had called the police because they "looked suspicious".

"It was kind of really hurtful," the aspiring producer and director said.

"But, that's the kind of reality I live in. Just being pulled over for no reason. Being followed by police cars. And I think the public don't understand that.

"It's unfair that I have to go the extra mile just to be a normal person."

'Criminology 101'

The latest statistics show people born in Sudan make up 0.1 per cent of Victoria's population, but account for 1 per cent of the state's alleged criminal offenders.

Young Sudanese males are over-represented in certain violent crimes - allegedly committing close to 10 per cent of all aggravated robberies.

"We do know that they're responsible disproportionally for some of those high-crime or high-harm offences, particularly aggravated burglaries and robberies. So that's concerning for us, and that's the issue that we've been dealing with for a couple of years now," said Stuart Bateson, the commander of the Priorities Taskforce.

"In terms of overall numbers for that high-impact crime, the numbers are quite small. That doesn't lessen the damage of course that they do to victims and the community, but in terms of overall numbers, it's quite small."

Victoria has the largest South Sudanese population in Australia, with approximately 9,000 people.

"The Sudanese population is overwhelmingly young, significantly younger than the general Australian population, so we know that youth offend between the ages of 15 and 24, that's the peak age of offending for any particular group, whether it be an ethnic minority, or Australian born," said Dr Rebecca Wickes from Monash University.

"There is a complete over-representation of Sudanese young people who are excluded from school, who are excluded from the workplace, who are marginalised and discriminated against in society, who are living in highly disadvantaged criminogenic settings.

"That they are offending is criminology 101."

Victoria had a spike in violent crime in 2016, but for the past two years it has decreased, including in home invasions and burglaries.

Despite this, research from the Productivity Commission now measures Victoria as the "most fearful state" in the nation, with a significant drop in the number of people reporting that they "feel safe at home".

South Sudanese community leader and lawyer Nyadol Nyuon says with some of the media and political commentary around the issue, it's no wonder.

"The public is being told that there's a crisis, that they live in a state that is becoming lawless," she said.

Unrest in the suburbs

Taylors Hill resident David Driscoll believes there is a crisis and he says people living around him are terrified.

On August 8, the police riot squad and helicopter unit had to be called in to disperse a group of teenagers of African appearance who had gathered near a local shopping centre for a planned fight between two girls.

The kids threw rocks at police and a patrol car had its back window smashed. No injuries were reported, and no arrests were made.

"When I first walked out it was the fear of what could happen with the kids, because there were that many of them," Mr Driscoll said.

"African gangs are here. The Government and councils and the police say they are not here. They are here and people, residents are scared."

The next day, a special response unit patrolled the area to reassure residents.

Martin and his friend Deng had nothing to do with the fight the night before, but were accosted by police while they were studying at the local library.

They filmed the incident on their phones; the footage shows the police forcing them to leave.

"They just said, 'You've been identified.' I'm like, 'Identified how?' They're just saying, 'You've been identified, and you have to leave. If you come back, you will be arrested'," Martin said.

Deng was fined $347 for not "moving on" fast enough after leaving the library.

Martin and Deng are working with lawyers from the Flemington Kensington Legal Centre to file an official complaint against police.

Anthony Kelly, the chief executive officer of Flemington Kensington Legal Centre, says Victoria Police have done a good job of trying to correct the narrative around African gangs, but he says there is still evidence some policing units have been discriminatory in their treatment of people of African appearance.

"We continually have complaints from people who are stopped and moved on or have their daily life intervened by police purely because of the colour of their skin, or their perceived ethnicity, rather than lawful purposes," he said.

A political issue

In the south-east Melbourne electorate of La Trobe, Liberal MP Jason Wood says fear of crime is the number one issue.

He predicts it will play a role in the upcoming federal elections, as it already is in the Victorian state election.

The retired police officer says the police and the State Government have been too soft.

"Victoria Police Command go along for the ride, taking instructions, I assume, from state Labor saying, 'Don't mention the word African gang'," Mr Wood said.

"In my electorate they're more concerned about being attacked by Sudanese than any other group, I can tell you that."

