Racism in Oz

[Yokohammer]

I am speechless. This sort of thing seems to happening more in Oz lately.

SDH, GG, what do you make of this?

Aboriginal actors in town to rehearse an indigenous version of King Lear were repeatedly refused a fare by taxi drivers in Southbank on Monday night, and racially abused on the St Kilda tram Tuesday morning while making their way back to work.

Taxi drivers bar Aboriginal actors

[Coligny]

Do they also tell them to go back to their home country ?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I am speechless. This sort of thing seems to happening more in Oz lately.

SDH, GG, what do you make of this?

Aboriginal actors in town to rehearse an indigenous version of King Lear were repeatedly refused a fare by taxi drivers in Southbank on Monday night, and racially abused on the St Kilda tram Tuesday morning while making their way back to work.

Taxi drivers bar Aboriginal actors

Before answering, a disclaimer: I'm as guilty as hell of being a racist as just about anyone in my generation was and it sometimes keeps me awake at nights even now as I recall the way I behaved or spoke to non-white people. I know better now: everyone's a fucking arsehole regardless of what color their skin is.

As for the above report, I'm not at all surprised. (In fact, it sounds like something my mother <an immigrant to Australia and deeply religious woman who has never smoked, drank and still attends Latin mass because she believes it's a true indication of what Jesus would want> would do.)

I chuckled when reading Coligny's post, but we shouldn't forget that Australia only deigned to make its indigenous people citizens in 1967 and the White Australia Policy (unpracticed since 1966) was only dismantled in 1973.

My impression of Australia is a society where racism runs deep (look at reaction to asylum seekers nowadays), but the fact that something like this now makes news suggests it may be moving toward inclusiveness and tolerance. When I lived there through to the 1980s, this would have been fairly standard behavior not worthy of sanction, let alone making news. I see it making news as a sign that growing numbers of people maybe don’t like what’s happening and would prefer to see it stamped out.

[Yokohammer]

I left Oz in 1967, so I missed most of this. When I was there Melbourne was pretty much ALL white, so yeah, racism was simply not in the news (not that I was reading much news at 11~12 years old). These days it seems to be a frequent issue. But as you say, making the news is better than not. Still, I'm a little shocked at the extent. My family and the few friends I still have in Oz are not racist at all. Never have been, to my knowledge. So whenever I go back the people around me don't show any signs of that sort of behavior, which makes this kind of news more of a shock.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I left Oz in 1967, so I missed most of this. When I was there Melbourne was pretty much ALL white, so yeah, racism was simply not in the news (not that I was reading much news at 11~12 years old). These days it seems to be a frequent issue. But as you say, making the news is better than not. Still, I'm a little shocked at the extent. My family and the few friends I still have in Oz are not racist at all. Never have been, to my knowledge. So whenever I go back the people around me don't show any signs of that sort of behavior, which makes this kind of news more of a shock.

Oz in 1967 was sort of like apartheid-era Pretoria. As you noted, society then was all white (and what wasn't white was made to pretend to be white or kept in the shadows). I think it's good that there's media censure. It's definitely a sign of progress and that racial intolerance shouldn't be permitted. I think Oz is still very lax compared to other G-20 nations (but light years ahead of this cuntry, which should shame Japan once it gets over the idea of Muslims only ever brawling among themselves, though that's unlikely because the Olympics has never had much time for darkie rights, either).

I come from a very working class, immigrant background. Racism is, and was, the norm. But I have to admit that on an individual level, even the most overtly racist of acquaintances was usually decent. At least it appeared that way to me through my white eyes. I would not like to be Japanese in Australia on ANZAC Day now, which is far more jingoistic and frightening than it ever was in my time, which was often shared with actual veterans with little love for their wartime foe.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

As an ex-Melb native.....
I've been ignored by taxis for being male at night. Walking home from the station after last train was not uncommon.
Taxi drivers in Melbourne are rarely white. Bombay Express is the common term for a taxi. Yes that's racist, but there's the color in the story.
The Malthouse is a theater, not picking up anyone from there at 6:30 isn't racism, it's stupidity. Drunk whitey at the casino 500 meters down the road would be a bigger risk.

[matsuki]

I still think it's hilarious that most Japanese see this and backwater redneck racism from the US and think ｢Japan doesn't have anything like that｣ just because it's never in the news.

