True colours

When it comes to conversations about issues concerning women, men in our community grab the microphone. Sometimes it's important to hear from men concerning women, but more often than not we could do without their two cents worth. Palpably, men are part of the problem. So, sometimes we should shut up.

My experience in Australia may be similar to many non-white people. On paper, it may not be very different to that of white Australians. I was born here.

I survived state schooling. I've worked crappy part time jobs. And I grew up with Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Though being brown in Australia guaranteed me a completely different experience of this place. Talking honestly about race is not the easiest thing to do. Australia hasn't exactly engineered a culture that allows people to feel comfortable discussing these issues candidly. There are as many ways to approach such discussions as there are people of colour.

During the days of monarchs, whenever the state suspected an imminent revolution, the first people to be assassinated were poets, artists and musicians.

It was these people, the artists, who were able to capture the imagination of the people in ways no one else could. Significantly, the jester was the only person given the right to criticise the state by the court. Consequently, jesters could deliver bad news to the king that no one else would dare deliver.

Stand-up comedy is one medium which is, fundamentally, an art of protest. Historically, it has been used as a tool by communities and people with ideas that challenge and provoke the status quo with a spirit of counterculture. Prominent Muslim American stand-up comedian from Allah Made Me Funny, Azhar Usman notes that "time and time again, you find that groups that are written off by mainstream America use comedy as a weapon. This is a way for them to speak truth to power - that quintessentially American thing to do".

In our stand up comedy show Fear of a Brown Planet, Aamer (the other half of the show) and I are able to talk about things we wouldn't be able to talk about in other media. It's more difficult to talk about things like suicide bombers, the War on Terror and asylum seekers in speeches or opinion pieces. Comedy is a significantly more accessible vehicle. When someone laughs at a joke, a connection has been made. That person laughs because they appreciate the point whether or not they accept what was said as valid isn't important. What matters is, they've understood.

Sometimes people need to vent. We like to think we provide people a safe space to do that. Group venting always feels so much better because it means that we're all in this together.

As a nation, we've denied a lot of truths recently.

Try and tell any Indian that Australia doesn't have an issue with racism and you'll quickly realise how baseless that assertion is. In order for this country to progress we need to begin an honest conversation with ourselves. Let's start by throwing out our TV's. Or by casting a brown family in Neighbours.