Mr Wood wants to make it easier to deport immigrants who have been found guilty of a serious crime.

He is personally lobbying for far-reaching changes to the Migration Act, that would introduce mandatory visa cancellation for any person - including children - convicted of an offence by which they can be jailed for two years or more, even if they escape a jail term or are sentenced to less than 12 months.

Figures provided by the Office for Home Affairs show 100 Sudanese people have had their visas cancelled since 2014 on character grounds, after being found guilty of a serious crime.

Nyadol Nyuon sees the current environment in Melbourne as part of a wider movement that has seen conservative politicians in the EU and the US link immigration to crime.

"I think it's a part of the global narrative of anti-immigration, which is a big part of things like even Brexit, and I think was a big platform of Donald Trump winning the US election," she said.

"We're using the African gang as a broader debate about immigration, about population, about struggling infrastructure. But to get a way into having that debate, you've got to find the scary monster ... and the Africans are that monster."
Crime & Panic: Race and fear on the streets of Melbourne airs tonight on Four Corners at 8.30pm on ABC TV and iview.
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'Moral panic' in Melbourne has 'people seeing African crime everywhere'

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Four Corners spent weeks in the city and its outer suburbs with members of the Sudanese community, victims of crime, police and the judiciary, to hear their side of the African crime story.

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TIMELINEHow the African gang ‘crisis’ unfolded

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TIMELINEHow the African gang ‘crisis’ unfolded

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March 2016 -Moomba riot

April 2016 -Police refute Moomba was African riot, call it a "United Nations" of offenders

December 2016 -State government announces $2 billion community safety program, including 3100 new police recruits and crackdown on youth crime

January 2017 “Every day we’re seeing riots, we’re seeing crimewaves. This is a government who is standing by and allowing Melbourne to become the Johannesburg of the South Pacific." - Matthew Guy

December 2017 - Federal MP Jason Wood's parliamentary committee publishes immigration report with incorrect crime stats

The Australian starts "State of Disorder" campaign

January 2018 - “What we’ve seen though, in recent times, is we have seen gangs and networks of violence where there has been an overrepresentation of Sudanese and South Sudanese" - John Pesutto Minister Peter Dutton claims Melbournians are afraid to go out at night.

Police launch African Australian Community Taskforce, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton calls Dutton's comments "utter garbage"

July 2018 - Seven's Sunday Night program on African crime Liberal Party releases flyer saying only they will stop "gangs hunting in packs"

November 2018 - Andrews Labor government re-elected

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The Age article Footscray lawyer Maker Mayek quotes

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The Age article Footscray lawyer Maker Mayek quotes

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Maker Mayek is a South Sudan-born lawyer who co-founded the #AfricanGangs hashtag in response to the “sensationalising” of crime statistics and the profiling of young people from African communities.

Before the 2018 election he tried repeatedly to explain to politicians and journalists that the racialising of crime was damaging his community and the wider Victorian public.
“Families were rejected for rental properties. People were becoming homeless ... and there was a big increase in the suicide rate. It became something everyone in the community was talking about,” he says.

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‘We feel marginalised’

Monica Deng is from a South Sudanese refugee family and came to Australia with her mother in 2004.

She is a Melbourne pharmacist and a director of the South Sudanese Australian Youth United, a grassroots group that works with South Sudanese youth. Deng says the media coverage and politics around African gangs was “unfair and unjust” and often made no sense.

“The effects are very, very damaging even in the longer term,” she says. “A lot of us feel very marginalised. Media vilification can have negative consequences such as lowering the self-esteem of young people.”

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Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis

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Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis

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The Age article on African gang panic- quotes by Chief Judge Peter Kidd

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The Age article on African gang panic- quotes by Chief Judge Peter Kidd

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The reporting didn’t go unchallenged. In November 2018, County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd made an extraordinary public intervention to slam the “skewed” reporting.

“If you are an African offender, and certainly if you’re an African youth of South Sudanese background from the western suburbs of Melbourne, rest assured your case will be reported upon,” he told the ABC.

