I am wondering why we trivialise indigenous racism in Australia?

[i-need-a-martini]

Adam Goodes has copped it twice this week - once from a kid and then by an adult who should know better.

I feel so ashamed of this country at this moment. I am sick of hearing a sentence start with "I am not racist but..." before the person launches into a race based attack on indigenous people (or Asians. Or Muslims).

What I have found the most interesting about the Goodes incident is how many people made excuses that made him look like the antagonist. Almost as if making racist remarks about indigenous people is no big deal. Treating him as if his feelings, his views (and everything about him) is unimportant. And I am staggered at how many people know so little about the history of racism a history that so many generations of indigenous people have had to go through.

And now Eddie Mcquire has shown us that racist comments against indigenous people is lurking just on the tips of our tongues waiting to be blurted out without refrain. 

I can't help but agree with this: One of the most savage responses to McGuire came from Magpies backman Harry O'Brien, who admonished his president, declaring he was ''extremely disappointed''. ''In my opinion race relations in this country is systematically a national disgrace,'' he said. 
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/eddie-offers-to-stand-aside-20130529-2nc63.html

I agree with that last line - it is a national disgrace.

[i-need-a-martini]

.. trying to do so or ostracising them for their attitude will not solve the problem it will only make it worse.  

So we let them continue spewing their garbage?

Sorry but I think you are wrong - ostracising people for their racist attitudes is EXACTLY what we SHOULD be doing.

Racism is not acceptable. And racist should well and truly understand this.

[cherples]

Did your children swear at you?

If yes did you try to stop them swearing at you in future?

[kilroy_is_here]

So we let them continue spewing their garbage?

Sorry but I think you are wrong - ostracising people for their racist attitudes is EXACTLY what we SHOULD be doing.

Racism is not acceptable. And racist should well and truly understand this.

 family , tribalism , nationalism & racism all stem from the fact that man is self aware & a social being that needs to interact to belong  we do this with like minded groups of people simply because we fell comfortable & understand them , therefor we are relaxed & dont feel thrreatened.

Racism which is the extreme end of the  continuos line is  i agree not exceptable & needs to be combatted ,but you have to concider that it all stems agian from our need to belong so to combat racism you need to deal with it a the the lower to middle end of that contiuos line.

how do we do that you ask?

 we do it by making other groups , tribes & races relivent to all others we point out the simalarities not the diferences we have positive role models  we teach & we learn , we are free to critisise without fear of reprisal that that needs to be critised we find commen ground on which we can be uited & its this foundation that then alows the differnces to to unit us rather than devide us.

as to ostrasing people for showing a racist atitude thats a sippery slope to wrong end of the line, if you were to ostrisiize the 13 year pold girl ban her from showing her face at a something she loves, so she no longer is able to belong where & who do you think she will be forced to or will naturally gravitate to she will drift further & further towards those that will eccept her & the more she is eccepted by them the more she feels comfortable and the more she will be accepting of their veiws, the radicalised she will become.

her behavour was wrong & needed to be corrected , i doubt that she is or was truely racist even tho her remarks were, in labeling her reacisrt & shunning her for it we give her no allternative but to embrace it

[conformatallcosts]

 I am wondering why we trivialise indigenous racism in Australia?

I am wondering why we trivialise bullying toward people with red hair in Australia? How about sexism in Australia? 

I feel so ashamed of this country at this moment. 

I agree with that last line - it is a national disgrace.

I see you are still including generalisations in your pontificating, and still completely missing the irony.

[2106greencat]

Greencat, I'm not sure how you can say:

My son is part aboriginal and I have to say he has never been the target of any type of racism either at school or anywhere else

yet at the same time say:

And shamefully - my own father would not recognise my son as his grandson WTF ?

I apologise if I have misunderstood what you meant, but that sure sounds like blatant racism to me. Perhaps we don't always like to label things as they really are?

I know what you mean in saying what you have Lurker. But my original reference to my son was based on our lives here in Australia.

My father - and I use that term only in a biological sense as I had no contact with him after this - well, that only just came to mind as I was posting.

To me it was the worst kind of slap in the face, and I am ashamed to be his daughter because of it.

My son knows nothing of it, nor will he ever be told, he simply has no grandfather on his mothers side.

Actually I had almost forgotten it until I started to post, probably because I treated it and him with the contempt it deserved.

[2106greencat]

My last post was not meant to sound like I was having a go at you Lurker, I am ashamed to say that I come from that kind of stock and my anger is directed at my father and his ridiculous views, not at you for calling me up on it.

I honestly have no idea why I even mentioned it, except maybe to show that while racism can be anywhere, it can also be ignored and treated with the ignorance it deserves.

Sorry if it did come across as being annoyed at you 🙂

[i-need-a-martini]

I understand what you are saying Kilroy. And when I say 'ostrasize' (actually you said it and I continued with the phrase) I didn't mean lock them up and throw away the key. But I meant in the sense that we, as a society, must make it clear that racism is not acceptable.

In this case, she was dealt with by security. In Eddies case, he is being dealt with by his peers and his board.

Both know that their actions were not acceptable. And because they were dealt with a clear message has been given to the rest of us that this type of racism is not acceptable.

It is another way of teaching and learning.

And whilst I agree it is a tribal thing (isn't all behaviour?), that doesn't make it acceptable. Murder used to be a tribal thing too but we don't accept excuses for that nowadays. It's an extreme example but a good example of how our behaviour changes as our societal expectation do.

[i-need-a-martini]

Did your children swear at you?

If yes did you try to stop them swearing at you in future?

I don't understand if this was directed at me cherples? Or if there is a relevance?

But I will answer anyway. My children have boundaries with swear words. There are certain words they are not allowed to use and there are consequences if they do use them.

Because they know the words are unacceptable to me and most, they don't use those words.

[darksideofthemoon]

YOU might.... I DON'T!

I am not racist, just as so many people here have shown they are not...  

I suspect you like to imagine the rest of us are when it is actually you who is racist.

[cueperkins]

afternoon all....

I thought I'd hark in on this topic because I just don't agree that this young girls comment was as bad as it was made out to be, or that it reflected anything more than the stupidity of youth. I also don't agree that this kid should be the poster girl for over 200 years of discrimination against indigenous people. 

Adam Goodes could have handled it much better, he being the adult, and she being the child.  At the age of 13, discernment, impulse control, empathy and a variety of other necessary cognitive functions are not fully developed yet = scientific & developmental fact...so who is really at a disadvantage in all this?

Goodes could have walked over, asked her what she meant and explained why he was a bit taken aback.  That probably would have been enough to teach the girl that she was being disrespectful at the very least...but racist?  I don't think so. 

Now, due to MSM hysteria....the kid was nationally humiliated and is being trolled on Faceache while being discussed all over the net.  Is that justified?

It just seems so irresponsible.  Kids take their lives for much less these days, so being turned into media fodder has to be right up there with high risk doesn't it? 

I don't think Goodes would be feeling too happy about that, and I understand he's now reached out to her and asked her to get in contact with him.  I'm at least glad about that.  Maybe they can turn it around, so nobody is damaged?