RACISM

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I have lived in Australia for 13 years and I hate living in a society where theres so many cultures. Lets get one thing straight, there is no way in hell that a multicultural society can coexist without any forms of segregation and discrimination. I have gone through the pain of being discriminated against being a new immigrant to sydney at the tender age of 7 with parents who do blue collar jobs for a living to put food on the table. The worst thing about being a child of new immigrants is being looked down on by the local born kids as being an outsider, as someone who doesnt belong with the rest of society, and as a redundant being. The primary school years were filled with a sense of alienation from the other kids, they all look different from you, being all white caucasians and their racist remarks do not reflect what they feel, but what their parents and their parents' parents feel about immigrants and non caucasians from other parts of the world. Growing up in a country like this has destroyed my life in a nutshell, not having the basic identity that all human beings need to survive. I have grown up with a sense of shame for who I have am, and hatred for my own race and family, for I feel that people are constantly looking down on me, especially the causaians that dominate this society. So let me give u a tip, if you are from a non anglo saxon backgrond, NEVER come to Australia because it will take the live out of you slowly, day by day, until you no longer know who you are or your place in the world.

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No one can make you feel inferior unless you give them permission.

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material girl wrote:

No one can make you feel inferior unless you give them permission.

I agree with that - except that it's probably not a concept that most seven year olds have the maturity or understanding to have adopted and integrated into his or her personality as a coping mechanism. Hell, most forty year olds I know haven't mastered overcoming derision and scorn from others.
And never having had to deal with racial discrimination (I'm white), I wouldn't presume to offer this as an answer to someone who must face it everyday- I have no idea how it feels to be thought of and treated as inferior because I represent a minority culture - so I won't tell anyone else how they should feel about it, or how they should react to it, or deny the fact that it could have a long-term effect on a person's self-esteem and view of their position in the world.

I hope those who take pleasure in reinforcing their own superiority by making others feel inferior, for whatever reason, will read and understand the pain it causes. You've stated it very eloquently James and it comes across clearly in your post. I hope you find somewhere to live where you feel more accepted and whole. Good luck.

*edited twice for spelling errors and wrong placement of editing notice

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I am also sorry if James has had awful experiences with racism. Hopefully, such experiences die away as Australia becomes more and more multicultural and racial.

It seems he finds offence from others, who are not white Australian Caucasions, too. Racism is to be found in many forms.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1599639#1599639

Jamesw84 wrote:

If u ask me, Cantonese is an animal language used by people from HK because they think they are not Chinese. Its used to differentiate between the real Chinese and those who think they are better than Chinese-eg the HK race all over the world. Cantonese is only used by these so called HK tribes to try and elevate their economic and social status above those of the Chinese. Its no wonder the language sounds so alkward-its used by nomads who reject their homeland

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bookmark

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James - I find it rather strange.

I have been living here for a few months. I was born in Russia, then spent 14 years in Israel, and after a few months in Germany moved to Melbourne. I am an IT professional with a sidekick specialty in computational linguistics. It took me exactly 2 days to find a job right in the middle of Melbourne CBD in a high rise where you need a keycard to go to the restroom, and it was while I still had trouble understanding OzSpeak (yep, I thought people here spoke English for some reason Very Happy

). In our development team we have:
4 "true blue" Aussies
1 American
1 Russian
1 guy with multiple cultural personalities (me Wink

)
2 Chinese from Shanghai
2 Cantonese speaking Chinese
1 Indian (or Indonesian?)
1 Thai
1 Malay Chinese
2 Australian born Greeks

I never heard anything remotely similar to a racist remark from anyone. Is it exceptional? I don't think so. Take a walk in the City. There is what seems to be an equal proportion of Asian and Caucasian faces. Actually, I don't recall any racist remarks heard in Melbourne.

Although... there was an article in that MX paper they deliver on the train stations, where an Indian lady complained that when her husband was talking with someone using his native tongue, a woman cursed him and told him to speak English. Majority of the reactions was in favour of the Indian though. Which made me happy :-) .