Sent from my SH-02E using Tapatalk 2

[wangta]

As someone who hasn't lived outside Oz as long as some posters here and returns regularly home, I have to say that this story has to be put in context. I think our society has gone a fair way to right the wrongs done to the original people of Oz although it does worry me that the diversity of the Aboriginal and Islander communities are often ignored because of politically correct agendas.

I've worked in the not so distant past with Aboriginal people and they aren't a homogenous group who all think that money is the solution to their communities' problems and that nothing has changed in Oz since the early 60s when they were disgracefully grouped with flora and fauna and 'entitled' to 'protection'.

While I respect the Greens political party because they actually believe strongly in indigenous people's rights whether or not it happens to be convenient for the powers that be, they are also limited in their views by their politically correct, left wing view of the world. Aboriginal welfare payments have been given in food and clothing vouchers for some time in various rural and outback Aboriginal communities due to the common spending of welfare payments on alcohol and drugs that helped fuel child abuse and domestic violence a few yrs back. The Greens call this racist while some Aboriginal leaders say that if Govt interference is what it takes to stop addiction, abuse and violence then they support the Govt.

To put the taxi driver bit in context - many of the taxi drivers I've seen for a while in Oz are Indian, Pakistani, Afghani and Lebanese or Egyptian. There have been too many shocking incidents of attacks on taxi drivers from those groups because of their newness to their job and their lack of savvy. I am not saying Aboriginal people are the only ones to attack taxi drivers but a significant number of the attacks over the last few yrs on drivers from those ethnic groups have come from Aboriginal people. The result is the drivers are scared of picking up Aboriginal people if there are two or more of them. I don't know if the driver/s in that news story are from those groups but I'm aware white drivers also will avoid Aboriginal people if there's more than one of them and they seem drunk.

It sucks of course that other Aboriginal and Islander people are treated like potential problems because of a minority of bashers and robbers. But making decisions based on generalisations does happen in life generally, it can be discriminatory in the real sense of the word, and in fact some of the Muslim taxi drivers have discriminated against blind people with guidedogs, refusing to take them. Years ago at uni I had male friends who drove taxis for part time jobs and they made sure they didn't pick up any group of men regardless of race/ethnicity if they looked threatening or drunk in a potentially violent way.

There also was a recent story about Aboriginal men who got ejected from a Quantas flight because of their behaviour towards flight attendants. I've read enough about that incident and travelled a lot over the years including recently to say sorry but they shouldn't get a pass on that even if they think it's about their Aboriginality.

I've witnessed ever increasing strict behaviour on domestic and international flights to know that even questioning a flight attendant in a way seen as aggressive is enough to get you ordered off a flight including if your skin is as white as snow - and the people I've seen ordered off planes were white. The group was being loud, and a couple of them told an attendant what they thought of her and that would have been enough by today's standards.

[wangta]

.

My impression of Australia is a society where racism runs deep (look at reaction to asylum seekers nowadays), but the fact that something like this now makes news suggests it may be moving toward inclusiveness and tolerance. When I lived there through to the 1980s, this would have been fairly standard behavior not worthy of sanction, let alone making news. I see it making news as a sign that growing numbers of people maybe don’t like what’s happening and would prefer to see it stamped out.

I think greater rationality re the asylum seekers who have come since Kevin Rudd decided to make navy and airforce personnel spend their days welcoming people whose identity can't be established in so many cases, is needed on both sides. It's pretty clear that there is defacto economic immigration in many cases now going on aided and abetted by people who also came through economic opportunism rather than fleeing genuine persecution.

I'd disagree that the debate is mostly about racism - when the refugee intakes were dramatically increased more than 10 yrs ago, mostly it was not an issue. Many of the refugees were given housing close to facilities and resources that lower income Aussies once would have got but there was little resentment. There were problems like Somali and Sudanese gangs including kids who were organising themselves into violent gangs at their expensive private schools which didn't charge a cent for these kids' tuition, and provided a lot of support to them. There was an infamous stabbing death in the midst of an Australian city before rush hour as refugee kids from a private school stabbed another refugee kid. There were other problems in other cities yet generally Australians accepted refugee intakes.

