Racism Alive & Well Today

Is racism alive and well today? I say sadly, yes, it is!

Aboriginal people are alive and well today, but they still live with the crude and disconcerting remarks made by people that are descendants of settlers. Indigenous people have lived through so many devasting occurrences throughout history. After years of trying to ‘close the gap’ and heal the history between us; there are still many people who don’t understand the culture and the connection to family and land we hold; for many of us this was stripped away and never found again.

I would like to share a small story of racial discrimination I witnessed while standing in line waiting to go into the Coles supermarket. During this COVID crisis I went to the shopping market before starting work. The manager of Coles who was standing at the front checking people for cards said to me, ‘between 7am to 8am, people who hold a pensioner and health care cards were the only ones allowed in the shop.’ So, I needed to kill an hour. When I returned around 7:45am there was a line of about twelve people who were waiting to go inside, from what it seemed, they didn’t have a pensioner’s card either. Within 10 minutes the line went from twelve people to about thirty people.

As I am standing in line, waiting for the clock to tick over to 8am, I could hear this chatter going on in front of me.

“What the fuck, hurry up,” yelled a man standing in line.

It gave everyone in line a shock! All I saw were thirty heads abruptly lift, tearing their eyes away from the downward gaze on their phone. This man then started to speak under his breath. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I have to line up behind these fucking coons,” he said while leaning on his cane.

“Who are you calling a fucking coon, you motherfucker,” was the response from the Aboriginal woman standing in front of him.

Every single person in that line just casually gazed back towards their phone, like nothing had happened. A million thoughts were running through my head, do I say something, will I be able to do it calmly and control my temper.

“Fucking black cunts,” said the same man with a cane and wearing a navy-blue cap with a brown brim. He had a scruffy white beard, seeming to be in his mid-60s.

“Are you serious? Are you fucking serious with this shit right now?” says the same indigenous woman.

Her friend turns to her and says, “just leave him.”

So, the woman turned around and continued waiting. I thought to myself again should I do something? You need to do something. Oh, what are you going to do?

“Stop moving closer to me, stop fucking touching me! I am seriously going to knock you on your ass. Fuck off!” yelled the same woman to the ragged old white man.

The manager of Coles who was standing at the entrance all morning came over and walked through the line to get to the cigarette counter. I assumed, to ask the clerk what was happening out here. The man in line stood leaning on his walking stick, pulling his cap down and looking towards the ground. At this point I was terribly worried that he was going to ask the women and the child in the pram to leave because she yelled quite loudly. I thought he didn’t hear the racial nonsense coming out of this sad man’s mouth.

“Sir” I said as I waved my hand towards the manager. “I just thought you should know that the gentlemen in the cap has been saying racial slurs to the two women standing in front of him.”

“Ok, ok” he said and walked towards the man.

“If you are saying or doing inappropriate things, you will have to leave,” said the manager.

“Oh no sir, I’m just tired of waiting, I’m disabled and just want to do my shopping,” said the man in a trembling voice.

“Sir, do you have your pensioner or health care card with you?”

The man then reaches for his wallet and with a smirk, shows the manager his card.

“You can go in now. Anyone with a health care card or pensioners card are able to come through.”

“Suckers, I got in before all of you!” the racist man said later, when walking out of the shop with his groceries.

I don’t know what the worst part of this story was; the words that could come out of somebody’s mouth, or no one other than another indigenous person stood up for two women with a young child, just wanting to do some grocery shopping. Or maybe it was that the man knew he could say and do horrible things only to be rewarded because he is an old man with cane and a pensioner’s card. Or maybe it’s that a child was sitting in their pram, waiting to go shopping with mum and aunty, to only hear all these unsettling words about two women he/she loves and adores. The fact that this child now has to grow up wondering if they will always be harassed or shamed upon because of the colour of their skin or the culture they were born into.

I think the worst part is the two women and child in this story are like you and me. They feel happiness, joy, hope and worst of all they feel sadness, shame and insecurity. Today, firsthand they witnessed and felt the acrimony of not being accepted because of the colour of their skin. This is a young family going shopping in a country they were born and raised in, belonging to a family line of more generations than you could ever imagine. This family was belittled, discriminated against and shamed upon for doing nothing other than being black and standing in a line.

My heart broke that day. This was the day I realised that my culture is still forgotten, disrespected, and discriminated against. Our children will still be harmed, and we will always be lost and degraded in our own land. The man with the cane should be the one to feel shamed and not appreciated in the community. He probably has many issues and clearly living with loneliness and a lot of pain, but only he can reach out for help to heal and better himself. As for the people who stood in the line, who listened and who didn’t raise an eyebrow; you should feel the most shame because no one deserves this mistreatment and not have any support from anyone. If it was your mother, your sister, your uncle, aunty or your child; wouldn’t you want someone to speak up for them? Spectators who stand by and do nothing or say nothing are bullies too.

I know I did, and I know that I still feel shame because I didn’t do more. I didn’t tell them not to feel shame or not to feel that you are not accepted in your own country. I wish I could have told this family to try not to listen to the sad and lonely person behind them, he is uneducated and clearly wants someone else to feel as shit as he does. Just concentrate on you and your family because they are who matter most. Please always believe in your culture, share your culture and educate people about your culture, it is one of the most beautiful parts of this country. Our culture keeps us whole and reminds us of who we are and where we belong. You belong here!

M.A.M Writer