ready to confront your own racism?
In Sunday Life this week I confront my racism
If you’re not born of a racial minority, are comfortably middle-class and you catch taxis then you might identify with this scenario. On Monday I climbed into a Melbourne taxi. “Airport please.” The Sudanese driver was playing Middle Eastern music and spoke basic English. He grunted in reply.
Now, you might class me a small-L liberal (latte-sipping, bike-lane hogging, broadsheet-toting) multiculturalist. Which means I probably wouldn’t admit to having a particular “take” on this gentleman. Or his culture. Of course not.
Which is why at the lights when he unwinds his window and yells excitedly in Arabic with his African mate in the next taxi I’m only mildly put out. I ask him what they were discussing. “Football!” he says with a massive grin. “I’m Western Bulldogs, my little sons Western Bulldogs fans. He’s Hawthorn.” He punches the air and cackles happily.
Immediately my heart swelled. And I was flooded with all kinds of sappy jingoism – isn’t Australia incredible! He can barely speak English, but he’s adopted one of our passions. How wonderful! A reaction that served to blatantly expose the – ughhh! – prejudiced, threatened “take” I’d had when I first jumped in his taxi.
Now, the interesting thing is only 45 minutes earlier I’d been speaking to Raye an Adelaide woman who lives opposite Inverbrackie detention centre. She’s just taken part in SBS’s timely documentary Go Back To Where You Came From (which screens THIS Tuesday – Thursday) that follows six Australians who challenge their particular “takes” on asylum seekers by personally tracing refugees’ journeys. Before setting out, Raye said the boatpeople who crashed at Christmas Island in December deserved their fate and that Middle Eastern people don’t deserve our help. “They’re ungrateful. And arrogant.”
But then she set off to East Timor in a dodgy boat (that started to sink; they had to be rescued), spent time in a Malaysian refugee camp (where she witnessed Burmese asylum seekers being beaten with baseball bats) and lived in Kakuma camp in Kenya as a refugee with only refugee papers, a bowl and a mosquito net to her name. Raye says she could never imagine feeling such fear and hopelessness. Turns out it was the same camp where my taxi driver had spent seven years awaiting his freedom. I cried when he tells me this.
Raye says she’d always had a “thing” against the Sudanese. “I thought they were violent and shouldn’t come here. But I saw fighting is part of their culture, it’s all they know…to stay alive.” Having spent time “in their shoes” she says she felt what it was like to have no rights, no voice. “There was nothing I could do, every bit of our lives was at the mercy of authorities.” So she “got” their anger. Their shame. Their fear.
I spent the rest of the week considering the awkward shifts Raye and I had experienced. Studies say we’re all born racist. We’re programmed to fear “the other”. Which is ugly. But the good news is that neuroscience shows our brains fight this inherent prejudice when it arises (the amygdala, responsible for self-control, fires up following a prejudiced thought) and that we can actually rewire our brains to be inclusive and compassionate in the face of “the other”. Indeed it’s what our brains desire! The “intergroup-contact hypotheses”, a theory guiding much racism research, says contact with the other and a shared goal can rewire things. This happened with Raye. She lived with Sudanese families, uniting with them to stay alive. Ergo, a shift.
Which is interesting right? On the one hand we default to separatism and fear. On the other we crave opportunities to be inclusive, to reframe. Which could be why my brain melted in gratitude when I had an opportunity to reframe the Sudanese footy fan as one of “us”. Thank goodness, my brain was saying, we can be freed of such smallness and ughness.
And which, to my mind, is why
it’s imperative Governments work to provide such opportunities for our collective brains to rise above our ugly default position.
To reframe refugees as “us”.
I called Raye back to ask her about the Middle Eastern people. “Is it possible the arrogance you don’t like is also cultural?” I asked if it might be possible to reframe her feelings as she did with the Sudanese. “I hope so,” she said. “I want to.”
Brilliant Sarah, tear jerker! thanks
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I’m impressed – an important piece!
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Onya Sarah! Awesome piece.
And I agree SO MUCH with this extract from your article!
it’s imperative Governments work to provide such opportunities for our collective brains to rise above our ugly default position.