“The media choose to report upon those cases. That creates an impression that we, that our work, a very significant proportion of our work is taken up with African youths from the western suburbs of Melbourne. That’s a false impression.”

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The latest statistics show people born in Sudan make up 0.1 per cent of Victoria's population, but account for 1 per cent of the state's alleged criminal offenders.

Young Sudanese males are over-represented in certain violent crimes — allegedly committing close to 10 per cent of all aggravated robberies.

"We do know that they're responsible disproportionally for some of those high-crime or high-harm offences, particularly aggravated burglaries and robberies. So that's concerning for us, and that's the issue that we've been dealing with for a couple of years now," said Stuart Bateson, the commander of the Priorities Taskforce.

"In terms of overall numbers for that high-impact crime, the numbers are quite small. That doesn't lessen the damage of course that they do to victims and the community, but in terms of overall numbers, it's quite small."

Victoria has the largest South Sudanese population in Australia, with approximately 9,000 people.

"The Sudanese population is overwhelmingly young, significantly younger than the general Australian population, so we know that youth offend between the ages of 15 and 24, that's the peak age of offending for any particular group, whether it be an ethnic minority, or Australian born," said Dr Rebecca Wickes from Monash University.

"There is a complete over-representation of Sudanese young people who are excluded from school, who are excluded from the workplace, who are marginalised and discriminated against in society, who are living in highly disadvantaged criminogenic settings.

"That they are offending is criminology 101."

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in the 2011 Census that took place in August.[1] This census recorded 3,487 people born in South Sudan in Australia.The 2016 census recorded 7,699 South Sudan-born people in Australia.

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Just statistics and information on the population.

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Toggle the table of contents

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Sudanese Australians are people of South Sudanese ancestry or birth who live in Australia.

Following South Sudan's independence in July 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) included the country amongst the country of birth and ancestry options in the 2011 Census that took place in August.[1] This census recorded 3,487 people born in South Sudan in Australia. However, the ABS note that "South Sudan-born were previously included in the Census count of the Sudan-born, and this is highly likely with a large number in the 2011 Census". Of the 3,487, the largest number were living in the state of Victoria (1,118), followed by Queensland (715), then New South Wales (561) and Western Australia (489). A total of 4,825 people indicated that they were of partial or full South Sudanese ancestry.[2]

The 2016 census recorded 7,699 South Sudan-born people in Australia, with 2,750 living in Victoria, 1,430 in Queensland and 1,201 in Western Australia. 10,755 people indicated that they had partial or full South Sudanese ancestry.[3]

The 2021 census recorded 8,255 people born in South Sudan.[4] 14,273 people indicated that they had South Sudanese ancestry.[5]

Aweng Ade-Chuol, fashion model

Deng Adel, basketballer

Deng Adut, defence lawyer and New South Wales Australian of the Year for 2017

Adut Akech, international fashion model (April 2018 Vogue Italia and May 2018 British Vogue cover model)

Leek Aleer, Australian rules footballer

Mac Andrew, Australian rules footballer

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Kenny Athiu, football player

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Nagmeldin 'Peter' Bol, middle distance runner and Olympian

Elijah Buol, lawyer, criminologist and community advocate, 2019 winner of Queensland Local Hero of the Year 2019 Award and Order of Australia medal.[6][7]

Mabior Chol, Australian rules footballer

Akec Makur Chuot, Australian rules footballer

Majak Daw, Australian rules footballer

Ajak Deng, Australian fashion model (April 2016 Vogue Italia cover model)

Joseph Deng, middle distance runner

Majok Deng, basketballer

Peter Deng, football player

Thomas Deng, football player

Martin Frederick, Australian rules footballer

Michael Frederick, Australian rules footballer

Changkuoth Jiath, Australian rules footballer

Dor Jok, football player

Tom Jok, Australian rules footballer

Gordon Koang, blind popular musician[8][9]

Subah Koj, Australian fashion model, one of the first two South Sudanese-Australians to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Alou Kuol, football player

