Lot's Wife Edition 1 2017

some thoughts on
My classmate was born in Australia to parents who emigrated
from Italy. One night he got told to ‘Go back to where he came
from.’ Sadly, that statement is unsurprising. We’ve heard it before in
the media, from our politicians and on the streets. The surprising
part was that the people telling this Italian-Australian to “Go
Home,” had thick British accents!
It doesn’t matter how many decades you or your parents have
lived in Australia. If you’re Asian, expect to be mistaken for being
Chinese even though your grandparents came from Korea. If you’re
brown, expect to be randomly selected for a search at the airport.
If you’re black, expect people to clutch their purses close as you
step onto the bus. Prejudice forces non-white Australians to live in
between the lines in this place their parents told them to call home.
We don’t need to look beyond our waters to Brexit and Trump for
examples of xenophobia. As renowned political commentator John
Oliver puts it, “Australia is the most comfortably racist country in
the world.” There is a culture of hatred in this country that pushes
non-white Australians out onto the fringes of society.
The consequences of intolerance affect all Australians. Dr Anne
Aly’s – an Australian professor and advisor to the White House
– research demonstrates how discrimination against non-white
Australians makes them significantly more susceptible to being
radicalised. Racism breeds violence and hatred. This is a problem
for a country that many have come to love for its safety and
fairness.
Racism flies in the face of our Australian belief in a fair go. A
woman came into my work asking about vacancies. I told her I
would pass her CV onto my manager and nosily skimmed it myself.
It contained her photograph and details of her past. I noticed that
she was born in Western Australia. My manager noticed the picture.
“We don’t hire black people,” she mumbled under her breath as she
crumpled up the CV and chucked it in the bin. As the dust of my
shock settled, I wondered about all of the economic opportunities
that go unattained in this country because of racism.
Australians who hail from ethnically diverse backgrounds are
vitally important to Australian culture too. There’s Thon Maker,
Shaun Tan, Waleed Aly, Jessica Mauboy, Cathy Freeman and Penny
Wong to name a few. Thon Maker is a professional basketball player
who, despite being drafted by the NBA and offered a lucrative
opportunity to play for Canada, still considers scoring asylum
in Australia his greatest accomplishment. “As of right now, I am
doing everything I can to play for Australia,” Thon reports. The
accomplishments of non-white Australians should make people
proud of this country.
Australia boasts a national identity that challenges neat
categories. This Australia Day, gulping down tandoori chicken,
chow mein, tacos, falafel or tortellini with family and friends is just
as Australian as cooking up a sausage sizzle on the barbie whilst
cracking open a cold beer. The culinary benefits of this diversity are
obvious but deeper still lies the hard truth. An incorrect and racist
understanding of identity is toxic in a country that prides itself for
rejecting entrenched class structures and giving everyone a fair go.
Australians don’t all look the same. We’re ethnically diverse,
complicated, progressive, free spirited, and we’re better for it.
ethnic diversity
article by diana batchelor, illustration by kelly simpson-bull
politics/society 22-23