To reframe refugees as “us”.
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Thank you for a great post, this is such important stuff. I can feel in myself sometimes that I am, at some level, programmed to fear difference, that it’s my default position, and, as a small ‘L’ liberal as well, it’s disturbing. But I also sense it can be overcome, that we can be re-programmed and override that knee-jerk fear response by re-framing. And I am in 100% agreement that it is so important we, as a society, figure out how to foster that. I love the Buddhist approach which is so practical: meditation and contemplation train our minds towards love, compassion, connection and empathy – and we don’t need to be Gandhi to do it, anyone can train their mind in this way. Maybe we need meditation in schools…
I can’t wait to see the SBS doco, I hope lots of people watch it – too many of us give in to our racist reactions, I think as a nation we’re more racist than we’ve been in a long time.
Thanks again for an excellent post!
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June 19th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
It does look amazing…one of the most emotional interviews I’ve done!
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Remember racism works all ways. I felt predjuidices and judgement being a non Arabic Aussie chick in morocco. I was culturally sensitive but the women judged me and had no idea. Did it bother me? Not a lot. But it cuts both ways. I always believe we have no ‘right’ to be born where we are and god knows i would be wanting a safe life so I welcome everybody.
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I don’t agree with studies that say we are born racist. That could not be farther from the observable truth. Racism must be taught. One only has to visit a nursery school of toddlers to distinguish that as a convenient scientific “copout”. What a ridiculous notion! It might make some feel better about their own misgivings, but its a sad testament to modern science if such conclusions are reached at all, much less adopted. Children in their purest state will befriend anyone, regardless of color or background. That is why they must be taught not to talk to strangers. Personal prejudices, such as not liking a particular feature, sight, sound or smell, may possibly be ingrained in us all.
Racism however, is of a different metier altogether. It springs from learned fear and/or intolerance. Both of these qualities must come from an external source, usually adults – and as your post points out – sheltered and small-minded ones at that. Cheers for tackling a difficult subject. But an enlightened mind should know better than to cite scientific studies as a purported “explanation” for – or even a link to – this kind of behavior. Studies of that nature are only as reliable as the minds behind them. If for no better reason, journalistic integrity demands more of us than to pass that kind of rubbish on to the public as reasonably factual.
Best Regards
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June 19th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Sorry you are wrong. Children in their purest form know what is different and they feel uncomfortable and they are scared of strangers instinctively and of differences. So sweet notion but wrong.
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June 19th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
I disagree Mel, I think it’s true that at some point children do become aware of difference, but they learn to fear or feel threatened by it.
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June 19th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
No not at all, my daughter whose father is North African and so has many darker friends and family around has been upset from a few months old. It is simply because they are different to me. It’s certainly not taught considering most of her family are darker including her! and Muslim and her dad is a new immigrant who came to Australia, learnt English and left his whole family to have a more secure life. I didn’t teach that.
June 20th, 2011 at 9:02 am
I once had a child point out my skin condition and ask me why I looked funny, before they were shushed by the adults. The difference between children and adults is they have no problem voicing their opinions on who is different. They certainly are an observant bunch!
June 20th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
When people believe that we are created- born- with racist tendencies, you will never make the progress desperately needed to overcome it. “Oh its natural. But you can change it.”
We can only overcome hate with love. If you don’t believe that you were born to love, BORN that way, people will just keep making excuses. Sorry no. Love is natural. Racism is not. That philosophy may be what’s trending but its twisted thinking. If you have a room full of toddlers, they will play with one another. There will always be a troublemaker. Everyone has personal dislikes or phobias. I once knew a kid that had an irrational fear of plastic! Key word: irrational.
Racism people? Seriously? Born racist?
No wonder you have such a pervasive problem there. That is truly saddening. Couldn’t speak farther from human nature if you tried. May the universe help you.
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June 20th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I get what you’re saying Hadassah,
If I was born a racist, then I would be at a conflict with my self being mixed race.
Love is natural but it need to be applied, I think that when our culture and media focus on the negative aspects it breeds distance and fear, which is why we are blessed to have people like Sarah showing us the other side, which breeds warmth and shows us the good in humanity.