I can sympathise with the status change though; that's exactly what happened to my own family when we moved to Israel. And yes, kids can be cruel to the outsiders. Has nothing to do with the racism though. Integration in a different culture is tricky and time consuming. It is similar to climbing a mountain. Sometimes you have to compromise. It doesn't mean you must completely alter yourself, but you must adapt.

You are still young and this probably makes your emotions go to the extremes. Don't make hasty decisions... It might not look like this now, but being treated to more than one culture gives you great advantages.

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Odd, the different perceptions. My hometown in the USA is about equally divided into three ethnic groups, and I can't imagine a town being less racial. Still, racism was so strong here a couple of years before I arrived, an entire book (Broken Circle) was written on the subject.

Sorry, Galilite, I just noticed your presence on the forum. Welcome, and since you remind me so strongly of someone I used to know, welcome again.

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JamesW, First of all, Welcome to A2K.

I'm now a senior, 70-year old Japanese American. I know a little about racial discrimination having been born and lived in this country for most of it.

I was born and reared in the wrong side of the tracks in Sacramento, California. Our grade school up to junior high was attended by 99 percent minorities; Chinese, Mexican, black, and Japanese. During WWII, those of us with a Japanese face were relocated into US concentration camps, because we looked like the enemy even though most of us were born in the US. Our grandfather came to this country in 1893.

Fast forward to 2005: We now have many different cultures in our family including Chinese, English, German, Italian, Polynesian, black and Mexicans.

All my siblings have done very well in this country - even with the discrimination. My older brother retired from working for the state as an administrative judge. My younger brother is an opthalmologist, and is now serving his second term in the state legislature. My younger sister is a RN. Most of our children are doing fine; included are doctors, lawyers, dentist, PhDs and masters.

The long and short of it is this: don't let racial bigots ruin your life. Get a good education, have a good career, save your money, and enjoy life.

It's never too late; I barely graduated from high school, but eventually earned my accounting degree, and worked in management most of my career.

Good luck, and keep your head up high.

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Roger - thanks. I'm here for over a year, it's just my jobs are not very forum-friendly Very Happy

. Dunno about similarities, but I usually use the same nickname on most forums I visit.

cicerone imposter wrote:

The long and short of it is this: don't let racial bigots ruin your life. Get a good education, have a good career, save your money, and enjoy life.

That's an excellent punchline, CI.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

JamesW, First of all, Welcome to A2K.

I'm now a senior, 70-year old Japanese American. I know a little about racial discrimination having been born and lived in this country for most of it.

I was born and reared in the wrong side of the tracks in Sacramento, California. Our grade school up to junior high was attended by 99 percent minorities; Chinese, Mexican, black, and Japanese. During WWII, those of us with a Japanese face were relocated into US concentration camps, because we looked like the enemy even though most of us were born in the US. Our grandfather came to this country in 1893.

Fast forward to 2005: We now have many different cultures in our family including Chinese, English, German, Italian, Polynesian, black and Mexicans.

All my siblings have done very well in this country - even with the discrimination. My older brother retired from working for the state as an administrative judge. My younger brother is an opthalmologist, and is now serving his second term in the state legislature. My younger sister is a RN. Most of our children are doing fine; included are doctors, lawyers, dentist, PhDs and masters.

The long and short of it is this: don't let racial bigots ruin your life. Get a good education, have a good career, save your money, and enjoy life.

It's never too late; I barely graduated from high school, but eventually earned my accounting degree, and worked in management most of my career.

Good luck, and keep your head up high.

Thanks for the encouragement. The main problem I face in this society is finding a sense of belonging. Everywhere I look whether its on the streets or on TV I don see anyone who I can identify with, mainly due to my childhood experiences at an all white school where I was the only kid of pioneering immigrants. Another experience that affected me was being sent to a selective high school where there were large numbers of Asian kids who were mostly from high end of society with parents who were entrepreneurs or in white collar jobs. They could always have the things I couldnt have and do the things that I couldnt do and that made me feel like I wasnt as good as them. Now I think about it this type of identity chrisis is probably attributed to the lack of companionship with those who were in the same boat as me when I was younger as a kid and as a teenager and always having to mingle with those who belonged higher social and economic classes. Now I am 21 and completing my degree at uni and find myself thinking about past regrets on an ongoing daily basis, wondering what I had done to deserve a life in Australia.

