Dear GOKU.. nice nick, you would be popular with my kids...They love Jap anime etc.

But.. you mentioned b) People leaving .. as in, when different races come into an area, and the previous residents/race move out.

Yep..they sure do. We have a contributor here named Benjamin Burns, who experienced basically threats and intimidation (something common in areas where particular migrant groups want to take over)
to GET OUT of his area so Lebanese Muslims could move in and have more property choice. Pamphlets were placed in his letter box to that effect.

Goku mate.. its not that most people 'dislike people of another color' its often that the people of the other color/race become aggressive and thats WHY 'white' (or any other) people gravitate to areas where their own mob are strong.
Undoubtedly, you will get racists who move out for the reasons you mention. My white Aunty would probably be one of them. It must have taken her great restraint to not voice open criticism of my Asian wife.
People congregating with their 'own' is a serious problem, not a democratic right. Sure..its legal, but plain stupid. Its racist by nature and that applies to whites and blacks and every color in between.
If I may, please read this article I wrote some time back, aimed at overcoming such a situation.
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=164

In the mean time, why not share with us something of your own background and experience here.
Cheers
BD

So, there is the ugly side of the ghetto coin.

Goku,

Do you class as non-white Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavs etc. who are still huddling together after several generations? I have not mentioned colour.

And no, it is not more important to ask about “mistrust” when I wanted to ask a simple, straightforward question. I asked whether immigrants were racist, not about trust or anything else.

As for them not being racists or “why would they come here”, you’ve completely lost me. Perhaps they come here because they will not be subjected to racism from Australians? If Australia is “racist” as has been suggested, I could ask how is it that they are encouraged to come here?

The final sentence of the first part of your post needs translation.

However, your overall message is clear. Australians are the bad guys, and immigrants are the good guys. Thanks for the contribution.

Ranier,

Glad to have given you the opportunity to vent your spleen and venom again. You continue to be impossible to deal with.

I definitely believe that aboriginal/white settlers 200 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with the subject, so the “whole point” of your post was totally wasted.

And “duh” to you too.

Leigh, you say "I definitely believe that aboriginal/white settlers 200 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with the subject" but fail to provide any justification for doing so.

Immigration/emigration has been a feature of the development of the world's population since man first toddled around on two feet - why do you feel that now is an appropriate time to ignore all that history? The arrival of successive waves of Europeans and Asians into Australia has been a process, not an event, and you cannot realistically ignore the fact that the arrival of the first lot was just another part of the process, simply because it suits your argument.

Well, not without making at least a token effort at justifying your position you can't.

And Boaz, you are taking an early lead in the 2007 challenge contest for the most number of fallacies in the shortest space:

>>People congregating with their 'own' is a serious problem, not a democratic right. Sure..its legal, but plain stupid. Its racist by nature<<

Not one of those phrases contains the smallest degree of logic or reality - try it for yourself, one by one, and you'll see just another stream of rabble-rousing nonsense.

"However, your overall message is clear. Australians are the bad guys, and immigrants are the good guys. Thanks for the contribution."

Sorry, show of hands - who made this claim? Cause I can't see it. Anybody?

I can speak for myself at least, I was saying that there's little point in analysing the groups individually in the first place, as it's pretty clear there's a percentage of racists in every culture, immigrant or not.

So then I think Leigh's original question would need to be adjusted - from 'Are Immigrants Racist'? to 'Is there a higher percentage of racist people in recently immigrated groups than groups that have been here for a couple generations more?' Of course the problem with this question is that people immigrate from all over the world, most of which have more variation between each other than they do with Australia.

Despite this, I would still say no. People with a passport generally have a more rounded, well informed view, and are therefore less likely to be racist, than those who, say, haven't left their home town for their whole life and complain about it being invaded by people from places they can't even find on a map.

I'd say the most racist people from other countries are far less likely to immigrate in the first place.

Again, we come back to a definition of what racism is. To simply bring attention to the fact that your neighbour is different to you, is to invite the cry of "racist". So by definition, we all have to be racist, as we all notice the differences of others (whether we think they are good or bad). However, a line needs to be drawn between this ultra-PC'ism, and damaging, hatred based forms of racism. For example, I dont believe that I am a racist (in the bad sense) if I complained that in areas of the Gold Coast, the shop signs are mainly japanese, with English subtitles. Why dont I think this is a problem - easy, we are an English-speaking country! Have the signs in English, with japanese subtitles, if necessary. I would be a "bad" racist if I took action to destroy the offensive signs, or encouraged others to do so.

Likewise, the violent, hatred based racisms of the likes of the serb/croat communities should be of major concern to us. I'd be having stern words with "australian" supporters of the IRA or anti-IRA groups for exactly the same reasons. When you come to this country, leave your prejudices behind you. Whilst the early white settlers didnt adhere to this, two wrongs dont make a right. We cant fix any errors/unjustices of the past, but we can do our best to ensure that we dont repeat previous mistakes. For someone like Rainier to say that whites did it to the blacks, so the whites should put up with it now, is just nonsense. We have a pretty good society compared to the rest of the world, so we should be seeking to protect that, for ALL the people that live here, and want to come here

Rainier, you should get out more, or at least out into the areas where indigineous languages are spoken. Many of the health workers in remote areas, will do their utmost to learn as much as they can of the local language. My aunt is an example, spending many years as a RAN in arhnem land, kimberly and cooper pedy. The last language she learned was Pitjinjarra, and tried teaching me some of the written words.