Incidents of Racism in Australia

On a warm day in November 2012, three French young girls took a bus at the northern suburbs of Melbourne. They sat in front of the bus and began to sing French singing quietly. In the next two seconds, a 40-year-old man holding a stroller and a 20-year-old young woman hurrying under the bus started insulting them, "You should commit suicide. You leave Australia and will return to your country I said. You do not belong here. You are French, you should not sit in front of the bus and go behind everyone behind you. "

Recently I gained the privilege to participate in a speech on Australian racial discrimination and identity. The Victorian Immigration Museum has a five-year history on the myriad of individuals racially discriminated in Australia and their influence on their identity. It is painful to see racial discrimination still prevalent in modern Australia. What you have to do is to see some news headlines, especially sports news. We will not disclose this topic in this blog post. Instead, let me look back to becoming a recipient of racial discrimination, growing up in Australia.

Australia is known as a multicultural country and many foreigners have Australia as a place to live forever. Since Australia is a multicultural society, the concept of racial discrimination is rare, but it is not the case. The highest form of Australian racial discrimination is indigenous, not only the majority of white society, but also the government policy leader who approves these policies. It was not until the 20th century that indigenous peoples did not constitute an Australian citizen. They do not have the right to compare Caucasian, they are not allowed to possess land, or they are not going to vote in a national election. Until the 1960s indigenous peoples throughout Australia were able to vote in the state elections and federal elections. (Lyon, 2005)

Indigenous peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, but as non-whites began to migrate to Australia, racial discrimination was directed to all non-whites. In 1901, whiteness was politicized by the government's adoption of "White Australia policy". These policies deliberately restricted non-Caucasian immigrants from non-Australian territories and continued from 1901 to 1973. This constitutional policy not only restricts immigrants other than white to Australia, but also has a devastating racial aspect because it exacerbates the existing non-white situation. And Australian indigenous people (Corris, 1990)