KKK pic 'no joke'

2004-11-11 21:41

Canberra - The defence department is investigating allegations of racism in its ranks after a photograph was taken of soldiers wearing Ku Klux Klan-style hoods as they stood behind dark-skinned colleagues.

The photograph, published on the front page of Sydney's the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Thursday, was condemned by defence chief General Peter Cosgrove as galling, and by Prime Minister John Howard as bad taste.

The newspaper said victims of racist abuse at Australia's largest army barracks in Townsville, in Queensland, were planning court action against the army about the photograph and other acts of victimisation.

The newspaper also reported claims that a dark-skinned soldier had the armour removed from his flak jacket while serving in East Timor while others had offensive slogans written on their gear.

Cosgrove said the defence department last year investigated the photograph, which was taken at the Lavarack Barracks in September 2000, and had begun to investigate other claims raised in the newspaper.

Found the photograph galling

"This is a silly, silly thing that's been done," he told Nine Network television.

"My understanding is it was the junior officers involved in the command of that particular group who came up or perhaps condoned this idea (of the photograph)."

He said he found the photograph galling because the military had a good record of looking after Aboriginal recruits.

"We're the biggest employer of indigenous Australians anywhere and we very much pride ourselves on taking care of them," he said.

Howard said the photograph could not be dismissed as a joke.

"It's clearly in very bad taste and I condemn it," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

Terrorised black citizens

"Anything that touches on somebody's race and particularly involving such an abhorrent organisation as the Ku Klux Klan is not a joke."

The Ku Klux Klan was an American racist vigilante organisation that terrorised black citizens throughout the country from the 19th century well into the 1930s.

KKK members wore white pointed hoods and white robes to hide their identities when they went on raids or held public demonstrations.

- AP