Garang Kuol, football player

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr., basketballer

Awer Mabil, football player

Abraham Majok, football player

Ater Majok, basketballer

Thon Maker, basketballer

Mangok Mathiang, basketballer

Majak Mawith, football player

Kot Monoah, Melbourne lawyer,[10] from Oct 2015 chairman of the South Sudanese Community Association of Victoria,[11] previously community liaison officer.[12]

Jackson Morgan, football player

Adau Mornyang, international fashion model

Bigoa Nyuon, Australian rules footballer

Nyadol Nyuon, lawyer and human rights advocate

Duop Reath, basketballer

Duckie Thot, Australian fashion model, one of the first two South Sudanese-Australians to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Ruon Tongyik, football player

Reuben William, Australian rules footballer

Kusini Yengi, football player

Tete Yengi, football player

Akiima Yong, Australian fashion model (April 2018 Vogue Australia cover model)

Valentino Yuel, football player

Friday Zico, South Sudanese international footballer

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Toggle the table of contents From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia South Sudanese Australians are people of South Sudanese ancestry or birth who live in Australia. Following South Sudan's independence in July 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) included the country amongst the country of birth and ancestry options in the 2011 Census that took place in August.[1] This census recorded 3,487 people born in South Sudan in Australia.

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The first notable suggestion of an African crime problem in Victoria came when News Corp’s Herald Sun first reported on the Apex gang, a ragtag of teenagers who bashed and robbed their way to notoriety in 2015. While police insisted Apex was not race-based, its membership would be indelibly linked to city’s small Sudanese minority.

But the issue really exploded after a rolling brawl at Melbourne’s Federation Square during the city’s annual Moomba Festival in March 2016.
Despite police describing those involved as a “United Nations” of Melbourne youth, state-based and national media, the Herald-Sun in particular, went into overdrive over the “riot” and alleged “African” violence.

‘Every day we’re seeing riots, we’re seeing crime waves. This is a government who is standing by and allowing Melbourne to become the Johannesburg of the South Pacific.’Matthew Guy - not media related though

on Weatherburn – former director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and author of Vanishing Criminal: Causes of Decline in Australia’s Crime Rate – says that at the best of times, it’s difficult for the public to understand crime statistics.
“People don’t study the crime stats,” he says, “they get their impression of crime’s prevalence from the media.”

While no media outlet was immune – The Age included – the issue ran most prominently in News Corp’s mastheads, according to a new book Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis. After being virtually non-existent as a media topic just six months before Moomba in 2016, an analysis of media coverage found dozens of references monthly to African gangs, crime or the Sudanese community running by early 2018.

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Campaign mode

The first notable suggestion of an African crime problem in Victoria came when News Corp's Herald Sun first reported on the Apex gang, a ragtag of teenagers who bashed and robbed their way to notoriety in 2015. While police insisted Apex was not race-based, its membership would be indelibly linked to city's small Sudanese minority.

But the issue really exploded after a rolling brawl at Melbourne's Federation Square during the city's annual Moomba Festival in March 2016.

Despite police describing those involved as a "United Nations" of Melbourne youth, state-based and national media, the Herald-Sun in particular, went into overdrive over the "riot" and alleged "African" violence.

Newsrooms went on high alert for African offending, trawling police media releases and court listings for reports about suspects of "African appearance" or with African-sounding names.

By early 2017 the state Liberals were in campaign mode and African "gangs" were part of what party elder Tony Nutt would later describe as a law and order campaign "package". In his first stint as state Liberal leader, Matthew Guy claimed Melbourne was becoming the " Johannesburg of the South Pacific ". Channelling Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan, he promised that as premier, "making Victoria safe again will be my first, second and third priority".

'Every day we're seeing riots, we're seeing crime waves. This is a government who is standing by and allowing Melbourne to become the Johannesburg of the South Pacific.'
Matthew Guy

Guy's team joined the chorus, with then frontbenchers Tim Smith tweeting about African gang "terror" and John Pesutto on Sky News highlighting gang violence by South Sudanese youths.

Crime statistics about the Sudanese and South Sudanese became a rallying cry.

