Before I headed across the ditch back in '99 I seriously considered Brisbane as a place to begin the study, but was discouraged by the thought of being constantly bagged for being a Kiwi. As it was I spent waaay too much time there in Melbourne being referred to as a "fuckin' sheep-shagging Kiwi cunt".
Interestingly, even up until the time I left for Wellington the second-generation Calabrian who gave me the title would visibly flinch if I pointed out he was in fact a wog with tourette syndrome. I'd known the guy for about 5 years. I also had trouble explaining tautologies to him.
Otherwise, life is pretty easy for Kiwis in Melbourne. The place is a multicultural melting pot within the usual limits of redneckism. Brisbane on the other hand was likely to shit me within a few weeks. Sydney? A few days there was more than enough for me.
I decided to hang fire on the race riots to see what kind of stuff turned up in the media. But, now I am no long pyjamahadeen, work seems to take up most of my free reading time. Regardless, what a bunch of muppets. If you think that type of hatred is out of the ordinary for some parts of Australian society, think again.
We've all encountered racism at some time in our lives, but I've lived in Texas and I've lived in Australia. I have a hard time saying which place is worse. Look, I am sincerely sorry if this is offending any Australians. I don't think that all Aussies are racist, but there is a very, very clear vein of racism running through the nation that Māori -haters just don't equal for vitriol.
For that reason I read with interest Ben Wilson's comment put up by Mr. Brown this morning. My own experience says that he's both right and wrong. There are about 20,000 Aboriginal people in Victoria, and many hold very important jobs. One of the main reasons I stuck out the study was going to consult with a Prof. Marcia Langton of Melbourne University. She told me in no uncertain terms to "just fuckin' get on with it". Straight-shooter that Marcia.
The main reason there are few Aboriginal people in Melbourne is that many were dragged out of these prison camps called 'Missions' and dumped in rural townships to assimilate. By the 1960s the major Aboriginal populations in Victoria lived in four main locations. Lake Tyers Mission, about 5 hours East of Melbourne, in a series of humpty camps [shanty towns] along the banks of the Murray River, in the slums of Fitzroy and Collingwood, and in or near a closed Mission called Framlingham, a few hours West.
As part of the effort to assimilate Aboriginal people, they were targeted for a selective 'whitening' programme. Any person of 'mixed blood' was not allowed to marry or breed with a 'full blood' Aboriginal. The result is that a number of generations on, the Victorian Aboriginal population has whitened considerably. They still cop flak from rednecks but.
The next thing is the word 'blacks'. I'm still shocked to hear pretty much everyone here calling them 'Abos'. It's a bit like calling people niggers. Aboriginal people in Victoria tend to call themselves just that, or 'black'. A few of the old hippies call themselves 'Koori', but it seems to be going out of fashion.
During my time there I ranged across the state doing interviews with Aboriginal people in all kinds of jobs, but they were pretty hard to find. Until I got used to knowing who to ask, that is. I think Aboriginal people get used to keeping a low profile, if they can.
All that said, I know I'm becoming guilty of one-upmanship by insinuating that New Zealand doesn't possess the same vein of racism, but I'm not trying to prove we're better. The conclusion I came to a long time back is that Australians need to acknowledge that racism is endemic to their national society. Denying their racist history is one such sticking point, as it's a history that feeds into their present. With rednecks and white-trash Australia-wide unaware that their attitudes are just plain fucked, it's about time for 'the cycle to be broken' to use a cheesy colloquialism.
I've always thought that the dude with tourettes just acted out racism he'd experienced growing up in rural Victoria. But with well-documented racists like Howard in power it's hard to think that things will changes any time soon. Look at the Reconciliation marches, 500,000 people looking to symbolically bring Aboriginal people in from the cold, Howard claims it's unimportant.
Ah well. Maybe New Zealand can get together with a few other regional nations and stage an intervention. After all, a few protest marches aren't going to do it. A nation obsessed with the threat of Islam isn't going to come round anytime soon, ay?