Racism has not gone away, says lecturer

A TOWNSVILLE indigenous educator says suggestions racism is “very rare” in North Queensland do not reflect reality in the community.

Maxwell Lenoy is a lecturer at James Cook University and said he has seen “dramatic changes” in the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are treated in the community but believes there’s still a way to go.

Last month Ayr- based LNP Senator Ian Macdonald caused intense public debate when he told a Senate Estimates Committee racism in the North was rare and the popularity of Johnathan Thurston was proof.

Mr Lenoy said he came from the same town as Senator Macdonald and had a “totally different experience”.

“I grew up in the Burdekin and I remember we weren’t allowed to go out at night for fear of being chased down by predominantly white people in cars who wouldn’t hesitate beating us up,” he said.

Mr Lenoy said he had “no doubt” popular indigenous role models like Thurston were still confronted with racism.

“JT doesn’t talk about all those negative experiences but I’m sure he’s had them, and each time he would have had to decide what’s worth fighting against and what’s worth ignoring,” he said.

Mr Lenoy said if people could “walk in the shoes” of indigenous people they would see how hard it is to succeed.

“In many cases I would not judge people with negative attitudes to be racist, I would judge them to be ignorant,” he said. “Who would knowingly swap their position with an indigenous person? And you can’t just choose to be JT or Jessica Mauboy.”

Mr Lenoy said Reconciliation Week was a positive opportunity to highlight indigenous history and culture.

“The 3rd of June is a great day for indigenous peoples and significant for JCU,” he said. “It marked the handing down of the Mabo decision in 1992.”