I think understandably Australians are not welcoming boats that are not authorised coming each week filled mostly with single Muslim men from 3rd world countries with very different worldviews and attitudes to society and religion. It's fine to note that as there are very few Christians fleeing from daily discrimination not to mention imprisonment in some Muslim countries for the crime of not being Muslim. Not many women are in those boats, and in the cases where there are married couples, it's not unusual that the other wives back home will be allowed to enter Australia supposedly as sisters and aunts under family reunions. It is a kind of scam although one that has been allowed by the Australian Federal govt.

It's also rational to ask why Australians must accept Hazara Afghanis in a kind of defacto immigration (their leaders have said as much) when other people migrating to Australia as actual migrants doing it legally have to spend a lot of money and time on proving so many things including their health and financial status.

The bar is high for legal immigrants while on average asylum seekers spend 5 yrs on welfare benefits as their income because frankly most of them do not have the skills and mindset to be functional in the real sense in a pluralistic, liberal, 1st world country. Stable Muslim countries need to look after their own instead of demanding that we do it. Meanwhile non Muslims are subjected to state sanctioned discrimination in most Muslim countries.

Even the Tamils from Sri Lanka are arguably not really asylum seekers because again it's a well organised activity that looks more like economic migration without having to go through all the financial burdens and nitpicking bureaucracy. The Sri Lanka situation is nothing like a war zone. Their trips to Oz are funded by relatives sending money received from the Oz govt back home, same as for many of the Muslims.

This whole situation is unbelievably expensive, it has blown up the money budgeted originally and now UN refugee intakes will have to be cut. It costs big money for the navy and airforce to take on extra duties and use ships and aircraft for these purposes. Then there's the huge blowout for housing - and the OZ housing market is really tough for many Aussies so why would they be happy at housing prioritised for self selecting entrants to the country?

Add to that the raft of welfare benefits and the longevity of their payment and you have more blowout. People also don't understand what this all does to governmental and non governmental structures and organisations. NGOs especially are under the hammer to help provide those coming in the boats with services and they just don't have the staff and money already to do that for Australians who are needy. And of course there's the whole issue of how once you start accepting people coming with no permission, then it's not going to end because there's no incentive, is there, when everything is laid on with no obligation.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

No Asians in Oz...

[wagyl]

No Asians in Oz...

I was going to say "look at the hairstyles and fashions, this does not reflect current thinking."

I was going to say "do some fact checking, that is an address in the Highgate in Western Australia, not the one in South Australia, and the car has WA numberplates."

But even for those faults, I encourage everyone to watch, even if you dislike the infotainment current affairs doorstopping interview method.

[DudeAbides]

If that's all you are experiencing down there you have it good. We went through lynchings, murders and race hate crimes for the last 100 + years and all throughout the US, not just in the South or on Calvin Candy's estate. There are probably a dozen murders a week in the US related directly to racial issues - Hispanic on Black, Black on Hispanic, Everyone on White, Asian on you name it.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

If that's all you are experiencing down there you have it good. We went through lynchings, murders and race hate crimes for the last 100 + years and all throughout the US, not just in the South or on Calvin Candy's estate. There are probably a dozen murders a week in the US related directly to racial issues - Hispanic on Black, Black on Hispanic, Everyone on White, Asian on you name it.

Fuck, yeah!

Actually, I'm sincerely amazed that President Obama has not been assassinated (character aside).
Then again, he's not really black in the Merkin sense and didn't have to go through the African-American experience.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I was going to say "look at the ...fashions...."

Only a Westralian could possibly see any fashion in that video (or perhaps a Tradie).

[wagyl]

I still can't get my head around the whole concept of Hispanic being a racial category. To me that just proves that racism is a construct. Kumbaya.

..and SDH, I actually have about three or four flannel shirts just like that one here still. So yeah, guilty, your Honour. But I don't see why that fact has to be pointed out by someone who I am sure used to wear a red and black check lumberjacket to go with his brown corduroys, moccasins and the shark tooth pendant.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I still can't get my head around the whole concept of Hispanic being a racial category. To me that just proves that racism is a construct. Kumbaya.

..and SDH, I actually have about three or four flannel shirts just like that one here still. So yeah, guilty, your Honour. But I don't see why that fact has to be pointed out by someone who I am sure used to wear a red and black check lumberjacket to go with his brown corduroys, moccasins and the shark tooth pendant.

Well, I was more the Penguin, tiny Crestknit cardy, skin-tight Just Jeans w/suspenders and Cuban-heeled shoe-type, but I get what you're trying to say...

