I Am Not Racist Against Indians
Jun 2nd, 2009 by Squizzmaster
I Got Hate Mail
After my post yesterday, understandably I received some serious hate mail. I could only allow one comment to remain, the rest were unpostable. So instead of trying to explain myself and my post, I’ll like to bring attention to this article in The Age that quotes a Mr. Yadu Singh about the situation of racism, Australia and India.
“Dr Singh said his committee was working to educate Indian students about behaviour that placed them at risk of being targeted, such as travelling alone on trains, walking and dressing “without confidence”, and identifying themselves as recent arrivals in Australia by speaking loudly in their native language.”
Telling People To Stop Being Racist Isn’t Enough
Thank you Dr. Singh! It’s good to see people who understand that being politically correct alone has little power against an ongoing and arduos fight. There are other more effective ways of fighting the problem, or at least ways to tackling the problem from multiple angles.
You Can Still Be Indian
It doesn’t mean that to be safe you have to hide your culture altogether, that’s not right. But as with Australians travelling overseas, a certain level of caution, education of a new culture you are immersing yourself in and compromise can go a long way.
Agree with you Squizzmaster. Culture tolerances require both parties’ efforts not just for the Indian but also the Australian citizen populations (which consist of many cultural backgrounds such as Italians, Irish, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somalians, Greek, Pakistanis and more)
Thank you Mini!! I think the problem with a lot of people is they’re too afraid of being intolerant and racist and protective of friends with a foreign background to think staight. They become too blinded to see multiple angles and the bigger picture. An upbringing in multiple cultures helps.
I’m glad I found this post. Stereotypes often exist for a reason and that reason is prominence, recognising that is NOT racist. Approaching every person in a race with that expectation however is. I’m an Indian girl who spent most of her time growing up in Australia I think it takes people who have grown up in both cultures (like you said) to understand this. And also like you said, people who haven’t been exposed first hand to the cultures they are actually trying to protect usually dun understand all sides of the story. Too many people jumping on the anti-racist band wagon with little understanding.