Men, racism and football

Forgetting the White Australia Policy and revealing the limitations of their encounters with Australian society, many white Americans (including those without experience of formal segregation) suggested that Australia was a nonracist society. Capt. J. E. Schooley advised a friend in Hope, Arkansas, that black servicemen were "having the time of their lives" because Australians "were not race conscious here at all". Later, in another letter to his wife, he noted that "our negroes are well treated" because "there is no race discrimination here".

… those best placed to judge white Australia's response to black Americans - African Americans themselves - have left considerable evidence suggesting that many Australians reacted warmly and positively to their presence. This is not to suggest that white Australians did not express racist sentiments or that they always treated African Americans equally. …the warm welcome they received serves to remind us that race relations are always conditioned by specific cultural and social circumstances.

I explored some of the deeply entrenched American racist attitudes in the “Hey Hey” article I published in On Line Opinion in October 2009. Henry Reynolds has shaken our white confidence about our history and shown that there were, indeed, many incidents in our past which suggest systematic brutality and violence against Aborigines. There are other patterns of recent discrimination and violence against Indians which are equally troubling for those who think Australia is a blameless and tolerant society.

I don’t believe that most white people really understand what it means to be black. And thus they don’t know what it means to be targeted, to be ridiculed, to be victimised or humiliated. Let alone have violent acts inflicted upon your person because of the colour of your skin. Skin colour might be a joke to some of us white folks. It isn’t a joke to Aboriginal and other people of colour. We will be a better society when this is widely realised. Maybe this incident will help in that long process.

Men's Health Week

As Men’s Health Week begins, we need to remind men that it’s important to get their feelings out. We want men to demand respect, as Tahu did.We want men to talk to other men, to women, and to the world at large. If men don’t do this, they too readily turn to fast cars, drink or drugs. Men’s emotional health is tied up with their physical and mental health. And if we can give men more emotional support, when appropriate, and allow them more respect, maybe everyone can benefit.