Shortly after protests began in the United States in late May 2020 seeking justice for George Floyd, an African-American who was murdered during an arrest by Minneapolis police, people in Australia protested to show solidarity with Americans and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as to demonstrate against issues with police brutality and institutional racism, racism in Australia, and Aboriginal deaths in custody. Vigils and protests of thousands of participants took place nationwide.

Aboriginal deaths in custody is a political and social issue in Australia. It rose in prominence in the early 1980s, with Aboriginal activists campaigning following the death of 16-year-old John Peter Pat in 1983. Subsequent deaths in custody, considered suspicious by families of the deceased, culminated in the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC).