Cronulla and Australian Racism

Yesterday on TV we were shown racist attacks on Lebanese men at Cronulla Beach, Sydney. The fact that the media had spread the story and inflamed it before showing up to film the violence was bad enough. But to hear Australians talk about it today you’d think we were living in a multicultural paradise.

Was racism behind the attacks on Lebanese men at Cronulla? John Howard says that this behaviour is unacceptable but earnestly tells us that Australia does not have a problem with racism. We have politicians telling us that it was alcohol that made this happen. Talkback callers start by saying they’re not racist but go on to make blanket statements about these Lebanese people who are behaving badly and need to be pulled into line.

Such denial of racism reveals a disturbing lack of self awareness. Having lived in Australia for five years I’ve heard a lot about being multicultural. We have many cultures living here. That’s about as far as it goes. I have met very few white adults who have any interest in the language or customs of other ethnic groups. In the Uniting Church we talk about multicultural churches as the ones who are made up of ethnic migrant groups. They’re the ones who must make the effort to maintain their ethnic identity in a predominantly British Australian culture. The majority of Australians have no need to engage with the ‘other’.

I like what Leslie writes at Singular Existence in reference to Anne Jacobsen’s now infamous blog post on a fearful encounter with Syrians flying with her on a Northwest Airlines flight.

Most of us don’t like to think of ourselves as racists. It conjures up visions of angry men in white sheets burning crosses on people’s front lawns. We like to think we are better than that. We like to think we judge people for what they do, not what they are. But the fact is, we’re all racists.

White, black, red, yellow, burning crosses or not, race provides the context for our perception of the world around us, particularly where other races are concerned. If we’re smart, we acknowledge our inherent racism and filter our observations accordingly to ensure they are not too tainted. We second-guess and sometimes third-guess ourselves. But we make mistakes. And when we do, we’re ashamed.

If we’re stupid, however, we refuse to acknowledge our inherent racism. We protest vehemently that we are “tolerant” individuals and dredge up endless examples of pleasant interactions with members of other races as proof positive that that ugly “racist” label doesn’t apply here, no sirree.

But it is this refusal to acknowledge our racism that perpetuates it. After all, if it wasn’t racism that led her (Anne) to believe that fourteen innocent Muslims were undercover terrorists, that must mean that she was justified in her belief. Which, in turn, means that it’s not racist to draw negative aspersions about strangers simply because of their race, creed, or color. Which means that it’s okay to do it next time as well.