“We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” –Jimmy Carter
When I was younger, my friends and I spoke our home language to each other in a classroom. A student around us reported to an adult nearby. He told us that this was an English school, so we shouldn’t speak Chinese. I was confused. I was appalled. I was infuriated. Isn’t Australia a multicultural country? Why am I restricted from speaking my home language at an Australian school? I didn’t understand much about racism, about differentiation. But now, looking back. The adult was a white Australian. The other student was a white Australian. And me? A Chinese Australian with Malaysian born
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Racial discrimination corrupts the growing generation as racism is constantly occurring in Australian schools. Every single day, one in five students are discriminated against due to their race. According to the ‘All Together Now’ campaign, the most common forms of bullying are exclusion, being told that students do not belong in Australia, are called names or being teased, and are being pushed, hit or spat on. Dr Naomi Priest, a Deakin University researcher for citizenship and globalisation, surveyed children at five primary schools and four high schools in Victoria, which provided the same results as the ‘All Together Now’ campaign. In 2009, data collected by the Foundation of Youth Australia showed that 80% of students that were not white Australian, experienced racism. The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) had also surveyed different students. The AARE said, “Almost all students said they’d been ‘taught to accept’ that Australia is a ‘very multicultural society’ and that ‘we’re all alike, yet we’re different’. All children said they were anti-racist and that racism ‘just shouldn’t happen, it’s disgusting’.” The survey also showed that students agreed that Australia had a racism problem, however their responses to it were shocking. They agreed that racism occurs for one of these five factors: ‘racism is normal’, ‘it’s the racist bully’, ‘it’s the ethnic minorities who …show more content…
Pauline Hanson, the leader of the One Nation political party is a clear example that racism exists and that politicians encourage racial discrimination. On the One Nation website itself, it state that “One Nation will abolish multiculturalism and the Racial Discrimination Act” and that “loyalty to Australia and Australian Nationalism must come first”. Hanson expressed that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians” in 1996. Hanson expressed that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Muslims” in 2016. She had voiced that there should be an end to South African immigration to Australia because “they’ve got AIDS” and are “no benefit to this country whatsoever”. Hanson is an advocate for a Muslim ban and she had also stated that Islam is a “disease”, which Australia needs to “vaccinate” against. Yet, she has the audacity to say that she has never said anything racist ever. However, you shouldn’t expect anything less from a white Australian who clearly hasn’t experience much racial discrimination whatsoever. Imagine travelling to the other side of the world on a tiny speck of dust across the vicious, turbulent sea after escaping bloodshed and explosions. Imagine being ripped away from your parents as the only means to survive. Since 2013, the Australian government ban asylum seekers who come from boat to seek refuge in our country. In the Universal
Over the years Australia has had many different problems with racism and racism affecting peoples’ lives. Many racial groups have been affected, most significantly the Aboriginals. The end of world war two in 1945 marked a huge change in types of racism. Australia went from the ‘superior’ white Australians dominating over immigrants and aboriginals. To a relatively multicultural and accepting society that is present today.
In 2014 Beyond Blue released a video campaign that illustrated that ‘Discrimination stops with you’ and posted a message that ‘No one should be made to feel like crap just for being who they are’ (Beyond Blue 2014). The campaign dubbed The Invisible Discriminator showed a sequence of events where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience racism and links how these incidents that may seem insignificant to those being unconsciously racist can lead to anxiety and depression.
The Aboriginal Education and Training Policy`s (AETP) (NSW DET 2008) main goal is that “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will match or better the outcomes of the broader student population” (1.1.2) and includes an explicit focus on developing cultural competencies (NSW DET 2008, p.6). Establishing ‘learning partnerships’ and relationships with Aboriginal communities, including Aboriginal content within the curriculum (NSW BOS 2008, p. 2), and engagement are advocated as necessary elements to achieve this edict. Racism has been proven to be an extremely detreimental factor on all fronts, especially within the education context. To address this intolerance the Anti-Racism Policy (ARP, 2005) is committed to eradicating all forms
During the 19th century Aboriginal people faced a whole lot of discrimination in Canada, their beliefs and culture were considered to be ill-advised, this led to residential schools being opened for Aboriginal kids. When understanding residential schools it is important to look at the cultural impact it left with kids. Dr. Duncan Campbell Scott once declared, “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone… Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill.”(Twentieth- Century Education for Native Americans…)This is what sparked the entire problem with Indians and how residential schools came about. But, to what extent was the purpose of Residential schools rooted in cultural misunderstanding of Aboriginals. I will be looking into the purpose of residential schools being instated, activities that went on in residential schools and the impact left on families because of residential schools.
“…Everybody jumped on him, and beat him senseless… Everybody was hitting him or kicking him. One guy was kicking at his spine. Another guy was hitting him on the side of his face… he was unconscious. He was bleeding. Everybody had blood on their forearms. We ran back up the hill laughing… He should have died… He lost so much blood he turned white. He got what he deserved…” (Ridgeway 167). The skinheads who were beating this man up had no reason to do so except for the fact that he was Mexican. Racism in this day and age is still as big of a problem as it was in the past, and as long as hate groups are still around to promote violence, society is never going to grow to love one another.
