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There were three categories which Indigenous languagespeakers were more likely to choose than non-speakers:1) ‘bush tucker, hunting and fishing’; 2) ‘traditions andceremony’; and 3) ‘speaking language’. These were allabout twice as likely to be chosen by Indigenous languagespeakers. Interestingly, these are precisely the areas thatare difficult to maintain in situations where there arediminishing numbers of speakers of the language.On the other hand, ‘pride in identity’ and ‘family networks’were more likely to be chosen by those who did not speakan Indigenous language in the home than by those whodid. It is no surprise that families and communities whoselanguages have very few speakers or are no longer spokentend also to be living in areas where they are distinctly inthe minority. This could well be a factor in the choice tofocus on pride in identity and family networks as essentialelements of their culture to pass on to their children.Racism, discrimination and prejudiceRacism is destructive at both the individual andcommunity level. It devalues people’s cultural identity,preventing them from reaching their potential. It isparticularly damaging for children as it holds back theirsocial development and limits educational opportunities(NSW Department of Education and Training 2010).Just over two-thirds (68.0 per cent) of primary carersindicated that their families never or hardly everexperienced racism, discrimination or prejudice. Table 45shows that of the 32.0 per cent who did experience it, itwas not a common occurrence. However, families weremore likely to experience discrimination if they were livingin areas of lower relative isolation.Different people have different ways of dealing withincidents of racism. Table 46 shows that most people reactedin a non-confrontational way such as shrugging it off orwalking away. Although nearly 30 per cent of respondentssaid they ‘try to correct the person’, this approach was muchless common in areas of high or extreme isolation wherepeople were more likely to walk away.Table 45: Racism, discrimination or prejudice by LORI, per centFrequency of experience None (urban) Low Moderate High/Extreme All areasEvery day 4.8 2.4 1.6 0.7 2.8Every week 3.2 2.4 0.0 0.7 2.1Sometimes 15.5 16.2 11.8 6.3 14.4Only occasionally 15.2 14.2 7.0 6.3 12.7Never or hardly ever 61.3 64.7 79.7 85.9 68.0Table 46: Reactions to racism, discrimination or prejudice by LORI, per centReactions None (urban) LowModerate toExtremeAll areasTry to correct the person 36.6 25.9 28.1 29.7Shrug it off 17.9 24.3 15.8 21.1Respond angrily 6.9 13.2 7.0 10.3Make a complaint 6.2 5.8 7.0 6.1Walk away 17.9 15.6 29.8 18.2Get upset 7.6 4.1 10.5 6.1Other 6.9 11.1 1.8 8.5Note:The moderate, high and extreme LORI categories have been combined due to small sample sizes. The percentages should beused with caution as there were only 57 people in the combined category who experienced racism.Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children | Key Summary Report from Wave 357