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All of us don't have any choice on who our parents will be or where we will be born. If we are born in a country that offers us an education and an opportunity to succeed in living a relatively comfortable lifestyle compared to the rest of humanity, we're ahead of the game. I'm very thankful that our grandfather decided to come to the US in 1893.

We were dirt poor when I was born, and to make matters worse, my father died when I was two years old. Not only were Asians in America discriminated against, our world was in a depression. When WWII started, I was six years olld, and we were sent to concentration camps for four years.

Our family lived in hostels, the first one a large house where five-six families lived. After a couple of years, we moved to the school rooms in back of the Buddhist Church, and our home were rooms partitioned by army blankets to separate our family from other families. We were teenagers when we moved to a 'real' home, but I left home when I was 17 years old to finish high school in another city.

Although my siblings did very well in school, I was always "barely making it."

All my friends today are people I met after leaving home. The people in our social group are people I met when we were all single, and we still get together for social functions about 3-4 times a year. I also have friends all around the world - people I have met through my travels. I even have several friends in Australia.

My life turned around when I enlisted into the US Air Force. They assigned me to work with nuclear weapons, a specialty that surely requires some level of intelligence, and that gave me confidence. One of my oldest friend now is a guy I met while stationed in Morocco in the late fifties. We've kept in touch all these years, and have exchanged christmas cards every year.

Through much luck and some gumption on my part, everything in my life started to fall into place after I left the service.

It took me awhile to earn my degree, because I also had to work. I graduated at age 32, but also retired when I was 63; a short but a fulfilling career with challenges and satisfaction. All I do now is world travel. In January, I did a cruise to Antarctica. In February, I went on a group tour to Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia. In April-May, I went on a group tour to Malta, and followed that with an independent tour of London, Amsterdam, Lippstadt, and Berlin. In September, I did a group tour to Bali and Singapore. In November, I'll be on another group tour-cruise from Barcelona to Athens. In February 2006, I'll be going to Guatemala and Costa Rica. In May, I'll go on another river cruise in Russia from Moscow to St Petersburg. In December, I'm going on another group-cruise to the Carribbean.

I live a pretty good life compared to what I had as a child.

I married a intelligent woman whose parents were against our marriage, because I didn't have a college degree. She had two doctors and a engineer persuing her, but she chose me. She graduated high school, nursing school and college with honors. We raised to great sons, and our oldest boy also graduated college summa cum laude and his masters with honors.

The rest you know.

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Now I am 21 and completing my degree at uni and find myself thinking about past regrets on an ongoing daily basis, wondering what I had done to deserve a life in Australia.

I'm sorry? What you have done to deserve a life in Australia? Perhaps you should think for a moment of all the people in the world who would love the chance to go to university in a country where free speech and expression are encouraged?

Perhaps you should realize that there are, as we speak, millions of children eating diseased rats from a rubbish dump in order to survive!

I have relatives overseas who would give their right arm to have their children educated at tertiary level, in a system where their degree will mean something in other countries, and will not be dismissed as third world...

I am sorry that your early experiences in Australia were negative. My husband shared many of the same experiences as the only asian child in his class. I experienced the same thing being the child of the only "white ghosts" in a suburb of Malaysia.

The point is, at some stage, you suck it up, get your education, make something of yourself and stop being so whiney and self indulgent.

I hope to goodness at some stage of your life, you travel to third world countries and realize how good you have it here. If that dosent change your attitude, I strongly suggest you seek some sort of counselling, as you are obviously unable to realize just how blessed you are to have the opportunities you do.

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spunky, Now, that's what I call spunk. People should not continue to cry about little things in their lives when the majority on this planet are starving or can't find work. Your suggestion for travel to some third world countries is excellent - to really appreciate what "we" have compared to so many struggling in this world.

Here are some of my observations from travel:

Russia - The Russian people have great potential, but because of the government and mafia corruption, professionals do not earn much more than laborers. When I went on a cruise to Russia five years ago, the staff on our boat were professionals - multilingual doctors, lawyers, and college professors, because they can earn more in tips working on a cruise boat than they can working in their profession.

