Racism very much alive in Australia
Racism very much alive in Australia- Herald Sun Article
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Racism very much alive in Australia, says Dr Charles Teo
thetelegraph.com.au18 January 2012
Dr Charles Teo says it’s wrong to deny that there’s racism in Australia. Source: Herald Sun
UPDATE 12.19pm: RACISM still plagues Australia and migrants are being victimised, one of Australia’s most respected neurosurgeons says.
Dr Charles Teo, the son of Chinese immigrants, who prolonged the life of Jane McGrath and has saved the lives of hundreds of Australians, said it was wrong to deny there was racism.
At a launch of Australia Day Council celebrations yesterday, Dr Teo said that racism was still “very much alive in Australia”.
“I don’t quite like it when I hear politicians reassuring the Indians that there’s no racism in Australia. That’s bull—–,” he said.
What do you think of Prof Teo’s comments? Tell us below
Former premier Jeff Kennett, former Australian Medical Association president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, singer Kamahl and ex-police commissioner Christine Nixon have all said that racism exists.
“My message to them is that Victoria has a very, very proud record of defending our multicultural base and promoting that multicultural community.
“We will not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
Dr Teo said his daughter had been a victim of racism.
“My daughter was just saying to me the other day, very sadly, she doesn’t like Australia Day because she has in the past dressed up, got into the spirit of things, put a sticker on her face, worn the green and gold and been told by drunk Australians to go home because she looks Chinese,” he said.
“That’s so sad, because you can’t get more Australian than my daughter.”
He knew of an Indian neurosurgeon who had come to Australia to study for three months who was spat on in the street and told to “go home”.
But Dr Teo, who holds the Order of Australia, said migrants also had a responsibility to integrate into Australian society.
Mr Kennett said that racism occurred among children, but he taught his own grandchildren to be tolerant of other races.
“I think there always will be elements of racism and it is often manifest itself in different ways,” he said.
Kamahl, who came to Australia from Sri Lanka in 1953, said: “Of course there are bad apples, people who are racist … Educated minds and educated hearts are required to stop racism.”
Melbourne was gripped by a wave of racist assaults on Indian students in 2009, which has been blamed for a drop in the number of students from that country enrolling here this year.
Dr Haikerwal, victim of a vicious bashing in 2008, said Australia was overall a welcoming society, but racism did exist.
He was in “the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was attacked, but Indian students were racist targets.
“Attacks shouldn’t happen against guests of our nation,” he said.
Former Victorian police commissioner Christine Nixon said all Australians had come from other countries.
“There is racism particularly against our own Aboriginal people and it always surprises me since we’ve all come from other places,” she said.
With Gemma Jones and Ashley Gardiner
He is stating the obvious. It will be interesting to see how the referenda on proposed changes to the Constitution go. Australia will be exposed like South Africa, and I hope that nations around the world take not and adopt a similar stance.
Where does anyone think they have the right to insult or physically attack a person they don’t know on the basis of some artificial and antiquated construct like “race”. It should be subject to severe pecuniary and custodial sentence.
Racism is cultural criminality.
I love that “He is stating the obvious.” My major qualm with the Aussie take on racism is that it is still questioned. The dominant cultural paradigm keeps the concept in check by denying blatant racism is in fact racism… Of course it’s racism- name it, claim it, know and acknowledge it as a barrier for all people of colour living Down Under.