Racial discrimination in the workplace has been a persistent theme in Canada’s history as well as present-day times. The occurrence of actions and attitudes that impose a sense of one being less equal than another on the basis of one’s race in Canada’s workplace inhibits both our nation’s ability to move forward as well as strengthen unification within our country. The belief in a more egalitarian society, where one’s race and ethnic background have little to no impact on employees (or potential employees) standings within the job market, would seemingly be reinforced by the majority of Canadians, who consistently show support for Canada’s multicultural identity. Couple that with the noticeable strides Canada has made in the past several decades through legislation, in order to eliminate discriminatory practices and actions within the workplace, and one would likely assume that racial discrimination within the workplace is largely a concern of the past. However, current research supports the argument that the level of which racial discrimination occurs today is increasing, and as such it persists to be a key problem in the current workplace of the nation. In the workplace, racial discrimination is often seen with regard to uneven access to jobs, unfair selection and promotion criteria (as well as access to the means in order to meet this criteria), and workplace harassment. This paper compares similar findings of two articles; the first, Racial inequality in employment in Canada, as was published in the Canadian Public Administration (CPA), and the second, What Are Immigrants’ Experiences of Discrimination in the Workplace?, published by the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI).
While browsing through articles on the internet, I came across many related to the topic of racism. I am beginning to feel as if I am surrounded by stories of racism. From the KKK’s aggressive campaign against immigrants, to the police violence against black people in cites throughout our nation, racism and discrimination continue to be problems. One story stood out to me and continues to make me uncomfortable. Malachi Wilson, a five year-old boy, could not attend his first day of kindergarten in Seminole, Texas. What could he have done to warrant the principal’s rejection? His hair was simply too long.
presents itself in a more discrete way than racism in other countries. Racism in other countries goes further than just having a bias towards races. In other countries racism denies the people of certain races privileges that everyone should have access to, as well as creates a prejudice that leads to minority groups to be treated badly. An example of this can be found in the video “Understanding Systematic Oppression and Institutionalized Racism” by Kyol Blakeney from TedxYouth in Sydney. In his Ted talk Kyol Blakeney compares the chance of an African American in the U.S to end up in jail to an Aboriginal Australian to end up in jail and found that an Aboriginal Australian is 14 times more likely to end up in jail. This example shows that the institutionalized racism in Australia is so present that it affects minority groups like that aboriginal Australian which make up 2.7 % of the population on a huge scale. The fact that racism in the form of an institution which stems from racial bias affects minority groups not just in the U.S. but also cross-culturally in other
It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.
James Baldwin, author of “A Talk to Teachers,” argues that a future of equality in schools cannot be created unless past acts of racism are recognized. He writes “... as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated” (Baldwin 1). This statement argues that it is impossible to be American and black at the same time. Baldwin explains that the American side advertises equal opportunity, whereas being black implies that he has contributed nothing to society, and his sole purpose is to serve white people. Challenging the American view on race is what pushes society forwards. On the contrary, students who are uneducated may unknowingly perpetuate the same racism that hold back education. In a study conducted in 2016, Maureen Costello commented that students who cannot connect or comprehend important policy, they are more likely to make an uninformed decision. One teacher commented that “’The white students ... say terrible things about immigrants, while sitting next to their immigrant friends...the others[immigrants] are quiet and afraid’’’ (Costello 12). The ignorance of students perpetrates an unsafe and uncomfortable learning environment. Immigrant students are aware of this tension because they are not only being targeted, but in a way that is not legitimately supported by facts, but rather propaganda and ignorance. Because of situations like these, administrators in some school districts have created protocol for situations for extreme intolerance built on a platform of
Instead, multiculturalism places a wide range of claims of accommodation such as religion, ethnicity, language, race and nationality (Song, 2010). In the case of Australia, the acceptance of multiculturalism based on such far-flung claims has essentially resulted in the advent of politics of recognition among the minority groups seeking accommodation or integration in Australia. This is shown by Song (2010) who states that key among the claims fronted by Australia’s minority groups is self-government or at least some sort of recognition that affords such communities a form of autonomy. One key comparison is the aboriginal communities of Australia and those of Canada, whereby claims for recognition based on the uniqueness of ethnicity have left a bad taste in the mouth of white
After the release of Rabbit Proof Fence, many `politically right' white Australians tried to promote that the film was based on myth and misunderstanding but in facet is not as the film itself promotes the openness of racism. Racism was not only a problem is Australia but throughout the world and is continuing to stay a problem, even in our own backyard. The racism between the white Australians and the Aborigines is quite similar to the racism shown in schools and even in parliament here in New Zealand between the Maori and Europeans, or once again between the `white' and the `black'.
According to the materials to which I have been exposed in this course, in my informed judgement, the views of these Millennials are very inaccurate. The society on which we live in today still produces discrimination towards minority groups. These groups include but are not limited to: African-Americans and women. Evidence of discrimination are exemplified via an article by authors Joe Feagin, Adriane Fugh-Berman, and Roxanna Harlow (McIntyre, 2015). These articles examine the discrimination that minority groups face in our society and offers an explanation (social factors) to how this millennial obtained misinformed views.
...ntolerance. Other factors that continue to shadow multiculturalism include racism, prejudice and social inequality. This has caused concern in the government as this is a major threat to Australia’s stride towards achieving full multiculturalism.
Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.