Matthew Guy. Credit: Simon Schluter

Federal MP Jason Wood was the chair of a parliamentary inquiry into migration that focused heavily on crime and the integration of Melbourne's African community.

The committee's December 2017 report sparked a political and media firestorm by using statistics to quantify the extent of Sudanese and South Sudanese offending.

While there is no doubt that African youths were overrepresented proportionally in crime statistics, the report's most damning figure was based on a calculation error.

It prompted the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency to publicly warn about the "misleading" figures. But the damage was done, the mistake appearing time and again in media reports.

Don Weatherburn - former director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and author of Vanishing Criminal: Causes of Decline in Australia's Crime Rate - says that at the best of times, it's difficult for the public to understand crime statistics.

"People don't study the crime stats," he says, "they get their impression of crime's prevalence from the media."

In late 2017 The Australian launched a series called State of Disorder, which reported for almost 12 months on the alleged failure of the Andrews government and Victoria Police to deal with the crime crisis.

'People are scared to go out to restaurants of a night-time because they are followed home by these gangs.'
Peter Dutton

Early in 2018, federal Liberals weighed in to back their state colleagues, led by then home affairs minister Peter Dutton and his incendiary claim that Melburnians were too scared to go out to dinner at night. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull joined in, observing you would "have to be walking around with your hands over your ears" not to hear the "real concerns" about Sudanese gangs. Health Minister Greg Hunt claimed "African gang crime" was "clearly out of control".

Then, after the Coalition's relentless campaigning on law and order issues proved fruitless at the November election, the panic was over.

Toxic mix

So, what was it all about? Media beat-up? Base politics? Both?

A generous reading of the saga is that it was a toxic interplay between the media and politics that spun out of control as newspapers and politicians chased sensational headlines.

While no media outlet was immune - The Age included - the issue ran most prominently in News Corp's mastheads, according to a new book Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis. After being virtually non-existent as a media topic just six months before Moomba in 2016, an analysis of media coverage found dozens of references monthly to African gangs, crime or the Sudanese community running by early 2018.

The authors conclude the Moomba "riot" and its aftermath appeared to merge and bring to a head two sources of social anxiety: fear about a youth justice system in crisis, and a suspicion about Melbourne's Sudanese/South Sudanese communities and their "alleged 'failure to integrate', which had been smouldering over the preceding decade".

Each media report about a street brawl, carjacking or home invasion involving people of African heritage would come to reinforce the crime wave narrative, which gathered in strength as the state election approached.

The book concludes it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to disentangle political and media influences when analysing the law and order "crisis". "The election increased the newsworthiness of incidents that fit with the 'crisis' narrative and media coverage of the incidents served to evidence the problem."

The reporting didn't go unchallenged. In November 2018, County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd made an extraordinary public intervention to slam the "skewed" reporting.

"If you are an African offender, and certainly if you're an African youth of South Sudanese background from the western suburbs of Melbourne, rest assured your case will be reported upon," he told the ABC.

"The media choose to report upon those cases. That creates an impression that we, that our work, a very significant proportion of our work is taken up with African youths from the western suburbs of Melbourne. That's a false impression."

Whether opportunistically following media reporting or consciously driving it, there is no doubt conservative politicians knowingly exploited and fanned the African crime issue. The Liberals acknowledged as much. In the official election post-mortem, party elder Nutt conceded the campaign focus on African gangs backfired, with respondents to post-election market research identifying it as a "cheap political tactic".

Monash University professor of criminology Rebecca Wickes, one of the co-authors of Place, Race and Politics, says the issue "dropped off the radar" after the Liberal Party lost the poll. "It shows this was basically a moral panic, with politicians and the media feeding the narrative and cross-promoting."

Notable are the responses to The Age 's requests for comments for this story. Those who refused to comment and/or respond include: state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, federal assistant minister for multicultural affairs Jason Wood, former Liberal Victorian president Michael Kroger, former Liberal state director Nick Demiris, political campaign strategist Ian Hanke, who worked on the campaign, Kew MP Tim Smith, and former shadow attorney-general John Pesutto.

