Indigenous Australians

While I was living in Perth, it genuinely shocked me to see the casual, inherent racism that was so prevalent towards Aboriginal people. I sometimes think that in Victoria, where Indigenous Australians are often less visible in a day-to-day sense, it can be easy to underestimate the racism towards this section of the population.

Here, there are fewer places where Indigenous Australians are seen congregating in public, and those places are rarely suburban enclaves. In the west, it was more common to see small groups of Indigenous people sitting in parks or gathering out front of houses. Partly this is probably due to the fact that all people are more commonly seen congregating outside, thanks to the nicer weather and abundant sunshine. Then there's the fact that there is a much higher Indigenous population in WA. Whatever the reason, it seemed to me that with greater visibility came greater comment and criticism, by which I really mean racism.

When I heard John Elliott's comments during Can of Worms, it reminded me that now I am home in Victoria, I am sheltered from this racism again. It's still there, it still exists, it is still just as toxic, but I see it less. Just because I'm not hearing the disgusting comments as people pass Indigenous Australians on the street, doesn't mean they're not thinking them or saying them in the spaces they feel safe to do so. It's a timely reminder given NAIDOC week was only earlier this month, that we have a long way to go towards reconciliation.