‘When it comes to racial
inequality, even as much has changed, much remains the same’
(Kwane Anthony Appiah)
Racism in Australia Today
Captain Pete Brookshaw (2015)
Introduction
You could liken racism in Australia to soup in a pot boiling
away on the stove and occasionally someone turns up the heat and the pot
overflows. Right from the settlement of white immigrants in the late 18th
Century there has been racial tension, and discrimination has been bubbling
away, coming to the surface on occasions. Racism in the past has informed
racism today. Before exploring such matters, a definition of racial
discrimination is helpful.
The United Nations General Assembly (21st
December, 1965) defined ‘racial discrimination’ as:
Any
distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent,
or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or
impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, or human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or
any other field of public life. (Yarwood, Yarwood, & Knowling, 1982, p. 257)
The racial tensions in Australia’s history and contemporary
society can be better understood by looking at the foundational aspects of both
the biblical writings and subsequently the work of the United Nations in the
mid-20th Century with the establishment of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR). The inequality between races in Australia has caused
disadvantage in employment, education, Government social service benefits,
other economic disadvantages and even verbal and physical abuse of the
powerless. What is the way forward for the Australian community, when we have
such a checkered past and fickle present?
A Brief History of
Race-Relations in Australia
The underlying issues of racism that exist within the
Australian population today have evolved from the paradigms of thinking and behaviour
from generations past
.
The way Australians speak of others, how we treat each other and the upholding
or otherwise of the human rights of others, stems from deeply rooted historical
places.
Prior to 1788, the first Australians, the Aboriginal people,
enjoyed the nomadic lifestyle and rugged terrain of the Australian landscape.
The indigenous people lived off the land, and expressed their culture through a
hunter-gatherer mindset, with their own cultural practices unique to such a way
of living. From 1788 circumstances changed dramatically. The white people had
arrived. Captain Cook and the First Fleet arrived on the shores of Botany Bay
and before long, there was tension between British immigrants and long-standing
Indigenous people who had been working the land for many, many years previous.
The tensions of race-relations between the white Anglo-Saxons
and indigenous people has been prevalent in Australian culture since the First
Fleet. After the Federation of Australia
in 1901, the government passed the
Immigration
Restriction Act 1901, which declared all varying types of reasons why
immigrants could not enter into Australia (e.g. mental illness, having an
infectious disease, an inability to pass a dictation test), yet seemed to show
favour to the British. Could it be, that policies were enacted by the Australian
government that discriminated against particular people because of their race,
but was done so in a way appearing not to be overtly racist? During the days of
the Second World War, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin said,
'This country shall remain
forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in
order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race'.
The racist tone of the Australian people was clearly evident, as spoken by an
Australian Prime Minister. The articles of the UDHR were not produced until
following the atrocities of World War II, and in its 30 articles, we have
content that challenges words just mentioned. Article one is foundational: ‘All
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…’ Arguably a mildly racist
tone amongst white Anglo-Saxons had existed for years amongst the Australian
rhetoric, where people were not treated as being equal in dignity and rights.
The inherent racism within the Australian culture, especially towards
indigenous people was contrary to those newly developed human rights standards.
Racism in Australia Today
Does
racism still exist in Australia today? One would have surely thought, that in
today’s culture of political correctness and tolerance that racism in Australia
would be a distant memory of a bygone era. Not true. Within the multicultural
diverse demographic of people that make up the Australian population there is
still an underlying racism that permeates the rhetoric of many Australians. We find
ourselves in the tea-room at work, and someone relays a denigrating joke about
an aboriginal. Then we hear about the racial-tensions between Muslims wanting
to build a Mosque directly adjacent to an Assyrian Christian Church. Furthermore
we could speak of the current Federal Government’s policies around the
treatment of refugees and what that says about what we think about race. Read
social media for more than five minutes, and you read of everyday Australians
holding to some very vocal, down-right bigoted views of other nationalities.
Let
me suggest that Anglo-Saxon Australians today still have reverberations of
racist overtones permeating their words and actions that can be fundamentally
attributed to cultural alliances with racist ideologies from years past. Only
recently we saw Pauline Hanson (famous for not understanding the question, ‘Are
you xenophobic?’) put her hand up again to contest a seat in the next Australian
Federal election. She is known as someone with a philosophical leaning that
verges on outright racist. Interestingly though, she has her own particular following.