Romania - I was on a tour of the Balkans last year, and our local guide in Bucharest is a dentist. He can earn more as a tour guide than he can as a doctor.

Third world countries - I have had the opportunity to visit many places in this world including India, South America, China, Bali, Nepal, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Africa, and Thailand. They are lucky if they earn $100/month, and many depend on tourism for most of their economy. Many in those countries can't afford to sent their children to school, and if they have schools, they are crude with very little teaching tools and facilities. There are exceptions, but their hardships are great.

Don't let your past hinder your future. If you do, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Be aggressive in getting a good education and in the work place without doing harm to others. Always treat everybody well, and you'll find that many rewards will come your way.

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spunkymonkey wrote:

I'm sorry? What you have done to deserve a life in Australia? Perhaps you should think for a moment of all the people in the world who would love the chance to go to university in a country where free speech and expression are encouraged?

Perhaps you should realize that there are, as we speak, millions of children eating diseased rats from a rubbish dump in order to survive!

I have relatives overseas who would give their right arm to have their children educated at tertiary level, in a system where their degree will mean something in other countries, and will not be dismissed as third world...

I am sorry that your early experiences in Australia were negative. My husband shared many of the same experiences as the only asian child in his class. I experienced the same thing being the child of the only "white ghosts" in a suburb of Malaysia.

The point is, at some stage, you suck it up, get your education, make something of yourself and stop being so whiney and self indulgent.

I hope to goodness at some stage of your life, you travel to third world countries and realize how good you have it here. If that dosent change your attitude, I strongly suggest you seek some sort of counselling, as you are obviously unable to realize just how blessed you are to have the opportunities you do.

I have never thought about comparing my predicament with the rest of the "unlucky ones" who are struggling with the lack of basic necessities in their lives before reading what you have written. Instead I think about how unlucky I am compared with the local kids here and how unlucky indeed when comparing myself to those who are much more well off than my family in this country. I guess its a matter of pessimism that has led me to uphold this narcissistic view of the world in Australia as a Chinese. From a very young age I have learnt to only compare myself with the best of the best and thats why Ive always come up short and felt sorry for myself every single time. The perspective you have enlightened me with may just be what I have missed and may make a difference to the way I see my situation. Thanks for your alternative perspective. I actually feel better after reading it :wink:

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Well well and oh my!!!!!

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Where can I get more info about the state of the rest of the world, what people in other places are going through, and how lucky I am here? All I see are the people who live in Europe, Japan, Shanghai, USA, all rich people who live healthy lives, where are the poor people and why do I have to compare my condition with theirs? Can you point out to me what the lucky aspects are here?

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I think maybe a start would be to watch some movies or documentaries about places like Calcutta, or Thailand and the way in which poor village children there are sold into prostitution.

There are also a number of books that may offer insight to you. I am reading "The long walk to Freedom" which is the biography of Nelson Mandela...You may enjoy the themes of this book, the way in which the Africans in South Africa were disenfranchised. Or "Mao's last dancer" , which is the story of a ballet dancer and his struggles with communist china.

As for "All I see are the people who live in Europe, Japan, Shanghai, USA, all rich people who live healthy lives, where are the poor people and why do I have to compare my condition with theirs?"

You see what you want to see. If you want to feel sorry for yourself, and play the victim, then your perspective will be altered by that. If you want to see how lucky you are, if you want to begin to cherish your blessings, your perspective will alter again. You don't HAVE to compare your position with "theirs"...I am merely suggesting that if you do,you will begin to realize just how good you have it.

To the person who has no use of their legs, the person who can walk has it good. To the person who walks but has no shoes, the people with shoes have a great deal. To the people whose shoes are falling apart, those of us with good shoes are objects of envy...and so on and so forth. Start seeing yourself at the top of the scale instead of the bottom.

By what you have said, I can see that you are blessed in many ways- your parents cared enough about your future to move away from everything they knew, their country, family, friends, to come here and try and make more opportunities for you. You have a tertiary education, access to the internet, freedom of speech, right of reply, intelligence etc etc etc!

