Racism In Australia

Powerful texts have the ability to lead the responder to make discoveries that can challenge their previously held beliefs and cause their perceptions of the world around them to shift. The speech Racism is killing the Australian Dream by Stan Grant is one of those powerful texts, addressing the ways that racism has affected the Indigenous Australians and the ways in which it continues to affect them. Grant uses both vocal and language techniques to convey strong opinions about the content of his speech and allow the audience to make discoveries about what is being said.

In today’s society, including within schools racism is very much still prevalent and can have huge effects on a student’s school life and wellbeing. In fact, around 85% of participants from the Challenging Racism Project that took place in 2010 at the University of Western Sydney believe that racism is still a current issue today. (Human Rights Commission, 2015). As racism is inextricably linked to socio-economic factors and depending on the area where Indigenous communities live can affect the racial discrimination they receive. For example, if a student is at a school in a middle socio-economic area and the school has a supportive program for Indigenous students, they may receive less discrimination as the other students at the school have been well educated about Aboriginal culture and their history. Vice versa the opposite experience could happen as Aboriginal students could be subject to extreme racial discrimination if they are at a school where their peers have not been properly educated about their

The idea of racism has evolved and has become less prevalent throughout the last century. Schools and public areas are unsegregated, voting rights, racial slurs being considered as unacceptable behavior etc. American sociologist and race theorist, Howard Winant states that’s “The ensuing approaches increased recognition of racial injustice and inequality, but did not overcome the discriminatory processes” (Winant,2000)Although the United states has come a long way to try to end racism, one cannot ignore the fact that it still exists. It is something that may seem invisible in society, but everybody knows that it still thrives and that it’s racial attitudes affect the way our society functions. One of these invisible forms of

This proves that understanding racial identity is a worldwide issue. ‘In Australia, however, we don’t know the impact of racism, especially of subtle and prolonged forms of racism, on the mental wellbeing of Aboriginal children and how this impacts on their academic self-concept and consequently academic achievement and outcomes (Purdie, Milgate & Bell, 2011).

Racism in Australia is a big problem and needs to be stopped. Racism refers to anything that has the effect of disadvantaging someone from what their racial background is. It affects peoples well-being along with it not being a good look for our nation to have. Is it really okay for people outside of our country to look and us and think that there are still people that are being racist? Opportunities for people should not be judged on their race. This is not fair. Racism is definitely not okay and should be stopped.

Many Australians believe that whilst we were once a racist nation, racism is now a thing of the past, and that it is no longer a major problem in our society; these attitudes must be eradicated. As Timana Tahu, former Australian rugby star once said, “We are still hearing the same things my mother was hearing when she was little.”

Chapter one covers the history and definition of racism. It also covers different pathways of racism and how racism is manifested. Within this chapter the impact of racism of people of color is discussed and its effects, such as depression. Symptoms beyond the mental and physical aspects are also discussed such as incarceration.

Racism in this country has been prevalent over centuries now, and still a huge hindrance in the United States of America. Racism has a huge history with scholars documenting the long illustrious reasons and root causes as to why this has become such a major topic of issue in the United States and its psychological and social obliterations in the society.

Racism not only leads to social problems but it also causes mental illness and violence for example, self-harm, depression and the harming of others. In most cases the victim starts to feel helpless, isolated, depressed and irritated. Experiencing racism can change a victim’s life forever. Nearly half of all Australian residents from a diverse background have experienced racism at some time in their life. WHY? Only because they look different? On a Wednesday afternoon a well-dressed 54 year woman in a mustard jacket unleashed a lecture of abuse at other passengers on a Sydney to Newcastle train, it started because some young kids aged between four and ten didn’t automatically give up their seats

Racism in Australia has always been a controversial element of our country and still continues on in today’s society. Our nation is a bigot country, and the history of Australia shows it continuously has been. Racism majorly impacts the health of Indigenous Australians. The impacts reflect on the life expectancy and mental health of the Indigenous Australians who are then racially criticised in our health system. This paper will explore the impacts that racism in Australia has on Indigenous Australians within healthcare, the life expectancy and the mental health.

Racism is an ideology that is based on the principle that human beings can be subdivided and ranked into categories as being inferior or superior. It’s worth mentioning that in recent years the concept or notion of racism has changed. Racism in the post-racial twenty-first century is now marked by subtlety that discriminates against individuals through unnoticeable or seemingly passive methods. Although overt racism has decreased since the 1960s, it has been supplemented by what is called colorblind racism,” which refers to “contemporary racial inequality as the outcome of nonracial dynamics” (p. 455-456).

Racism happens in lots of different ways. You see it in movies, you hear it in jokes, in bullying and through graffiti. (Racism, It Stops With Me. 2015). “Racism is the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others”. (The Macquarie Concise Dictionary, 1996). It is relevant to Australia as it affects everybody in our society. For example; a range of health problems including high blood pressure and heart disease, depression, anxiety also people’s employment and housing opportunities’. (Yin Paradies, Ricci Harris and Ian Anderson, 2008).

After years of oppression and little change, internalized oppression is becoming detrimental to the growth of the next generation. Society leaves little room for change as these groups’ begin the cycle of self-hate and stereotypes that have been placed on them by society. The youth grow up surrounded by a world that is against them from the beginning. Racism, oppression, and discrimination have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing among these people. A study on how racism has affected the Aborigines in Australia, shows that this group experiences a substantial health disadvantage compared to the rest of the Australian population. Aboriginal youth who experience racism are at

The experience of racism will bring negative stress and emotion, and may have the risk to develop a range of psychological and physiological problems (Sherwood, 2013). Ferdinand (2013) reports the racism problems among Aboriginal Australian by using a survey. The outcome highlights that almost every Aboriginal who participated in this survey had experienced racism during daily activity, and they or their family members have all experienced a different level of stress when coping with racism. In spite of the anti-racist practice has improved the relationship between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people, but the ongoing forms of discrimination are still continuing and impacts on Indigenous mental health. Furthermore, Indigenous Australian has a higher prevalence of smoking, alcohol and drug intake. The psychological stress they experience may consequently lead to harmful alcohol and drug use, which also causes the mental health problem among Indigenous Australians. Bearing in mind the previous points, all those risk factors and issues for Aboriginal mental health have contributed the high rate of mental illness and also leads to suicide or self-harm behaviours among Aboriginal

Racism has been an ongoing social justice issue for decades, and we seem to always fail to make it stop. According to Dummett (as cited in Fernando, 1984), racism is the behaviour and attitude that emerges from our beliefs that certain people are different from us. These differences are mainly based on race, where people come from, physical characteristics, such as colour and hair type or behavioural characteristics, and that people categorized must be treated differently based on their needs, capabilities and rights. Usually there is one dominant and superior group and a few inferior groups (Dummett, as cited in Fernando, 1984). Coates and Morrison (2011) suggests that what we distinguish as real and true may not always be real and that things may not always be as it seems. Coates and Morrison (2011) also states that we live in a racial matrix, where we have this illusion of reality and that differences associated with racial status and hierarchies are perceived as the norm in society and this perception of reality is not easy to get rid of. There are four types of racism; subtle racism, colorism, internalized racism and reverse racism (Nittle, 2016). Racism can be explicit, but it can also be very subtle and covert, which is a huge problem, as most people do not even notice it and they do not realize that it happens on a day-to-day basis (Coates and Morrison, 2011). Racism is not only one problem or concern, as it is brings along a variety of other problems and is compiled