Racism

According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
racism is defined as -
1. The belief that a race has certain qualities or
abilities, giving rise to the view that some races
are better than others.
2. Discrimination against or hostility towards other
race/s.

I guess the worse case of this was the Nazi belief
that the German race was better than the Jews.

Since moving to the Latrobe Valley in 1974, I have
seen or heard of a few cases of discrimination/racism.

The first was about 1974-1980 when a number of
aboriginals (defined as a native of a country prior to
the arrival of colonists) would gather in a park in
Commerical Road, every second Friday and drink
alcohol from brown paper bags. They would be there
from 10 a.m. to nearly 4 p.m. and were quite drunk,
loud and abusive to passer-bys. I was amazed and
asked why the police were not called to have them
removed and was told, "They are aboriginals." So
I said, and was told "The police would be accused
of racism." I sai9d that was bull s..t as the men
were drunk and abusive in public and as such were
breaking the law. The reply was "Yes if they were
white, their arses would be put in jail."

The second was in the 1980's when another driver's
wife, (My husband was a bus driver for the local
bus line.) that she was paid money to send her
children to school. I wasn't paid to send my kids to
school when I asked her how I could get onto this wicket
she said it was only for children of aboriginal descent.
She also told me that her aboriginal husband took that
money and used it to get drunk every weekend and then
he beat her up. (My white husband took money out of his
pay every weekend and got drunk and beat me up so I know
where she was coming from on that issue, but it was the
money paid to sent her kids to school, I NEVER GOT THAT!!!

The third was in 1997 when my fiancé's son Ross was
being bullied at school. He was white and the bully
was an aboriginal boy. This 'coloured' boy HIT Ross.
nothing was done even though Ross told the teacher
about it and 'witnesses' supported Ross's story. This
other boy was not even suspended. My fiancé told his
son "If he hits you again knock him down!" A couple
of days later that is what happened. Ross was suspended
for a week but the boy who started the fight WAS NOT.
When I asked about this. I was told "We can suspend
him, he's an aboriginal and we would be called racist."

In the early 2000 to about 2005, the local shops were
plagued by gangs of aboriginal boys aged about 13-15.
They would come in and annoy the customers and owners
and run off with what they could get their hands on.
When complaints were made to the police we were told
"Oh yes we know who they are, they are all under age
and live with an adult in (Name of street)." When
asked what was going to happen about it we were told
"NOTHING, there's no point."

In 2005 one of these gangs came to our shop and my
fiancé told them to get out and only come back in groups
of no more than TWO and only if they had MONEY. As
they left one of them screamed out "Racist bastard."

The sixth example was in the local paper. Now my
fiancé is in a housing co-op and if they advertised for
a receptionist and put in the ad "Whites need only to apply."
It would be described as blatant discrimination and racist.
Yet the local Aboriginal co-op put an ad in the local paper
and put in "Aboriginals need only to apply."

The latest example might not be racist. Earlier this year
my granddaughter and her fiancé wanted to sell their house
to buy a bigger one. They looked at similar houses to theirs
in town, that were up for sale. So they had a price to work
with, they then checked out the banks to see if they could get
a loan for the difference between what they expected and what
the new house was going to cost. It just fitted their budget.
So then they called in three of the local real estate agents.
This is what each one told them. "You'll never get that for
this house, expect at least $30,000 to $50,000 less." They
were shocked and asked WHY??? Because their house's back yard,
back's onto (the street I mentioned in fourth example). This
street is known for the number of drunken brawls that occur
ONCE a fortnight, which includes quarrels and stabbings. Then
when it is quiet there are loud shouting matches nearly every
night with loud blaring music.

So now they are stuck as no-one has made an offer on the house
(not even at $20,000) less than what they wanted.) Any less
than that and they could not get the new house as they could
not afford any extra on the housing loan, as the repayments
would be too much for them.

So in each case the discrimination I have seen or heard about
has been against white people. Never once have I seen or heard
any racism being directed at 'coloured' people.