Statistics of racism in Australia

Racism is something that shouldn’t exist in our modern world, but it does. What’s even more troublesome than its existence is its prevalence in Australia

• There are two groups that remain the targets of racism: the first group contains folks from a myriad of backgrounds and skin colors. These folks are the “visual” minority. The second group is comprised of people or organizations who expresses their anti-racist views in any capacity, be it professionally or personally.

Most of us fall into one of these two groups.

• A recent study showed that 40% of Australians believe some ethnic groups/religous groups simply do not belong in this country, namely Muslims and Middle Easterners.

Forty percent of Australians? That’s nearly half of the country, or at least those surveyed. What kind of world are we living in when nearly half our neighbors feel that others need to leave and pronto, just because of where they’re from and what they believe in? Maddening.

• The Challenging Racism Project discovered that one out of every five Australians have experienced racial verbal abuse and 11% have suffered from race-based exclusion from social activities and/or their workplace.

One out of every five people is simply too many.

• Many students and parents from ethnic communities reported racial harassment and verbal abuse within schools, colleges, and universities, according to the Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia. Worse, the students reported that the teachers did not intervene and sometimes even instigated harassment.

It is terrible that the kids are doing this to each other; it is inexcusable that teachers allow this behavior; it is horrifying that some assist the bullies in their racial taunting.

• The national Kids Help Line assembled data over the course of five years and found that students who spoke another language than English were not only more likely to experience bullying at school, but the bullying occurs outside of school by adults in addition to children.

Adults bullying children = disgusting.

Sadly, you may be all too familiar with these statistics and situations. Perhaps you or your children are victims of racist violence or behavior. On the other hand, you might think that this is a subject that doesn’t really concern you. It’s time to reconsider that fact that it does concern you: if you have a child, it is your responsibility to be a good example for that child. Monitoring your own viewpoints and instilling values of acceptance will help your child become the change that’s so desperately needed in view of this frightening situation.