Dear Paul,

The last link that I gave was an interesting read.
It spoke of a cellist in the Boston Symphony
Orchestra who was asked by the three white musicians
in his string quartet while a student at Yale whether
he knew how to read music.

Then there's the story of an accomplished flutist, when
entering a predominantly white high school as a teenager,
she was told not to even try out for the symphonic band.
She tried out anyway, unseated the principal flutist, then
was cornered by the flutist's father with the
n-word.

I'd like top think that things are changing in the world.
Albeit - slowly. But change has to happen. Our future
depends on it. The link reminds us that -
author and activist James Baldwin wrote:

"Nothing can be changed until it's faced."

"We need to look at how entrenched white supremacy is in
all our institutions and demand change. And change might begin
with asking hard questions, then paying attention to the
answers."

Hi Foxy,

Once pre existing prejudices are overcome, and that is very difficult in itself to achieve, then only through equality of opportunity that true diversity can be achieved. Some well meaning folk confuse tokenism with diversity. I sometimes shutter at the idea of forced quota systems being imposed, but some will say it is the only effective way to bring about desirable change in a reasonable period of time. In Australian politics the Labor party has opted for a forced quota system as far as female representation within parliament goes, and after many frustrating years female representation is almost at parity. The Liberal party has taken a merit based approach without forced quotes, and after many years women are still woefully under represented in the party. The disadvantage of the forced quote system is that in the early stages at least, the representatives chosen from the diverse group are often lacking in desirable merit, they are simply making up the numbers. However over time, and with careful control the quality of the diverse group improves. Labor can rightly claim that women now are almost at parity with men in the party, and are of equal ability with men. The Liberal party has capable women, but there number is still far below what could reasonably be expected in this day and age.

What are your thoughts on this.

ABC/SBS have been doing that for a number of years now.

ABC/SBS had no choice when one looks at what the Caucasian Australian gene pool has to offer !

Dear Paul,

I have mixed feelings about the "quota system."
Of course we would all prefer in an ideal world for
it to be based on merit. However, it's not based on
merit as we can see from some of the people that do
get in. So the "quota system" is all we've got at
present to at least touch the field of talent that's
available. And as you said - hopefully this will
improve with time.

I can't help wondering how really diverse are our institutions
and organisations in this country? Not only in our
political parties. Are the audiences for
example who make up the bulk of theatre goers made up of
the "elite" of our society? Do people from the Western suburbs
in Sydney have access to opera and theatre tickets? Who gets
the scholarships available?

There's so many questions that need to be asked and so many
issues that need challenging. Are our big city suburbs
divided into those who lets say - live on the "North Shore"
in Sydney and those who live in the Western suburbs - and their
accompanying advantages? How do we level the playing fields
for the talent available?

Foxy,
Of course Opera, Ballet and a lot of Theatre is elite as it couldn’t exist without Government funding.
In Sydney the average Westie isn’t interested; football rules.