I love how moccys now sell to all the world's fashionistas for $400 a pop. I still associate them with Doreen on Aisle 4 with a Winny blue dhurry hanging out of her mouth...

[matsuki]

If that's all you are experiencing down there you have it good. We went through lynchings, murders and race hate crimes for the last 100 + years and all throughout the US, not just in the South or on Calvin Candy's estate. There are probably a dozen murders a week in the US related directly to racial issues - Hispanic on Black, Black on Hispanic, Everyone on White, Asian on you name it.

Fuck, yeah!

Actually, I'm sincerely amazed that President Obama has not been assassinated (character aside).
Then again, he's not really black in the Merkin sense and didn't have to go through the African-American experience.

Ehhh, 100+ years ago I wasn't alive but in the last 27+ years I spent growing up in Southern California I saw more "racist hate" from immigrants than the locals. (though plenty of locals were ignorant tards, making the occasional idiotic racist joke or statement)

Most of the kids my age weren't very racially biased but when I got to HS and everyone started dating, you saw the racial bigotry of the parents come out. I never really heard any crap from my black, white, native, or hismexican friends parents but most were not immigrants. Hell, my parents marriage is interracial and I have never heard any racist crap from either side of the family. Being that while I'm mixed, I look totally white...and was hassled a few times by the "AzNs" for "stealin' their women" and having "yellow fever" when walking with friendly lemurs. (If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS) These idiots were basically groups of boys from different countries in Asia who had some sort of complex and grouped together because they were Asian...many of them couldn't even speak their parent's native language nor did they have any clue what their parent's country was like...which was made more hilarious when you heard about the parents of a Chinese guy talking shit about Japan/Japanese when a Japanese "friend" was over their place for a BBQ. Chinese friend dated one of our black friends...parents almost disowned her over it. Korean guy dating a Chinese girl...oh no! She's not good enough for him! Phillipina girl dating a Phillipino boy...but the boy's family if from the "wrong island!" Basically, most prejudice crap seemed to get watered down with the immigrant kids (though a few were still clueless) but the parents clung to racial poop they learned in their mother countries. That being said, this type of crap only really came out when their kids dated someone from another "racial group." Never saw shit like being denied an apartment, job, etc. because of their race. (don't even start with "but choko, you said you look white" as my first/last name are as far from "white lookin'" as you can get) Never saw shit like fighting, murders, etc. over race. All this being said, racism does indeed exist but the times I've seen it rear it's ugly head, it has been met with disapproval, the law, and the racist has been shit all over. My point being that while it's quite easy to say "the US" is a racist place to live and pull up a bunch of news stories as examples, at least in my neck of the woods, it was/is nowhere near the horrible racist picture being painted.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

(If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS)....

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't Homeland Security that raided your home and took you into the gulag?

[matsuki]

(If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS)....

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't Homeland Security that raided your home and took you into the gulag?

She used to introduce herself as "terrorist" instead of Iranian

That being said, my injun father traveled an insane amount after 9/11 and his red man roots seemed to look a little too middle eastern for the TSA's liking. He was always saying it was a 50/50 chance of being "randomly selected" for security searchs.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

(If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS)....

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't Homeland Security that raided your home and took you into the gulag?

She used to introduce herself as "terrorist" instead of Iranian

That being said, my injun father traveled an insane amount after 9/11 and his red man roots seemed to look a little too middle eastern for the TSA's liking. He was always saying it was a 50/50 chance of being "randomly selected" for security searchs.

Reminds me of people in Straya yelling at indigineous Aussies to "learn the culcha or get the fuck outta the cuntry and stop taking our welfare offof uz."

[GomiGirl]

offof uz

Is that just a Strine thing or is this heard in other bogan-esque lingos?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

offof uz

Is that just a Strine thing or is this heard in other bogan-esque lingos?

I'm not too sure....Linguistically, "uz" is Brutush, so I think we probably got if offof them. Offof, I reckon, is probably Oz.

[matsuki]

(If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS)....

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't Homeland Security that raided your home and took you into the gulag?

She used to introduce herself as "terrorist" instead of Iranian

That being said, my injun father traveled an insane amount after 9/11 and his red man roots seemed to look a little too middle eastern for the TSA's liking. He was always saying it was a 50/50 chance of being "randomly selected" for security searchs.