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June 21st, 2011 at 10:12 am
I agree with Hadassah that we are not born racist. Children may be observant of certain features, or feel instinctive fear when communicating with someone, but that is completely different to racism. And they may comment on someone’s skin colour or physical attributes, but again I believe that is different to racism. Purely observing that someone has “dark skin” or is different to oneself is not racism – it’s the negative beliefs and associations that we attach to it that makes it racism.
My two year old niece makes observations all the time – for example when she first saw a tattoo on my ankle she commented on it, because it was something she hadn’t seen before. But she wasn’t attaching any negative connotations to it – she was simply observing.
June 21st, 2011 at 3:13 pm
I think that children often do fear the other which is natural, which is an innocent form of racism at it’s most basic, which is actually not negative. Imagine being an African child seeing a white person for the first time it would freak you out. It is as we grow and learn about others that we learn that we are individual and amazing in all our forms.
Brilliant work.
Change your name to Sarah Wisdom.
Write more noble pieces like this.
Brought a tear to my eye.
5th gen aus footy fan.
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June 19th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Thanks Anon…the footy anecdote did it for you!!?
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Interesting, I like it.
I think it can be natural to fear anything that is “other,” not necessarily race. Different religions, different genders (if we have been predominantly exposed to only our own, in the case of maybe single-gender schooling?) and different ways of life. I think when we see only our own culture and norms, we fit in and we are happy. Suddenly we are exposed to other options, and the idea that our way of thinking is a choice can be unsettling. The world can feel huge and imposing.
Then we realise that the Russians love their children too, or however the song goes – and our humanity is the same. Makes you feel all soft and squishy inside.
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i am definately not a racist.
however – it does dissapoint and fustrate me that when foreigners live in OZ and NZ and english is not their first language there are many who do not make the effort to learn how to communicate in english within the extended communities in which they live and work.
I feel that they should have basic language skills in english to be able to communicate and live in our socities.
I would be making my best effort to use their language whislt in thier country.
I speak to alot of foreigners each day in my job and alot act like they do not understand you when they clearly do – they just choose to not speak english.
this becomes a fustration for both them and me as I cannot help them as they dont wish to help themselves.
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June 19th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Have you been to London? Everyone speaks english there and yet still all the Australians stay together! So imagine how hard it must be moving to a different culture and having to learn a whole new language? Especially when Australia has a history of racism and continues to be racist in many ways. My point is, that it is not easy moving somewhere new and even harder when you have to learn a new language and often a new alphabet.. I find english speakers are the worst at learning new languages, because they know they can be lazy due to English being spoken in so many countries…
Are you sure the ‘foreigners’ are ‘acting like they don’t understand’? maybe they genuinely don’t understand? I imagine your frustration and judgements only serves as a further hinderance to their understanding..
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June 19th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Thumbs up to you, liz.
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June 19th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Hi lala,
Your post saddened me.
I don’t think that when someone has settled in a new country and means to make it their home that they truly are a ‘foreigner’ anymore. A person wanting to be ungenerous to you would say that by choosing to constantly call other people ‘foreigners’ you are reinforcing for yourself a decision to make them an ‘other’. I doubt that you consciously mean to do that.
You also seem to be pretty set on some assumptions. You assume there’s no effort made to learn English. The assumption that worries me more is the ‘conspiracy theory’ one – that people who can understand English would deliberately make life harder for themselves, and for you, by pretending they can’t understand. What could they possibly gain from this?
My mother is a linguist and a polyglot. As a result, I was extremely lucky to grow up surrounded by other languages, and that has absolutely been a strength for me later in life. An example – I worked in a telephone customer service department and we had many people calling with different levels of English language skills and varying accents. My colleagues would often declare someone ‘too hard to understand’ and transfer them to me. I’d do my best, and more often than not I wound up with a very grateful, very relieved customer – and a feeling of pride, knowing I had made an extra effort to help someone.
I guess what I’m trying to say here, as politely as I possibly can, is: check your attitude, get a better outcome.
Best,
Pedestrienne
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June 19th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Woooooooow lala!
