Justified Racism.

“Racism is an ideology that gives expression to myths about other racial and ethnic groups, that devalues and renders inferior those groups, that reflects and is perpetuated by deeply rooted historical, social, cultural and power inequalities in society.” (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 1998)

Is racism ever justified?
Well personally I believe no, the ideology behind racism is that a group be it those Middle Eastern, Australian or Asian decent for example are all the same. Assumptions, which are made on the basis of stereotypes.

Racism is something that has an impact on everyone, whether it is a ‘harmless’ passing comment or a statement, which aims to hurt it, still has an everlasting impact. From my experience attending higher schooling in Sydney’s western suburbs beginning in year 9 one of the first questions I was asked was what is my nationality. I left that first day wondering why I was asked this question not once but constantly throughout the day. As time progressed at this school notable trends emerged within the groupings of students, you sat with ‘your kind’. Identifying as Australian I was encouraged to join with one particular group, even though I was a close friend with many people of other nationalities. This is the beginning of a prejudicial culture. Now currently attending university exposure to a wide and varying group of people, who I consider being intelligent and informed I made the assumption that this prejudicial culture would be minimised. As this exposure encourages you to see people for whom they are rather than the colour of their skin or religion. Even in a space of acceptance racism is still running rapid. First semester in my first year, I struck up conversation with someone who was sitting on a bench next to me. She enquired as to whether I was in her class, responding no she than continued to say oh all you white girls look the same. After this comment I was left to think what gives anyone the right to make sweeping comments about an entire race based on appearance.

The issue of racism in Australia and more specifically Sydney needs to be confronted and stood up against. Social change needs to happen.

On the larger scale the racial stigma attached to being Middle Eastern has increased exponentially with the increased awareness of the terrorism risk in Australia. However the increased awareness of terrorism is not reason to feel justified in ones decision to be a racist to an entire group of people. With every race there are a few extremists giving a poor reputation to the wider society, but is this enough to be racist, stereotyping all people of Arabic decent to be Muslim extremists. With Sydney’s 2014 siege a mixed response resulted, with some individuals making assumptions regarding race, while others stood up against this racism. Australians joined together in support of those who face discrimination showing this is still their country. The development of the hash tag I’llRideWithYou gave hope in this tough time. Hope that we as Australians no longer see Racism as justifiable but are now making judgements on the basis of an individuals actions rather than their skin colour.

According to a 2009 VicHealth survey, one out of every ten Australians do not believe that people of all races are equal or that inter- racial marriage should be supported. In the same survey it was found that thirty-six percent of respondents believed some groups did not fit within Australian society (Howie, E 2010).

For every racist there are many who are not however they generally are less vocal regarding this opinion. In order to create social change we as Australians need to stand up against racism. Education is key, Australians need to be increasingly educated regarding differences while reinforcing the ideology that we are all in fact individuals but together we are Australia. We as Australians need to be encouraging to our fellow man creating positive developments towards a point where we are able to look back and question why it was we ever were discriminatory to others.

“One Parramatta is an ambitious and award-winning project that set out to reduce interpersonal racism in the Parramatta local government area and beyond.”
The concept was questioning individuals on the streets of Parramatta regarding their values, racism and the benefits of cultural diversity. This led to individuals further considering their views and justifying why it was they had this particular stance on racism.

Racism has no place in multicultural Australia. While all diverse individual cultures live together tolerance and acceptance of others differences is required. A convergence of cultures and races eliminates any preconceived ideas, with the similarities out weighing the differences. When it comes down to it we are all people.

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. - Nelson Mandela