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The Forum > Article Comments > Racist Australia > Comments

Racist Australia : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 11/6/2009

Polite and sometimes not-so-polite racism is the underbelly of conservative politics and conservative attitudes.

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Loudmouth,
My reaction to that piece of news is that it is good, and good to have some positive news relating to aborignals.

For a long time now i have believed that the best course for aboriginals is integration and the key to that is in education. This brings the opportunity for more and better employment. which in turn negates the need for a welfare type lifestyle.

I hope the numbers continue to rise and those academics become further inspiration for the young.
Posted by Banjo, Friday, 19 June 2009 2:07:20 PM
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Hi Banjo,

I'm not sure that academics have anything positive to do with Indigenous tertiary student success, except of course the academics who work with such dedication in Indigenous student support. For decades, there has been a sort of war going on between the 'academics' who want all funds directed towards the teaching of Aboriginal-focussed courses mainly for non-Indigenous students, and the wonderful student support staff who have been fighting so hard to protect their funding so that it does not disappear into teaching, 'research' and international conference budgets.

There is still a sort of racism by which Indigenous students enrolled in mainstream courses - 'white' courses, as I have seen it described - are disparaged and/or ignored in favour of the rapidly diminishing number of Indigenous students doing Indigenous-focussed courses, proper black courses. Not that it worries the mainstream students - they tend to have much better retention and graduation rates anyway.

So yes, racism takes many forms, even now - and even at the hands of some Indigenous academics.

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Saturday, 20 June 2009 9:40:19 AM
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Loudmouth,
We may be talking about different things.

My understanding of an academic is that once a student has passed his qualifacations in higher education, he can rightly be referred to as an academic. He may not necessarily be a Uni lecturer.

I am sure there is some racism and other forms of discrimination/pecking order in the ranks of the academics.

However My interest in the news was a hope that it indicates a greater participation in education generally. As i said, i think the better people are educated the more and better paid work becomes available to them.

The more people with aboriginal heritage become involved in higher education can only be good news.
Posted by Banjo, Saturday, 20 June 2009 10:56:09 AM
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Joe, if we are going to have our own lawyers, doctors. pediatricians, optometrists, accountants, architects, nutritionists, etcetera then providing access and support to these degree courses is the only option available.

If your cultural grounding is strong then no university course will be able to change these characteristics of your foundational beliefs, customs and traditions.

There are now many Aboriginal leaders with higher degree qualification who can easily move between three or four cultural / linguistic domains. Not many white Australian leader have these qualities.

In Europe such individuals are the norm, not the exception. Having cultural competence is about the ability to know and understand the changing social and interactive context of your own and other cultures.

From my own observations its mostly mono cultural /mono lingual white Australians who have hang ups about being mono cultural, and the need to assimilate 'Others' into this, “throw another shrimp on the Barbie” “true blue” gidday maaate” ockeristic monoculturalism- simly because this is all the poor buggers know
Posted by Rainier, Saturday, 20 June 2009 11:11:51 AM
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Racism is always a bad thing whether it is Black or White.It should end or else everyone gets involved in it someway or the other.The only way to end is making people aware of it. Several Anti-Racism Organisations such as http://www.bullies2buddies.com/ are working for this perspective. We should help those making people aware and get help when needed.
Posted by marcusluther, Saturday, 4 July 2009 4:41:40 PM
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