I’ve lived in the Middle East, Turkey, & West Africa. In the short times I was there, I learnt to speak fluent French, passable Turkish and Arabic. BUT, the MAJORITY of westerners that I met in all three places, some of whom had been there for decades, who had made their lives there…some of them could not even say thankyou in the local language. And these were people who had CHOSEN to live in those countries, mostly because they were being paid much higher salaries than they would have been able to earn in their own countries. Not refugees forced to find a new place, arriving in terror and confusion. I agree with above, politely as possible, check your attitude. And your head.
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June 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
If you speak as badly as you spell, perhaps they don’t understand you.
How about give a thought to what they may have come from.
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Great article! I agree with what you are saying, it makes me so happy to meet people who are so appreciative of certain things our country has to offer. I’m not that patriotic but it makes me really proud to be in a country that has the opportunity to give people a better life. It is a real shame and embarrassment that our policies don’t reflect this remarkable feature of our country.
I think we should instead think ourselves lucky, I mean as a white middle class 20 something girl, I live somewhere that has such a wide variety of people, from which I’ve learned some remarkable things about the world and different cultures without even going to each country. Isn’t that an amazing thing and something which should be celebrated?
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Dear Sarah,
Lovely post. I would only like to add that essentially what you are discussing here is true military induction training. The ability to reduce a bunch of people to complete helplessness and have them bond in their reaction to it against “the other” which is the authorities. Yes, it means fighting to find commonalities to overcome differences and hence vulnerabilities to others. Is it perfect, never and especially when you mix sexes which involves a whole new set of vulnerabilities and reactions that are threats to pre-existing relationships.
It is easy to be typecast as mysogynist, but what I hate most about mixed military training is the feigned ignorance to the real threat mixed military training does to loving and legally recognised relationships. It is a stress on these relationships that should never be underestimated, should always be treated truthfully and honestly so that young married men and women, their families, their communities and our Govt know and take part responsibility and re-examine mixed military training.
Sorry for hijacking your topic, because I like you love watching the bonds of soldiers from so many different walks, races and cultures.
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Thanks Sarah. Can’t wait to see the show! Love the concept.
I like this, from the Dalai Lama:
“Spend five minutes at the beginning of each day remembering we all want the same things (to be happy and be loved) and we are all connected to one another.”
Also, from Tim Wise:
“No one is illegal. The people you call illegal are human beings, whose only crime was being born on the wrong side of a border: A border that was created as a result of an unjust war. When they become desperate, and unable to support their families, they will do what any of you would do, which is look for opportunity elsewhere. Ask yourself, if you were living in a nation where there was very little opportunity, and you knew that by going to the country right next door you might make your life and the lives of your children better, wouldn’t you do it? Wouldn’t any good parent do that? To say no is to say that people should suffer because of circumstances that are beyond their control. Is that really what you want your country to be about?”
Your column reminded me of the photo of the refugees in Villawood Detention Centre, sitting on the roof with a sign saying “We are not criminal. We are human.” ( http://bit.ly/hYFrOr ) Heart-breaking.
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June 19th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
That is exactly it. Nobody chose to be born or to be born where they are or to what circumstance, I know I just happen to have been lucky. Thanks.
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Spot on. I agree that it’s a conscious decision we have to make to reconsider our “automatic thoughts” in a different light. Kudos to Raye and the others involved in the making of this documentary for being prepared to do this. It’s just a shame that, on SBS, they’ll be preaching to the converted. If only one of the commercial stations had the courage to put it on during primetime…..
BTW, that ad at the top is stunningly effective. Where is it from?
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Bravo Sarah! I cannot wait to see the doco.
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I really enjoyed reading this article. A great reflection on such an important topic.
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Love that you’ve written about this Sarah. Such an important thing for us to be talking about. Love how you use your media metal for good. x
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I like this post Sarah,
Over a family dinner my Grandmother said to me that she doesn’t think of me as Asian (I’m half Asian half white Australian) but treats me like one of us. At the time I just smiled nicely, but inside it hurt a bit, but then on reflection, I realised that she is one of the most loving people on earth and that this statement came from her culture. She knows me, and therefore the stigma that she had from her culture was removed. I guess “us” was just her way of saying “familiar”.
