Racism stops with me
JOE WILLIAMS has faced down some tough opponents on the footy field and in the ring and says when he heard a staff member at Woolworths Orana Mall store this week refer to customers as “Abos” he couldn’t turn his back.
“I was at the self-serve register when I heard a staff member refer to customers as ‘three Abos’,” Mr Williams said.
“When I questioned what was said, at first the staff member denied then told me to ‘mind my own business’.
“See, racism is my business, it’s your business, it’s everyone’s business,” he said.
Mr Williams walked out the front of the store with the manager so he could make a formal complaint and said the staff member in question continued to deny referring to customers as Abos, so the conversation went back and forth.
“Security came over and asked me to move back and ‘take my arms down’ – I speak with my hands when passionate,” Mr Williams said.
“I calmed down, walked over and apologised to the security guard if I’d seemed passionate; but racism is extremely triggering.”
He said he’s extremely thankful to the three non-indigenous customers who were nearby and agreed that racism should be called out, and thanked me for calling out the Woolworths staff member.
“For the record, I don’t agree with behaviours that brought attention to the (Aboriginal) family in the first place, but my issue here is about racism, and racism isn’t ever justified,” he said.
Mr Williams made a formal complaint to Woolworths head office and said the staff members he spoke to were helpful in their replies.
“Let’s see how the investigation plays out,” he said.
Dubbo Photo News contacted Woolworths’ head office, who assured us the company has been in contact with Mr Williams and will investigate the complaint.
A Woolworths’ spokesperson said: “At Woolworths, we want everyone to feel welcome and respected in our stores. Our Code of Conduct makes it clear to all our team members that discrimination is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our business. These are serious allegations and we’re conducting a full investigation accordingly.”