We are one, with differences
REPORTS last week that a Nine news reporter was racially abused while covering a home invasion in Geelong, painfully demonstrates how recent calls for immigration/refugees to be halted, those on watch lists to be interred and calls to “ban Muslims” don’t simply affect the communities being targeted.
In an ever–widening concentric circle, these calls are impacting on anyone who doesn’t “look” or sound “Australian”, making them a potential target for bigots and their tirades.
Journalist Neary Ty, an Australian descended from Cambodian refugees who came here in the 80s, was asked by the man she had come to interview about the invasion, Angus Waite, “What country do you come from?”
When she responded she was born here, he continued to shout abuse, spitting, “You’re not f---ing Aussie, are ya? If you’ve got such a beautiful country, f--- off back there.”
Making a series of rude gestures, strutting towards Ty in an aggressive manner, he spat at her.
Ty was born in Australia, educated here, identifies as Australian yet her markers of “difference” – her skin and features – meant she was subjected to foul racial vilification.
We’ve all been shocked by footage of people being abused on public transport and other communal settings by strangers who randomly unleash racially-charged invective.
Fortunately, the public is usually quick to condemn these actions, which are emboldened by a kind of white extremism often camouflaged as patriotism. Described by some US commentators as “white terrorists” there’s little doubt these kinds of people pose a hazard to civil safety.
But are they overtly sewing discord or simply reflecting the divisiveness being fuelled relentlessly by those with political and other agendas?
This radicalised patriotism, which often turns into verbal/physical violence, is increasing. But it’s no wonder when certain politicians and media commentators use their powerful positions and platforms to throw doubt upon the loyalty of immigrants, especially Muslim ones.
They’ve given the green light to the Angus Waites of this country to unleash their intolerance and threats and further divide us. They’ve allowed a vehement and narrow notion of Australian nationalism – and who is and isn’t included – to thrive.
What or who exactly is an Australian in the 21st Century? What are our expectations of those who come to this country to start a new life?
What are theirs? To a degree, this is interrogated every Australia Day and any time a citizenship test is mentioned. But pondering what this means shouldn’t become an exercise in intolerance and exclusion.
As Bob Dylan sang, “times they are a changin” and this is what many fear; that somehow, we’re losing an identity that was never fixed anyhow. That fear, bolstered by the terrorist threat, is manifesting as racist abuse and loathing for those who signify cultural transformation – immigrants, their children, refugees.
My mother was an immigrant. Coming from Israel when she was 24, she joined some of her family who ultimately fled here to escape Nazi Germany. She couldn’t speak English; knew nothing of the country. Learning English at night school, she was determined to integrate, assimilate, whatever it took to be “Ozzie”.
White-skinned with flaming red hair, she might have got away with it too if it wasn’t for her thick accent and protuberant, curved nose – her strong non-Anglo features – along with her multilingual abilities, which screamed “Otherness”.
Undeterred by the racism and jibes she often received (some of the latter delivered through fondness), she was so pleased that her blonde-haired, blue and green-eyed daughters looked and sounded what she never could – Australian.
Nevertheless, when my mother came to my school one day and her Otherness became apparent, I was shunned as a “wog” as my strange school lunches and mispronunciation of basic words was finally explained.
This is the painful reality of many Australians who are not white, Anglo-descended or seamlessly multilingual. I always thought “a fair go” meant without prejudice. Yes, keep out and kick out jihadists – of any colour and creed – but in doing so, we have to encourage those who come here to embrace our customs and language, not alienate people who also want to call Australia home.
AUSTRALIA DAY AND CITIZENSHIP DEBATES SHOULDN’T BECOME AN EXERCISE IN INTOLERANCE AND EXCLUSION, SHUNNING PEOPLE SIMPLY BECAUSE OF ‘OTHERNESS’