Brisbane’s South Sudanese community has been left shocked and saddened by a fatal stabbing attack in the city's north overnight.
Queensland Police are appealing for information following a brawl in a Zillmere park on Sunday night that left one person dead and 10 more injured.
Leaders across Brisbane’s African communities have been assisting police with their inquiries.
Beny Aterdit Bol, president of the Queensland African Communities Council, told SBS News the community has been left distraught by the “unexpected, very tragic incident".
“The community is so shocked, it's very upset,” Mr Bol said.
“A young person lost his life, a young person who had a bright future.”
Following the stabbing, a scuffle broke out among some friends and family of the victims at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
South Sudanese community leader Beny Aterdit Bol said his community is not unique in struggling to engage young people. Source: SBS News: Stefan Armbruster
Detective Superintendent Tony Flemming told reporters earlier on Monday those involved in the incident appear to be "outliers in the African community".
"The advice I have is that they are not supported generally by the African community," Mr Flemming said.
Mr Bol, who also works in Youth outreach, said Brisbane’s South Sudanese community is not unique in struggling to engage some of its young people.
“We have been aware that some young people are becoming disengaged. Those are young people from different backgrounds, not only African,” he said.
“We do not have a history of young people getting together and engaging in fighting of that nature.
“As a community, we need to understand the causes of this and work closely with families and community members to get to know what's going on.”
'People feel demonised'
Southeast Queensland’s African communities have faced increased media scrutiny in recent months, after three women were caught illegally re-entering the state from Victoria, allegedly breaching COVID-19 border restrictions.
The identities of the two women involved were leaked to the media and published widely across national news outlets, with their faces prominently featuring on newspaper front pages.
Mr Bol said the tone of recent media coverage has been disappointing, but not surprising.
“I think our stories are being put out in a very unfair way by certain media outlets,” he said.
“I’ve been telling people [in our community] to be aware of that, to know their actions and behaviours can be portrayed differently.
“People feel they are not being welcomed, they feel they are being demonised.”
He said those who are behaving badly deserve to be held accountable, but it is wrong to make correlations between the backgrounds of people and their behaviour.
“Ninety-nine per cent of our community members are doing great things,” he added.
“There’s also a large number of Australians who are feeling sympathetic. The most important message here is for us to work together.”
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