JR230898

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nsw--the-state-of-racism/2006/05/23/1148150255291.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/28/2376201.htm?section=justin

As always, media outlets are trying to make sales out of comparisons between states. I would like to see the numbers on attitudes compared between rural and city locations against a scale of socio-economic standing.

I grew up in the 'white sliced bread world' that was rural Australia. Aboriginals occupied mission sites and were...'out of sight'...the only diversity in town was the Chinese Restaurant and the bloke who ran the Fruit Shop was either Italian or Greek. Country visitors to the cities would come back with comments about the numbers of Asians. The world is now moving to Australia.

The study cites that older people tended to be more uncomfortable about different cultural groups than younger generations. Let us hope that generational change can bring with it a greater acceptance of our growing cultural diversity.

Is it better, or worse, than where you have come from? Discuss.

rabsody

I grew up with an array of nationalities and colours at school and didn't think anything of it. Same with the workplace. I must admit I was quite shocked when I got here. My ex MIL (would be considered quite "proper") was quite openly racist at home and amongst friends. I have found lots to be the same. "Bloody asians" or "wogs" or "abbos" etc etc. That would not be acceptable around the people I mixed with back in the UK but I find it's quite commonplace here.

Twas one of the first things the inlaws mentioned when they came to visit us in Kent back in 2007 - "can't believe how many blacks there are around here". Hello, Kent is not even that diverse in comparison to, say, London!

I mean, Pauline Hanson, got 10% of the vote for christ's sake! 10% of the nation voted for her, largely because of her anti-immigration (racist) policies i.e. happy to have whites but not other nationalities!

I know I will likely get shouted down because someone else has a very different experience but this is what I have found (and it may have something to do with living in Queensland also ... not exactly known for being cosmopolitan, but it IS changing!).

Mr Grumpy

Meanwhile in Malaysia you are banned from the Govt if you are not Malay, the Korean minority in Japan lives in a Govt endorsed ghetto, Tibetans and Uighars regularly massed killed in China, Karen tribesmen driven off their land in Burma and lower castes in India are literally beaten to death in the streets by more 'proper' castes. Oh yes Australia is sooo bad.

sonlymewalter

And your point is

Are you saying two wrongs make a right

Devlin

Frankly 1 in to 10 sounds way too low from my experience.

Rainydaze

I've only recently arrived and it is very noticable, it makes me quite uncomfortable to be honest, cos I don't quite know how to deal with it. On a different note, coming to Sydney and experiencing a multitude of nationalities and ethnicities has been a positive experience for me as an immigrant because I don't feel so much like the odd one out.

Jmbau

How many people on this forum have moved to Australia due to the rise of foreigners moving to GB? More than 1 in 10 I would hazard a guess.

Also, there are far too many negative posts about Australia and Australians on this forum. Ok, it will never be home but isnt that why you moved here in the first place?

Geelong Gent

9 out of 10 are liars you say?

Racism born out of ignorance and too much time worrying about other tall poppies and less time on furthering oneself.

Glad I'm colour blind and quite frankly more interested in looking for the good in people than the bad.

Mr Grumpy

Most racism in Australia is from non-white people. The Chinese are incredibly racist for example. They call the Indians 'MONKEY' RIGHT TO THEIR FACE! I work for a Uni and the constant racial wars I have had to break up between the Indian and Chinese students is just ridiculous.

I have also on many occasions seen punch ups between the Lebs and Vietnamese, each calling one another lovely racial taunts.

You people have no clue, white Australians are incredibly tolerant. Go live in Bankstown or Fairfield and see hoe YOU get treated.

Last time my sister went shopping at Bankstown several Lebs followed her around making sexual gestures at her. As she left in the carpark they drove by and yelled out ' One day were gonna **** you Aussie whore!'

You lot need to grow up and get some bloody perspective.

Kim67

Come to the UAE, where people's wage entitlement is based on their race - where lining up at the ATM has a pecking order based on your nationality. At least Australia has laws set in place to protect people from being discriminated against because of race.

The Bloke

Seeing the so-called "study" only sampled 12,500 people, I cannot see how relevent the results of the study can say that 1 in 10 Australians are racist. By the sample only 1,250 people were racist in a population of over 20 million (even then it is only 200,000).
Yes, there is some racism in Australian, but how many of those sampled were actually cauasian, indigenous and from other cultures? Most of the violence seen in Cronulla, was between people from non-caucasian backgrounds. It is considered racist for caucasians to critise others, but seeminly not the other way around.

JR230898

Bloke,

I disagree with your account of the Cronulla violence.

Cronulla is serviced by a rail line and it is a popular place for many families from suburbs in Sydney that are home to migrant concentrations (Belmore, Bankstown et al).

From my understanding of the initiation and subsequent responses, it came about in a reaction by caucasians to an attack on a lifesaver at Cronulla beach.

A protest was informally organised and it involved caucasians assembling at Cronulla in response to text messages. Violence ensued and was aimed at anybody of seemingly ethnic origin. Innocent people were accosted in the streets around Cronulla near the beach.

Then, there was a subsequent and wider counter-reaction and, once again organised by text message, by people of mainly middle eastern extraction.

Mr Grumpy

The whole situation began many years ago as Lebs would come down to the beach and beat up people and threaten rape. I know a girl who had her nose broken by a Leb man near the beach.

It was years of frustration that caused Cronulla to erupt. And from the Leb counter attack they were 10 times more violent, with several people getting stabbed and a couple of girls were sexually harrassed and threatened with rape.

Petals

People can say whatever they like but you do not really know what they think. People like to fit in so that is the way it is.

Lets face it we are a tribal lot, look at these forums full of Brits why is that oh its to help them settle but why only mainly Brits here, its tribal.

I have experienced racism to the extreme I was brought up in apartheid as we migrated to Africa when I was a child. Fortunately I was white.

I take people how I find them if I like them I do if I do not so be it whatever their race. I do not feel obliged to like someone because its politically correct to do so.

Australians are many races of people the only real Australian people are our Aboriginals and they are such a quiet people we do not know what they think, only when they are of mixed race do we get an inkling.

Once we stop talking about it we will stop asking ourselves are we racist. We will just accept life, people and get on with it.

We have class systems, people with more money think they are better for some reason so what is the difference. Its all about people feeling superior to others.

Our family has chinese friends and thai friends and Maori friends and each of our friends can tell you they have experienced racism here and overseas. My Thai friend is half thai actually her dad is German and in Thailand half thai is not good enough.

The Bloke

... and originally they were the very first migrants to Australia, thousands of years ago.