Broome Community Noticeboard
Note - This entry is regarded as a project entry due to the magnitude and sheer investment of our time in a matter which we had hoped we would never encounter in a lifetime. The original title ‘A Yarn with Johani Mamid’ was redacted also due to the sheer divisiveness of our dual roles as filmmakers and legally abiding citizens living in Broome, Western Australia
BACKGROUND
On Sunday the 10th December 2017 Broome, Western Australia residents awoke to find racist and vile postings on the Facebook group 'The Broome Community Noticeboard' which at that time boasted a 14,000 member reach. The posts targeted Aboriginal families and individuals who reside in Broome and the greater Broome Shire.
Frighteningly many other Facebook users and presumably Broome residents also in vigilante-style called for Aboriginal children to be 'captured' and '... lets’ f$%# this little c%$ # up'... and 'we have got bullbars (on our cars) for a reason". To our collective horror examples of corporal punishment and support for 'vigilante groups' were posted and were retained for a 24 hour period before our reports and others prompted the removal of the vile content.
APPROACH
Magali and I discussed the approach to take and decided that this contribution and lack of moderation decisiveness was totally unacceptable. We took a series of screenshots and shortly after were horrified to find the thread deleted and the 'Broome Community Noticeboard' sole administrator stating that he had 'fixed it' and “… for christ's sake, you lot can’t you just keep control of yourselves”.
A few days earlier Magali and I had already had a run-in with this administrator who identified as 'the owner' of the Broome Community Noticeboard who was sending sexist, vilifying, and derogatory messages to other members of the group online. I took objection to his messaging and indicated that 'this little corner of the web is over' and that I wished to meet him in a public place to confront him for his objectionable behavior. His response was to immediately block me from the group.
Magali then approached this individual and she also asked him why he thought it was ok to call women in the group “… you silly goose” and then send putrid animated GIFs to accompany his badly scripted prose. Magali was then also promptly ejected from the group. (The responses remain visible in the group to date however we have screenshot most of what has ensued since).
I drove to the Broome Police and stated our case and they indicated in response that unless there was an individual or myself that was prepared to push a case against the individual who made this rant online then 'it remains a civil matter and has to be dealt with by the relevant authorities.' Given the person is a nurse and public officer I decided to approach Broome Hospital for their response.
I put my screenshots on a USB drive and drove to the hospital and requested to meet with the acting hospital Manager. I was escorted to a secure location and when she viewed the images on a computer and listened to my points she indicated she would escalate this matter 'to her superiors'.
I was not surprised to wake up on Tuesday 12, 2017 to read on the front page of the ABC website that the offender had been stood down from his public role as a nurse at Broome Hospital.
NOTE - The screenshots had apparently already been sent to Broome Hospital senior managers and my actions were in combination with a number of other cases.
HISTORY
At the time we indicated that the administrator of the Broome Noticeboard Facebook group had repeatedly engaged with multiple Broome residents in defending his own style of 'cleaning this s%$# up'. This lacked any co-moderator involvement and certainly indicated a very narrow reference group from which to make moderative decision making. The Administrator was also observed despite repeat calls his group to cease and desist with hosting and omitting, deleting, and blocking information that is inciting hatred between people in this precinct, predominantly in the Shire of Broome but also many others who accessed the group from other parts of the world.
Magali and I were fully aware that Broome has been and always will be a culturally diverse city that has an atrocious history of stolen generations, slavery, and abject poverty due to the colonization by various other countries of this nation - Wikipedia
We considered it therefore not acceptable that the majority of those 14,000 people in the group let racial intolerance be ignored in apathy. We also considered it not acceptable for that group to be a representation of humanity at its worst rather, it needs to foster and promote humanity at its best.
Both Magali and I declared a united stand with many other people calling for a dramatically altered constitution and reformation of Facebook groups in general. Specifically, we called upon in this case the administrator and lack of related moderators to respond to these public concerns and to act under Western Australian law to promote culturally cohesive, respectful, and honorable conduct.
Categorically we declared that sexism, derogatory and divisive moderation practice is not acceptable.
CALL TO ACTION
We met with Johani Mamid an Aboriginal Yawuru man on 12th December 2017 to capture in essence the main points of debate, demonstrating that we stood united on this matter. Mamid called on others to attend a community meeting to rectify what would otherwise be an explosive and deeply fractious issue in Broome, Western Australia.
LINKS TO RELATED ARTICLES
"A nurse at Broome Hospital has been stood down for posting a racist rant on a community Facebook page". - ABC Kimberley Facebook
"A nurse has been stood down from his hospital job in northern WA following an expletive-filled, racist rant on social media that threatened violence against children." - https://www.facebook.com/abc/posts/10155681453529550
Racism In Australia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Australia