In the UDHR, article 15, we read that everyone has the right to a nationality
and that no one should be deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to
change his nationality. Pauline Hanson and others with similar outlooks would
do well to consider what it means for someone to have the right to their own
nationality. Not only that, they have the right to seek asylum when persecuted
(Article 14), and in those circumstances, they are no doubt hoping for a
welcoming, inclusive community; not a racist one. There are parts of ‘White
Australia’ that are absolutely committed to people conforming to their
standards and to their culture. The problem is, Australians cannot articulate
what that culture is!
We
have confused patriotism with religious and cultural conformity. In recent months Australia saw ‘Reclaim
Australia’ rallies right around the country, protesting for a reclaiming of
Australia. Australians want to reclaim Australia, yet the people protesting are
not even indigenous? People who have
had the freedom to immigrate to Australia (over the last two hundred plus
years), and have had afforded to them the privileges of everything that makes
Australia great, are now protesting about
others wanting to have the same freedom afforded to them?! The classic is the
picture of an indigenous Australian holding a banner that said, ‘Australia is
not yours to reclaim.’
Tensions
exist between the Australian Muslim community and Anglo-Saxon Australians. Complex
societal factors contribute to the tensions, but fundamentally the issues are about
race and religion. Abu-Rayya and White (Ata, 2014, p. 22) say that:
Muslims in Australia
endure problematic portrayals, stereotyping and negative perceptions within
Australian society, and that these perceptions are linked to real-world impacts
including exclusion, racist violence, arson and various forms of unfair
treatment.
Two
factors contribute to a negative connection between Australian Muslims and
other Australians; that of fear and ignorance. Only in the last couple of
months, have there been examples of the radicalization of young Australians in local
suburbs, with the online grooming by terrorists towards young people to fight
with Islamic State. The fear is real, but the ignorance is such, that many
Australians place the majority of peace-abiding, moderate Muslims in the same
basket as Islamic State militants. Article 18 of the UDHR says that everyone
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It is a human
right to express one’s religion without the consequences of dealing with racist
actions of bigoted white Australians. Conversely, when the actions of a small
number in Australian society begin to use indoctrinated beliefs with a
foundation of violence that impinge on another’s human rights, then Australian
law enforcement must act. The challenge is for the Australian public to
understand that which relates to a minority group of individuals and to not
make unfounded rash generalizations about a particular people group (Ata, 2014, p. 36).
Racism at its Biblical
Roots
What
would Jesus think about all this racism? Or more broadly, how can the biblical
Scriptures inform us about philosophical anthropology and its relation to
racism? There is something within the essence of humanity, right from the
beginnings of the stories of Genesis, where we see humanity’s desire for power,
significance and control. Eve and then subsequently Adam, were tempted to take
that which they had been asked not to consume. In the second generation, Cain
murdered his younger brother Abel because of jealousy that God had favoured
Abel’s offering over and above his own. In the story of Noah and the Ark, God
brought judgment upon the people, yet showed mercy upon Noah and his family because
they were righteous. The Old Testament biblical accounts of the Torah, not to
mention the stories of the twelve kings of Israel, the Davidic Kingdom and the Minor
Prophets, reveal the wrestle of humanity with dealing with the temptations and consequences
of sinfulness. It is the quest for power that corrupts the human heart,
stemming right back to the creation narratives. This power and control is what
led British immigrants to kill Aborigines in a battle to secure land on the
eastern sea-board in the late 18th Century. This desire for control,
is what seems to keep the current Australian Federal Government so resolutely
committed to their inhumane border protection policies.
One
could mention with great detail the theological implications of biblical
particularism and that the Jews are the ‘chosen people’. Christianity then,
‘claimed to universalize the Hebrew Bible’s supposedly parochial view of the
divine covenant, making it available to all the nations of the earth.’ (Brett, 1996, p. 143) We can see within
the ministry of Jesus Christ and the beginnings of the Christian church, a
radical embracing of all people, not just Jews, but Gentiles too. The Apostle
Paul sums up the universalist idea when he wrote, ‘There is neither Jew nor
Greek, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female. You are all one in
Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28).
