A chance to blossom : Indigenous youth enterprise to green the city smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By the time he was seven, both his parents were gone.
At fourteen, he was paying for food by stealing computers and phones.
After years spent in and out of the juvenile detention system and the prison system, Keenan began to turn his life around.
He fell in love and married his wife Carly, an aboriginal woman with a Master s degree in Criminology.
Three years ago, they co-founded Deadly Connections, a not-for-profit organisation designed to help indigenous kids trapped in a cycle of poverty and neglect
Keenan has since spoken at the United Nations in support of raising the age of criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 to 14.
Gail Hickey near where her son was impaled 16 years ago. Photo: Linda Casey Kennedy
Gail Hickey, the mother of TJ Hickey, led a march through the streets of Redfern to mark 17 years since her son’s death on February 14.
TJ Hickey was killed while being pursued by police in Redfern in 2004. The young Kamilaroi man was riding his bike when a police car started to pursue him. The police car, driven by then-Constable Hollingsworth, hit TJ’s bike, catapulting him onto a nearby fence where he was impaled.
Contrary to all police protocols, officers pulled TJ from the fence, potentially worsening his injuries. The family has been fighting for justice ever since.
Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are globally the highest incarcerated people, making up 28 percent of the prison population even though they comprise only 3.3 percent of the total Australian population.