The Herald Sun and The Australian also did not respond to requests for comment

The irony is that the number of Sudanese and South Sudanese offenders has continued to rise in the past two years without provoking any of the political and media hysteria that fuelled the "crisis" before the election.

Victoria Police has also wrapped up the African Australian Community Taskforce, established at the height of the "crisis" in early 2018.

While it was simple for politicians and the media to walk away from these issues when it no longer suited their purposes, it was not so easy for others.

'We feel marginalised'

Monica Deng is from a South Sudanese refugee family and came to Australia with her mother in 2004.

She is a Melbourne pharmacist and a director of the South Sudanese Australian Youth United, a grassroots group that works with South Sudanese youth. Deng says the media coverage and politics around African gangs was "unfair and unjust" and often made no sense.

"The effects are very, very damaging even in the longer term," she says. "A lot of us feel very marginalised. Media vilification can have negative consequences such as lowering the self-esteem of young people."

Maker Mayek is a South Sudan-born lawyer who co-founded the #AfricanGangs hashtag in response to the "sensationalising" of crime statistics and the profiling of young people from African communities.

Before the 2018 election he tried repeatedly to explain to politicians and journalists that the racialising of crime was damaging his community and the wider Victorian public.

Footscray lawyer Maker Mayek. Credit: Jason South

"Families were rejected for rental properties. People were becoming homeless ... and there was a big increase in the suicide rate. It became something everyone in the community was talking about," he says.

But there was a broader community price for the racialised crime panic. As the African gang narrative through 2016 merged with wider concerns about rising youth justice issues following a breakout from the Parkville detention centre, political and media pressure grew intense.

In late 2016 and early 2017, the Andrews government announced a raft of punitive justice reforms including: a new $288 million youth prison and increase in the maximum detention period for young offenders to four years; the transfer of youth justice management from the health to justice departments, which also oversees adult corrections; and an unprecedented $2 billion for 3100 extra police officers, the biggest single increase in police numbers in the state's history.

These costly initiatives continued a decade-long pattern of tough-on-crime legislation and actions by Labor and Coalition governments that had driven up police and prisoner numbers, costing us billions of dollars a year that could be spent on programs and services that help keep Victorians out of the criminal justice system.

The crime crackdown would continue with the tough bail laws introduced after James Gargasoulas' 2017 Bourke Street killings. The laws were hailed by Labor as the "most onerous" in the country.

And the saddest outcome of all is that those caught in the crime crackdown tend not to be hardened criminals or violent attackers. They're lower-level offenders on remand. The growth in prisoner numbers is greater for women than men. For First Nations people it's greater still, and for Indigenous women it's greater again.

Call for balance

What now? More of the same? More racialised crime hysteria? More law and order chest-beating before the 2022 election?

Right now, it seems unlikely. An unintended consequence of the Coalition and media over-cooking of African crime, and the conservatives' drubbing at the 2018 poll, is the lowering of the heat on law and order.

"The landslide election loss sent a strong message that fearmongering is not something that the people of Melbourne and Victoria are willing to accept," says Mayek.

After the election, and under former opposition leader Michael O'Brien, the Coalition acknowledged the non-sustainability of prison spending and called for a bipartisan approach, leaving open the possibility of bail law reform.

Since reassuming the state Liberal leadership, Guy has been noticeably quiet about law and order, focusing instead on the COVID-19 recovery and government pandemic overreach. Ditto, relatively, the media.

Behind the scenes. Ian Smith has been trying to build bridges between the Sudanese community and senior Liberal Party figures. The chasm is wide.

"I hope that the politicians will take a very different approach to campaigning in future elections," says Smith. "I think they will."

Mayek hopes so too. He does not shy away from the challenges to a community still coming to terms with an often troubled past. "Many of us came from war-torn backgrounds. We have experienced violence and we don't want that for anybody."

He stresses his community does not expect special treatment from journalists or politicians.

"We just want balance."

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One election later, the lessons from Melbourne's 'African gang' panic

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Close watchers of politics and culture say the African crime "crisis" provides an uncomfortable lesson for politicians and the media. In its wake are scarred communities and a big law and order bill for taxpayers.