Who are the real racists?

Some of my Facebook 'friends' demonstrate the depth and sophistication of their political philosophy by indicating that they 'Like' a particular posting. I take note of what they like, occasionally 'Like' what they like, even 'Share' if I think their opinions should be further exposed to the public gaze.

Naturally Adam Goodes has been the subject of many Facebook postings and Twitter tweetings.

I like Mike Baird's Faceook posting - I think he probably voiced the opinion of most Australians - into our lives some booing will fall, but this time it's gone too far, so let's indicate our respect for our Australian of the Year by getting on with the game.

Australia can proudly claim to be the least racist nation in the world. More than 200 nationalities are learning to live together with relatively few problems. A majority of indigenous people have non-indigenous partners. 80% of second generation Australians marry partners of nationalities other than their own.

Most Australians have suffered from racism or had ancestors who did. My ancestors were slaughtered at Culloden and Glencoe, and evicted from their traditional lands to make way for sheep in the Highlands. Some, Protestants, were shipped off to Ireland to civilise the troublesome Irish Catholics. No wonder I was raised hating sheep, Englishmen and Catholics.

The Irish were certainly considered to be an inferior race, and suffered accordingly.

One of my uncles was disowned by the family for marrying a Catholic. Ironically, his brother, my father, married the daughter of a defrocked Catholic priest, excommunicated for marrying a Free Presbyterian woman.

One of my great-aunts married a Chinese man. Quong Tart was born in China, and made his fortune on the goldfields of Australia. He was highly respected as a philanthropist, community leader, businessman and multicultural socialite. He was an excellent cricketer. He had a passion for Robbie Burns, wore a kilt and played the bagpipes. In 1902 he was savagely bashed, never recovered and died in 1903. The community erected a statue at Ashfield that celebrates his life.

That tells me a lot about racism - it only takes a few to make it turn nasty, and those few are always with us. Then there are those who profit from racism, including those who make it a political issue and those who fan the flames, and I think they are the worst kind of racists.

These days our racism tends to less physically violent than in some countries - we are more likely to jeer than to kill. Not that this makes it easy for those who are abused, and it requires an unreasonable degree of forbearance from them, but perhaps that is what is required.

Bernice Johnson, lead singer in Sweet Honey in the Rock, participated in freedom marches in the American South. She has this to say of her experiences:

I look at love as a strategy. I'm not talking about you're walking down the street and your heart's going thump, thump, thump every time you see somebody. 'Cause that may be what you feel, but I don't know what it says about what you do. During the civil rights movement, there was this thing about you can be in this march, but if somebody hits you you couldn't hit them back. You knew you were going to be in the march, 'cause you were going to die if you weren't in the march, so you'd just tell yourself if somebody hits me I'm not going to hit them back. But, then they would explain to you that that had something to do with love. Now you didn't feel it - if somebody hits you, you don't feel "Oh I love you!". You just act - you do an act of love, which is a very intellectually driven phenomenon, it's a very practical, strategic phenomenon. When you meet somebody else, you are going to connect in a way that is not driven by hate or greed.

That's unreasonable!

Another great Aboriginal footballer, the late Arthur Beetson, had a very pragmatic view. In a 1997 interview he said:

I always had the attitude that if a player resorted to calling me a black so-and-so, I obviously had his measure. I was more worried about getting on with the game than getting involved in a sledging argument. Aboriginals are not on their own in this area. People are becoming too sensitive and it is something that is evident throughout society. There are too many rules. I took the attitude that I was proud of my heritage and nothing anyone could do or say could dent that pride. It was like water off a duck's back.

Being a loyal Rabbitoh, I often booed Arthur, but I don't think it was about race. My opinion of him changed whenever he played for Australia.

Many postings on social media predictably blame it all on Tony Abbott, but I don't think you can reasonably assume that those doing the booing voted Liberal. Some will claim that Menzies buried the White Australia policy, and others claim that it was Whitlam, the truth is that both sides of politics were responsible for its adoption, and both sides reflected, and continue to be guided by, a growing maturity and acceptance of reality in Australia. A maturity reflected in the referendum of 1967, when more than 90% of voters signalled their goodwill to Aboriginal people, and strongly indicated in the community's support for Adam Goodes. It's easy to see what the majority think.

Some say the antagonism arose from Adam's reaction to the racist comments of a 13 year old girl. Waleed Aly did us all a service by revisiting what Adam Goodes actually said as Australian of the Year, and the outcome of the 13yo incident. She rang and apologised, Adam spoke with her and accepted her apology, they were reconciled, and the whole episode is an example of how to handle such a situation. When you look at history it's important to view everything that is relevant, with the objective of understanding the truth, rather than making a point.

Which brings me back to Facebook. A friend 'liked' a posting from Abbottsolutely Hopeless - "Great article" he commented. The article in question was by Chris Graham at newMatilda.com, and is an example of the worst kind of racism. Adopting the lugubrious regretful tone of those claiming moral superiority, it includes the usual black armband arguments for Aboriginal victimhood, and goes on to demonstrate the authors ignorance or deliberate falsification of history, leading to his inability or unwillingness to learn its lessons.

I quote:

How would you feel, for example, if, every year on November 11, the Turkish community in Australia held a 'We Kicked Their Arse Day', replete with a national holiday and people draping themselves in the Turkish flag.

November 11 is an unfortunate day in Turkish history, it's the anniversary of the end of WWI and the defeat of Germany and its allies. Certainly not a day to claim to have kicked arse.

Perhaps Chris meant April 25 - ANZAC Day. In that campaign Australia lost some 10,000 young soldiers - a whole lost generation of indigenous and non-indigenous young Australians. Turkish casualties were about 60,000 - certainly not a day the Turkish community would choose to celebrate, let alone claim as a great victory.

In 1934, following years of great tragedy and loss for his country, Turkey's great leader, Atatürk, wrote of those who lost their lives in the tragedy of Gallipoli:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

That's the inscription on the Kemal Atatürk Memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra, and every year Australians and Turkish people celebrate in this spirit.

Perhaps Australia would be better off with more people prepared to adopt the unreasonable attitude of Atatürk, and fewer racists prepared to distort history and inflame racial hatred.