World Vision calls out racism

RAMPANT racism at elite and junior sports events has been uncovered in “startling” research.

The behaviour has been branded a “wake-up call” to all Australians.

It is also playing out at shops and schools.

The research — involving primary and secondary students — shows nine in 10 youths know someone close who has been the target of a racist attack at a professional or local sporting event.

Eight in 10 reported similar behaviour at the local shops or shopping centres. World Vision Australia chief executive Claire Rogers, whose organisation commissioned the study, told News Corp: “It is startling to know that our children are seeing racism play out in places they should feel safe and included.

“These are family and communal spaces that should be bringing people together, a place where people from different cultural and e thn i c groups have the opportunity to form friendships and feel a sense of belonging — not to feel socially excluded.” The findings were a wake-up call and more needed to be done to tackle racism, she said.

More than 770 students aged 11-19 from 154 schools in Victoria, NSW and Queensland were surveyed — just over half of them caucasian.

A quarter had been a direct target of racism at school. A fifth were targeted at social gatherings or on the street.

Footscray Bulldogs VFL footballer Reuben William, who hosts talks for children and adults at English language schools in Melbourne’s west, said: “That’s not surprising to me, considering what young people from a refugee background tend to go through when arriving in this country — especially if they are settling in an area which wouldn’t normally be populated by multicultural families.

“If you let it go at that age the cycle continues It’s important to bring it to light.”

The 21-year-old, born in South Sudan, had been a target of online trolls but believed they were increasingly being called out.

“People are a lot more comfortable blowing the whistle and pointing it out — not being a bystander,’’ he said.

The research comes ahead of next month’s World Vision 40-Hour Famine backpack challenge, in which young Australians live out of a backpack for 40 hours.