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Racism is out there, no doubt but personally I think it is getting better. VERY slowly and VERY slightly but better none the less.

There are those who will never. Those are the ignorants who can't see past their own noses. The media has a LONG way to go in this area. A lot of their reporting fits the bill of every stereotype we have and I think that's slowed things down so much. Subconciously we are having silent racism shoved in our faces. Work on changing the media perception and that will make great strides in deminishing racism.

We all have some sort of prejudice. It's human. It's what we choose to do with it that matters. Do we try and disprove our prejudice? Or do we let it decide what we think about someone?

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Jamesw84 wrote:

Where can I get more info about the state of the rest of the world, what people in other places are going through, and how lucky I am here? All I see are the people who live in Europe, Japan, Shanghai, USA, all rich people who live healthy lives, where are the poor people and why do I have to compare my condition with theirs? Can you point out to me what the lucky aspects are here?

I am a Chinese speaking poor English, I also live in Australia and believe me, I don't think I live any life better than u do, still struggling to have a better job to make ends meet, no relatives around etc. But I'm happy and contentful. Back when I was in Shanghai, everything is good, you don't need to worry about anything. Easily take a job, enjoy life, you can have every reasonable thing you want but change, sometimes, it means boring. Now that term has long gone from my dictionary until this moment^^b
I suggest u go to China alone, (better be Shanghai 'cause it's safe, you can walk in the street at anytime in a day and don't need to worry about being robbed. I personally has been robbed twice in 3 years since I came to Sydney) taste the life that being "deprived" from you since you are 7, you can even find a teaching job there at first,like some of my teachers. I wonder if you can still speak Chinese though...
You will know then how economically lucky you are...The graduate in Shanghai get an average panment of 2000RMB per Month, that's only 335AUD per month and do you know how much the property is? 400,000RMB is like the entry level, 700,000 RMB is just Okay for a family, a three-bedroom suite can easely cost you more than 1M RMB. 100,000 RMB for a car and the licence will cost you extra 20,000-30,000 RMB. That means a couple may be able to afford a family suitable livng space in 10-20 years if they don't eat, drink or consume any other things. Shanghaieses pay alot for their glamour city. There was once a photo having a pedlar selling tea boling egg under the skyscraper for rent, 50 cents(8 cents AUD) for an egg comparing to the stunning rent price makes such a contrast....
And I must clarify that I am still pround of being a Chinese and enjoy the culture. I think that's why we have Chinatown. Though Chinese culture partly mix with the buddism and thus not so aggressive. It's still kinda unique and hard to be replaced by any thing else.
So, summrise...go to China, you will feel economically free if you make money in Australia and Cultural closeness if you still has some root that belongs to that place. Sorry for babbling alot and feel I kinda lost at the end, anyway you know what I mean...^^b
GOOD LUCK

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neophoenix, Welcome to a2k. Here's another perspective of progress for Asians in the USA. Chinese were the first Asians to arrive in the US, then the Japanese, followed by the Koreans. Today, especially in California, we find all manners of minorities including Vietnmese, Cambodians, Indians, and many from the Middle East countries.

Before WWII, intermarriage between minorities and whites were few. Today, intermarriage between races are common, and in our family we now have German, Irish, Italian, Polynesian, Chinese, Mexican, blacks, and Brits. Most of our children are marrying into other cultures - more than 50 percent. Before WWII, Japanese rarely socialized with the Chinese, but today many of our family members are Chinese.

What I'm trying to point out is the fact that progress in race relations are being made. Some countries are more advanced than others, but I believe it's a matter of time before race will not be an issue. James Michener's "Hawaii" speaks of the "golden people." Some day, this world will be composed of the golden people. Progress will not be denied.

The Japanese in America suffered discrimination during my generation. Many graduates from the best schools were prevented from getting jobs in their career fields, but that's all in the past. However, in those days of yore, I would not have dreamed about the advances made by Asians in America.

I was born and reared in Sacramento, California, our state capitol. As children, we used to visit the state capitol, and roam it's halls to see the displays of past govenors, the senate and assembly chambers, and the many displays of the counties.

My younger brother is now a state legislator in Sacramento.

That's progress!

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