Listening is a radical change that’s never been guaranteed by governments for 240 years. It’s Time to say Yes.
- Institutionalized racism has sabotaged respectful listening to First Nations perspectives.
- . Racism is one of the factors that explains a measurable gap between outcomes for Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population.
- Talking about racism is a trap. When Indigenous leaders and other people of colour express frustration about its dogged persistence, they are often subjected to tone policing. They can be caricatured as angry, ungrateful, shrill. And gratuitous characterizations – the pernicious stereotypes of the angry black man or the irrational black woman – are another form of silencing.
Some White Australians are determined to use Indigenous Australians as a Political Football and it’s not those that vote Yes. Stan Grant, Adam Goodes, are examples of those who have faced off against the power of institutionalized racism.
Murdoch Media’s Andrew Bolt. Bolt was declared guilty under the Racial Vilification Act when he defamed Marcia Langton and 4 others as being Fake Aborigines and then in his defense claimed his right of “free speech”. As if there was an equivalence between right and wrong. Judge Mordecai Bromberg decided otherwise and Murdoch Media’s legal team didn’t appeal and their silence was an acknowledgement of Bolt’s guilt and not a case of “reverse racism”
Source: The Guardian
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