Reminds me of people in Straya yelling at indigineous Aussies to "learn the culcha or get the fuck outta the cuntry and stop taking our welfare offof uz."

My Navajo grandmother was told "this is 'merika, speak English" a few times. Not that I blame them for not recognizing the language as Navajo (they were usually really embarrassed and apologetic when they were told) but the lack of tolerance for other languages is pretty repulsive as she wasn't trying to be rude or talking extremely loud.

In case anyone cares what it sounds like:

[wangta]

(If they really noticed, I dated an Iranian girl most of HS)....

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't Homeland Security that raided your home and took you into the gulag?

She used to introduce herself as "terrorist" instead of Iranian

That being said, my injun father traveled an insane amount after 9/11 and his red man roots seemed to look a little too middle eastern for the TSA's liking. He was always saying it was a 50/50 chance of being "randomly selected" for security searchs.

Reminds me of people in Straya yelling at indigineous Aussies to "learn the culcha or get the fuck outta the cuntry and stop taking our welfare offof uz."

Yes, like the idiots I see at times yelling at Asian looking people (as in Chinese, Vietnamese, etc) from their car: "Go home to Asia!" I love it when the Asians yell back in Aussie accents "We ARE home!".

There have been a few ugly incidents given media attention over the past few years, the most recent one being the stupid woman who objected to a Filippina woman asking her to take her bag off the seat so she could sit down. The woman yelled something about how 'We should have dropped more bombs on you!". She thought the Filippina woman was Japanese. Quite apart from being a racist idiot, she also probably was ignorant of the fact that the country the so called 'Japanese' woman came from suffered terribly under Japanese colonisation. The woman's defence was that she is not racist - she is married to a black man (from Samoa).

There also was a shocker about a year ago I think - a French woman was singing on a crowded bus. While I think other passengers should have politely told her that was not the time and place to be annoying other people who couldn't remove themselves from her noise, it turned ugly when a couple of men started swearing at her and verbally threatening her. The kind of men who probably would proudly wear "Speak English or Die" t shirts. She was a fool but they were cowardly racists.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

There also was a shocker about a year ago I think - a French woman was singing on a crowded bus. While I think other passengers should have politely told her that was not the time and place to be annoying other people who couldn't remove themselves from her noise, it turned ugly when a couple of men started swearing at her and verbally threatening her. The kind of men who probably would proudly wear "Speak English or Die" t shirts. She was a fool but they were cowardly racists.

I remember that one...captured on video, too, IIRC.

When Australians brag of being a classless society, I can kinda relate to what they're saying (and I should stress that my behavior has often been worse than that shown on this clip, so I really have no right to comment).

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Blackface in Oz (still common, but I do remember such tolerant fare in my youth as The Black and White Ministrel Show, Love Thy Neighbor and Mind Your Language...)
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1767706/Comment:-Why-are-we-debating-'blackface'-in-2013

[GomiGirl]

I do remember watching the black and white minstrel show once or twice as a kid. We had a black and white telly then and I also remembered being a bit confused by it all - who were these dudes with black makeup on? I did grow up in medium sized country town in the Hunter Valley with a not very diverse population apart from the army kids (us) vs the local yocals.

But your post about Love Thy Neighbour just set alarm bells off in my head - hadn't thought about that in a long time. Looking back - wow that was a racist show. Used to get reruns in the late 70's early 80's shown after school so I do remember watching it. I still think that my fave show from that era was Three's Company or what was that other one about the posh neighbours and the hippy couple? I used to like that I think. But hey I was under the age of 10 so there is no accounting for taste.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I do remember watching the black and white minstrel show once or twice as a kid. We had a black and white telly then and I also remembered being a bit confused by it all - who were these dudes with black makeup on? I did grow up in medium sized country town in the Hunter Valley with a not very diverse population apart from the army kids (us) vs the local yocals.

But your post about Love Thy Neighbour just set alarm bells off in my head - hadn't thought about that in a long time. Looking back - wow that was a racist show. Used to get reruns in the late 70's early 80's shown after school so I do remember watching it. I still think that my fave show from that era was Three's Company or what was that other one about the posh neighbours and the hippy couple? I used to like that I think. But hey I was under the age of 10 so there is no accounting for taste.

The shows I mentioned were all made in Brutain, but...
For Oz, see things like Kingswood Country or maybe Boney.