Racism in Australia

originally published: http://216.92.140.78/realnews/rn1aust.htm. 29 September 2001

Recent events have alerted many people to the horrors that racism can produce. But the current wave of racism did not start with the rejection of the Tampa refugees, nor with the bombing of the World Trade Center. It did not start with the burning of a mosque in Brisbane last week, or with Molotov cocktails thrown at the National Jewish Centre.

Racism has been on the increase worldwide for several years. Australian Jewish communities have reported a consistent growth in attacks, in hate mail and in community distrust, for that length of time. In Australia, the Jewish community has perhaps the best reporting mechanisms to document this rise in hate. There are many Holocaust survivors here, and a very strong desire not to see history repeated. And the potential for violent racism to target Australian Jews has never faded. For many years, this community has had to have armed guards outside most synagogues whenever many people gather.

The Jewish community is far from alone, however, in being on the receiving end of everything from polite condescension to death threats. Indigenous Australians, Australians who come from Asian and from Indian sub-continent backgrounds, non-Christian Australians - there are a lot of targets. Individuals have had to modify their lives to deal with racism, and communities have had to modify their activities. Some Australians have had to learn how to handle telephone threats and hate mail, how to identify a potential car bomb or letter bomb. A far greater number have had to handle mistrust, condescension, small humiliations.

Until recently, the media thought that the hate was seldom worth documenting; governments were reluctant to make public statements. The events of the last two weeks have changed their stance, at least temporarily. This gives us an opportunity to rethink, to find out what racism is, and how it affects all our lives. It gives us a chance to reassess where we are going, and whether we truly want to future to reflect the horror of the last few weeks.

What is racism? It is certainly easier to define it as aeroplanes flown at buildings, or the fear of boatloads of refugees. We can see jingoism and decry it. But it is harder to identify and to diminish the everyday elements that build up into warcries and exclusion and death.

Racism can be denying a person a place to live because they are indigenous. It can be refusing to talk to someone on a bus because they might be Jewish or Muslim or Hindu. It can be restricting someone’s access to education, or making it hard for them to celebrate their holy days. It can be forcing them to take days off for Christmas and Easter, or to join a work lunch that is full of forbidden food. Racism can be as harsh as denying people the right to wear clothes that are different, or it can be as simple as behavioural changes around them when they choose to wear these clothes. If access to specialist medical services is reduced because of your background, or if the Catholic Church argues that everyone has to be married to have children - these can be racist. If you look at someone and decide that they have a certain personality because of their headscarf, or the size of their nose, the shape of their eyes or the colour of their skin - this is racist.

These are all obvious racism. It is relatively easy to identify.

Some racism is far more insidious. There is “even if” racism: “even if you are Jewish”. There is “for” racism: “for an Aboriginal, you have done wonderful things”. There is “victims are guilty too” racism: the example of this we are seeing right now is “the US caused the bombings”, but it appears more frequently as “I know you just got a piece of hate mail, but your people do these things too, you know”. When the Canberra Jewish Centre was Molotov cocktailed while I was in it (with 77 other people) I was reassured by a well-meaning friend: “Jews are also capable of being racist, you know”.

“You’re OK for an Asian” is one step from “Some of my best friends are...”, and “But you don’t look...”. “When did you come to Australia?” is more likely to be a useful question if someone has an accent, but can be asked of anyone not-too-Anglo in appearance. Accents can be misheard or misinterpreted. For the record, I have a Jewish one, according to some people, which means that virtually every Melburnian with Australian-born parents also has a Jewish accent.

The classic question is, of course “What would your parents do if you married an Australian?”

The underlying assumption behind all this is that people not quite “like us” are not really Australian, in some deep way. This is what links the insidious racism with the other. Racism is not only about bombs and refugees - it is about the sense of people as “other”, and even as not quite human.

A very popular statement a couple of months ago was “We are all racist”, which was true, but not very helpful. We all make snap judgements based on unreasoned prejudices. The question is, how many of us can sit down later, and work out we have done so, and minimise our chances of doing so the next time we have to make a similar judgment. In far too many cases, we don’t learn of our racism until we express it. The question is, whether we learn and stop saying these things, or whether we are happy to keep on being racist. To put it differently, how do we stop seeing people as “other”, and how do we start seeing them as colleagues and potential friends?

Each time we express racism, someone suffers. We might not realise that it hurts for an American to be told right now that the CIA is to blame for the hate that led to the World Trade Center tragedy, but it does. We might not realise that it hurts when people make jokes about Aborigines and alcohol, or Irish intelligence, or a thousand and one other vicious pinpricks, because many victims have to hide the hurt and just keep on going. To be hurt becomes a part of daily life.

There are few effective recourses for victims of racism in our present world. Even those who yell “Nazi” at students wearing skull caps, or spit at girls wearing hijabs, almost always escape uncensured. Many people remain silent in the face of racism because they feel that the victims should battle it. But the victims have to put up with a lot more racism than majority groups will ever see. They should not be left alone and bleeding.

We each need to battle against our own racism and against the racism of others. If we want a “comfortable” Australia, we should spend time and energy on this - it should not be ignored in the hope that it, or its victims, will just go away. Every one of us needs to see others first and foremost as human beings, and give them respect and our understanding.

Gillian Polack, September 2001

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