I had the pleasure I meeting one boy from the Sudan, Paddington (cool name), and he became a good friend and changed my life and my outlook through a life changing experience that both of us went through. If you’re interested I’ll tell you the story.
I think knowing more about the people we share this time and space with is the answer, and if you let it, a blessing as well.
I had to explain racisms to my nephew, he said it sounds dumb, and I agree.
I’m looking forward to the doco, does anyone have a TV they want to sell to me?
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June 20th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
It would be a bit hard to watch a doco, or any show for that matter, without a TV! Perhaps check ebay or an electrical retailer for a bargin.
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June 20th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
I suspect the episodes will be readily available online: http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/goback/episodes/detail/episode/4216/season/1
SBS and the ABC both are really great like that – making things available via their websites.
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June 20th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Interweb, nice!
Thanks so much for sharing this Sarah. Looking forward to watching Go Back to Where You Came From tonight.
x
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So it’s natural to fear “the other” and react to the presence of unfamiliar people.
This is a tendancy we must “fight”? Because it’s “ugly”?
No, this natural reaction keeps is *alive*!
Our brains don’t “fight” this tendency.
We simply don’t react the same way to *familiar* people (the lack of reaction has nothing to with race, only familiarity).
We wouldn’t survive long if our brains couldn’t learn not to fear Mummy.
People who don’t react to Isaac Hayes will still react to Black-guy-on-street-at-night-in-strange neighbourhood.
I note the test was only conducted on Whites (of course, because only Whites are racist).
What would be interesting to see would be the same test applied to biracial people (who is their “other”?)
Nobody has to correct their own nature.
Certainly not so bourgoeis princesses can feel the world they live in is “not ugly”.
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Just started watching the doco. Why does every show these days have to start off Survivor style?
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[...] Sarah Wilson confronts her own racism. [...]
I thought it was funny that you call Sudan a “Middle Eastern” country. It’s not Middle Eastern at ALL. It’s African. And people in Sudan don’t speak Arabic…not the Arabic that the middle eastern people speak at least. I strongly feel that if you’re going to be doing an article on multi-culturalism you ought to at least get the cultures right!
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June 27th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
thank you!
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[...] Sarah Wilson confronts her own racism [...]
Interesting blog post!! It is a good issue to bring up every now and then to see if opinions have changed or stayed the same.
Being a born and bred Australian, half Japanese, English being my first language and a high school teacher it is very interesting to observe and hear students opinions and understandings of immigration, other cultures and religion. Some students are extremely ignorant and racist, however not everything they say is from self formulated opinions, but things they hear from their parents and peers.
When students ask or tell me ‘where are you from?’, ‘its an Asian invasion’, ‘do you wear glasses because you are squinty’, ‘what Asian do you speak?’ etc. I don’t get angry I just tell them that there is a better way of asking those questions and ask why they think the way they do. I always tell students it is good to read, ask questions, and learn from other people to help them make their own opinions. But be aware that some people disagree with your opinion and you should be open in discussing both sides.
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this post was just wrong in so many ways. foreigners aren’t little pets. you dont need to go “aww” at them. nobody needs your white man’s burden
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[...] her writing itself. This week’s article is titled, “This week I … confront my own racism” http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2011/06/ready-to-confront-your-own-racism/, I begun reading what I thought to be the “anti racist” realization of a superficial [...]
[...] Sarah Wilson asks if we’re ready to confront our own racism… [...]
Awesome article c:!
As a minority race in the United States (I’m Taiwanese), I sometimes feel discriminated against–not just by white people, but other races as well, including my own. I’ve had people ask me slowly, as if I was an idiot, if I spoke English, I’ve been called “chink” and other demeaning names, and have had a lot of stereotypes and other problems due to my looks and race. Even in Taiwan, I often get stared at for having unusually dark skin, and people sometimes assume that I cannot understand Taiwanese or Mandarin and they call me an “ABC”. It just goes to show that discrimination is something that extends across all races and regions–and it is quite hurtful, and the best way to help get rid of it is to teach tolerance yourself c:
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