Paul, I forgot to add that during that time in Los Angeles
when I was managing the apartment building -a lovely black
American family did inquire about one of the apartments
and of course I was not allowed to rent to "people of colour"
so I was forced to come up with an excuse that there was
an interested party ahead of them that had first preference.

I finally ended up renting the apartment to two young
professional gay men.

One a lawyer, the other a child psychologist.

They threw the greatest parties

I had a Maths teacher at high school who took
a great delight in referring to me only by
my surname and even then - mispronouncing it.
The class would laugh and find it funny. I
didn't. She had the thinnest of lips - that puckered
like a cat's rear end. She convinced me that
I was hopeless at Maths. And would never be good at it.
It was only later that I learned I wasn't bad at all.

Also to off-set this teacher - We had the most
wonderful English Lit. Department Head - who became my
mentor and friend. She instilled in me a love of literature
and especially Shakespeare.

A truly fabulous teacher. Who just happened to be Jewish.

Foxy I had a very different Oxford accent experience in the Solomon Islands. I had anchored one afternoon in the Shortland Islands. A little later a short but very plump local came paddling out in a canoe far too small for him looking very dangerous.

I expected him to offer me coconuts or fish in exchange for any fishing gear I had, but he totally floored me by bidding me good afternoon in a perfect Oxford accent. He then invited me to dinner with he & his wife that evening.

It transpired he was one of a few hundred locals sent to Oxford by the UK government, when the Solomons were a British protectorate. They had a brilliant policy that no one could work for the government for more than 20 years, so unlike PNG they did not end up with an educated elite clustered in the capital.

He had had various government jobs, ending up police commissioner, before returning to his origins with his education, knowledge, expertise & quite wealthy by island standards. He ran a trade store & had introduced a number of improvements to his islands life in health & education. He also ran a small heard of cattle in a copra plantation, eliminating the need for constant under tree clearing, while offering improved nutrition to the locals.

An interesting aside, the locals still preferred tinned corn beef to fresh steak, & many preferred imported rice to local sweet potato, a hang over from WW11. His biggest sorrow was that once educated all but one of his kids had preferred to stay in the capital, rather than return to their roots on the island.

Hi Hasbeen,

I love reading about your experiences. You've had so
many really interesting ones. Thank you for sharing them
with us on this forum. And all I can say is - "More please".

Talkin about accents. I remember my aunt years back used to
be hard to understand when she tried to speak English.
Her accent was very strong. Plus she used to get words like
"shirt" and "skirt" mixed up with some hilarious results.
Asking for a skirt for her husband in David Jones (when she
meant shirt).

Referring to a house's "bum" when she meant the rear-end of
the house. And plenty more.

The book - "They're a Weird Mob," was very spot on. I remember
laughing when I first read it so many years ago.

Paul1405 by his usual hypocritical standard conveniently failed to address the line in which I stated that 'One can't be racist towards one's own race' no, he went for reliable old jugular of "White policy" & his imagined discrimination against "people of colour".
I don't think there's a hope in heaven to make people like Paul1405 see let alone exercise integrity.
Where's his indignation when we're called unsavoury names in indigenous language ?
Where's his indignation when non-indigenous claim indigenous heritage ?
Racists & racism are a fact of being human, a fact that can't be legislated out of instinct & personal feelings. Racism is also a perpetual bleating of victimhood of incidents from two centuries ago.
The Aborigines have only had to deal with each other & leter with the British whereas others in all parts of the World had multiple invasions & occupation & only a few of them perpetuate that for financial gain.
Here it has become an industry & will become something even bigger if the same old activists aren't kept away from the Voice,.
As I said many times the racism bleaters are the real racists !

indyvidual,

I'll repeat some of what I wrote to you earlier. History
gives us an explanation of why some people face
discrimination and disadvantages. It's not a question of
assigning blame. It's a question of understanding what
racism is.

You have to take things
in context. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people have to deal with things today that other
Australians don't. Ranging from being less likely to
be selected for a job, which leads to a lower standard of
living, less access to health care, which lowers their
average life expectancy, to higher suicide rates,
incarceration, and so on.

The reasons for these disadvantages go all the way back to
Australia's colonial past when Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people were widely seen as inferior - and in many cases
still are regarded as such.

Also in this country institutions also play an important role
in perpetuating racism. They include schools, the court system,
churches, the media, and organisations. It's a systemic problem.

Denying it or blaming does not help anyone. Finding ways to fix
the problems would be more productive. And it should start
with ourselves first. Here again is the link I gave earlier:

http://au.reachout.com/articles/what-is-racism-and-how-to-spot-it?

It's worth a read.