He was simply reaffirming the words and actions of Christ, like when Jesus
offered prophetic words of healing to a Samaritan woman, in Samaria. The ministry of Jesus exemplified a life committed to
upholding equality amongst people with a clear mandate that challenged racial
prejudice and discrimination. One may argue then that the implementation of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights midway through the 20th
Century was heavily influenced by the teachings and life of Christ.
So,
we see two important progressions in history; one is of the poor choices and
sinfulness of a broken people and another is the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Racism is birthed in that place of sinfulness, where power and
control take hold, but in the person of Jesus Christ, racism is challenged at
the core.
Racism and the Way Forward for
Australian Culture Today
It is all well and good to speak of racism in Australian
culture today, but the challenge comes on what can be done about it. Firstly,
the presupposition is, that based on the discussion of a foundation of racial
tension within the Australian population, that positive change against such
views is needed. Confirming that, the next question is what can be done?
Colin Chapman in
Cross
and Crescent offers some thoughts about what Christians could do when
facing the political challenges of the Islamic faith. These thoughts relate
well to the Australian public at large, beyond Islam and to race in general,
with assisting us with ideas that help us deal with racial inequality
(Chapman, 2003, pp. 296-301).
·
Obtain accurate information – This
relates to ensuring that you know all the facts. Racial prejudice is quite
often related to ignorance.
·
Be responsible with publicity – The
media and individuals have a responsibility to communicate publicly only that
which is fair and reasonable and true.
·
Conduct local, united protests –
Interestingly, how many Australians would find the violation of human rights,
in relation to racial inequality something they feel strongly about enough to
protest?
·
Appeal to international law –
Article 18 of the UDHR appeals to the right that people have for the freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. Pittaway
says, ‘All people should be treated the same—we should all be free’
(2015, p. 29).
·
Turn the other cheek and follow the Golden
Rule – Chapman highlights the importance of following the ways of
Jesus. This is critical if we truly want to be a racially-tolerant, loving and
compassionate society that upholds a strong morality with foundations in the
Word of God.
·
Learn the lessons from history –
Australians would do well to learn from the racial prejudice of days gone by;
the way politicians treated the first peoples of Australia, and the way
Anglo-Saxons treated their ethnic brothers and sisters.
The ugly truth of racism in Australia, is that it was rife
right from British settlement, and still bubbles away under the surface of
political and societal discourse, rearing its unpleasant head regularly. Each
Australian resident has a responsibility to uphold the human rights of others
and subsequently establish a culture where Australians are respected, equal,
empowered and free. Anything less is an abuse of human rights.
Bibliography
Ata, A. W. (2014). Education Integration
Challenges: The Case of Australian Muslims. Victoria: David Lovell
Publishing.
Brett, M. G. (1996). Ethnicity and the Bible.
Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill.
Chapman, C. (2003).
Cross and Crescent: Responding
to the Challenge of Islam. Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
Drehle, D. V. (April 20, 2015). TIME: Black Lives
Matter. Time Magazine.
Mackay, H. (2007). Advance Australia Where?
Sydney: Hachette Livre Australia.
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2004). Whitening Race:
Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies
Press.
Pittaway, T. (2015). Freedom Unleashed.
Maryborough: McPherson's Printing.
Rose, G. (March/April 2015). The Trouble with Race. Foreign
Affairs.
Yarwood, A. T., Yarwood, A. T., & Knowling, M. J.
(1982). Race Relations in Australia: A History. New South Wales:
Methuen Australia.
Racism is
inherent within some cultures, like the U.S.A, where on April 4th
of this year, one clear Saturday morning, a white police officer, Michael
Thomas Slager, shot an unarmed black man in the back 8 times. The chilling
video depicts the situation, where one would say, race was again at the
forefront of American culture. Time magazine run with the heading on April 20th,
2015 with Black Lives Matter, though
the content of the journalism did very little to address the issue of racism
within the American culture, but rather the journalists touched on slightly
less provocative angles, like the culture that exists within law enforcement
in America.
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