samman

i am Australian citizen of African origin, I migrated to Australia 17 years ago. I visited and lived in a dozen of countries around the world. I would definitely say Australia is more racist than Europe and America.

The level of racism in Australia is similar to the level of racism in the American state of Alabama or Louisiana in 50s and 60s of last century.

eddie007

Yup sure is... Segregation, KKK.. Lynchings... All happening right here in Australia today....

WTF are you on?

samman

In Alabama in 60s young people would drive by, raise the confederate flag and call blacks walking on the street the N words just for the fun of it. It happened to me in Australia. In fact I know stories of Africans who were spat on and called the N words from moving cars.
Ever heard of Cronulla riots? What the difference between the KKK and the Cronulla rioters?


Talking about segregations? There are ghettos in Melbourne and Sydney, not to mention the remote aboriginal communities.

I talked only about overt racism so far; the covert racism is more sinister and malicious especially in employment, it can basically ruin your career and your life if you are not strong.

eddie007

I'm off to taste the lush green grass in the other meadow... I'm sure my big brother will be along in a little while and he's much bigger and fatter and tastier than I am.......trip trap trip trap over the rickety bridge

RedDragon2008

I am staggered by how primitive so called decent people can be in a so called modern world.

Agree Samman the hidden deceitful offenders are the most worrying.

samman

I have been through horrendous experience at work.

I used to work for a large government corporation few years ago. I was racially discriminated against at work, so I wrote formal complaint via email to the HR department. The HR refused to fully investigate my complaint for about 1.5 years.
I couldn’t quit my job during the period because I have had large financial debt and I couldn’t find another job just after the financial crisis.

Therefore I contacted the unions and I asked them for help. The Unions forced the company to investigate my complaint.
The company hired external investigators and asked the investigators to investigate the allegations of bullying but not the allegations of discrimination or racism.

The findings of the external investigators that I was not subjected to bullying.
I told the company my complaint was about racism, so I asked HR as to why they didn’t investigate my allegations of racism and discrimination?

They told me that I have never made a complaint alleging racism or discrimination at the workplace.

So I took the case to court and provided the court with all evidences including a copy of my complaint (email) which I lodged with HR 2 years earlier. The company settled my complaint out of court before hearing and offered me a large sum of cash (i.e. tens of thousands of dollars) and written secret apologies as wells.

I remember that all my white colleagues at work wouldn’t talk to me when I made the discrimination and racism allegations; they stood in solidarity with the aggressor just because he was white.

These were horrible days, I am glad it is all over now.

BadgeIsBack

I would say that out in regional Australia you'd have to be ready for some rough and ready 'country' views where by racism might be one of the least of your worries...

BadgeIsBack

I think people out in the regions are more colorful in some ways and racists are more likely to stand out. But the other thing about it is that in small towns people have to get by with in their communities and can't necessarily cause waves. If you find racism, you're probably really finding someone who by their very nature is insular, awkward and not prepared to broaden their horizons beyond very limited interests and experiences. Their loss. I don't think it's really the Klu Klax Klan out there..

fatpantsss

wow samman sounds like you have had a hard time, exactly what i don't want my wife going through.
may i ask why you have stayed in Australia and not migrated to Europe or America? if its that bad.
my wife is quite strong headed, more of a defense i think, but dont want here being miserable.
there been a few comments from people like Sherlock Holmes who say that they have never noticed it and people from a African origin are getting on well in their community, which sounds encouraging.
emm hope it works out
thanks all for your comments

samman

I stayed in Australia due to specific set of personal circumstances.However I tried to migrate to Canada just before the financial crisis, the financial crisis hit and job opportunities became scarce.


Sherlock Holmes is relaying what other people told him, he has no first hand knowledge or experience of racism. My experience is that most colored/ non white migrants do not like to speak openly about racism in Australia for fear of backlash from the community. If you read my story (above) you will find out that i suffered from a backlash because I complained about racism at the workplace.


This is not to say all Aussies are racists, many Aussies are decent folks, however racism is a real problem in Australia.

The situation is much better in Melbourne and Sydney because most of the migrants live there. There are places in Australia I don't advice you to go. Even the Daily Planet Guide issued cautions on its website to alert tourists against racism in some parts of Australia.

The best advice I can give you is to take your wife with you for a long holiday in Australia(i.e. a month or two) . There are African communities in Melbourne and Sydney from all African countries, your wife will be able to meet people from her country and they will be able to advice her.

fatpantsss

ok samman thanks for your advice

astera

Yes I have. You really must be taking something to compare the two in such a senseless manner.

Cronulla reacted to some Middle Easterners who came to Cronulla, got into an argument with a lifeguard, and beat him up. And things got a bit out of hand from there...

But nobody got hanged, there were no funerals to attend afterwards, etc.

samman

Oh yeah?

Let us assume what you said is true and that the riots were a payback for an incident by few Middle Eastern men who bashed white life savers weeks prior to the riots.


Is it reasonable or logical that thousands of white Aussies rioted and retaliated against all people of colour in Cronulla?


Thousands of white Aussie bashed all people of colour who happened to be near the beach that day and many innocent victims ended up at emergency departments. It was a mere luck that no one died. The racial riots are on YouTube, go and have a look yourself. The Cronulla mob was no different to the KKK mob, both advocated violence against innocent victims on racial ground (i.e. just because they happened to have different skin colour).

Bernieboy

Good post

spouse of scouse

Fatpantsss (love your name!), I thought I'd add my bit of anecdotal evidence to the mix.

I work in local government which has well over 100,000 residents. It's an extremely culturally diverse area with people from dozens of countries, including Africa, calling it home. As well as catholic and anglican churches, there is a mosque and a sikh temple. For those who take notice of such things, the majority of the suburbs contain some of the lowest priced housing stock in the metropolitan area and the average income is well below the median.

We get our share of crime, primarily burglaries and car theft, but there is no endemic racism. People from Africa shop at the local supermarket and carry their purchases home in bowls on their heads, it's a fantastic, colourful sight and they're often stopped by older locals for a chat. We run heaps of multicultural events, based on food, art, music, dance, and everyone joins in. The community centres run classes on just about everything, from assisting newly arrived immigrants to negotiate the norms of Oz society (written and unwritten), to computing for beginners. There are lots of programs for young people, one that has been very popular sees the young people joined for fun activities by police officers - this has helped teenagers who have come from a country where authority figures are viewed with fear.

The local government I work with isn't unique and there are also many non-government organisations that run expressly to assist new migrants and promote understanding between people from different cultures.

You won't find a 50s or 60s US here. I hope you and your wife do decide to come to Oz, and for every isolated negative comment you may get from an uneducated neanderthal, I'm confident you'll find that balanced with 1,000 positive, friendly ones. Good luck to you and the missus!