SYDNEY -- Johnno, a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy, steals a few pencils and some paint. The magistrate has no option but to send him to prison for four weeks. After three weeks behind bars, Johnno hangs himself.
Johnno's death, the latest in a long line of suicides by young blacks, has sparked local and international protests over the injustice Aborigines continue to endure in Australia. The uproar coincided with a visit here this week by the world's delegated righter of wrongs, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Ever the diplomat, Annan declined to upset his host, Prime Minister John Howard, by publicly berating Australia for its history of neglect of its native people. Privately, he deplored the state-imposed racism. Also privately, he learned that Johnno's death is far from rare in Australia's Deep North.