How big is racism against Aborigines in Australia? (middle-class, unemployed)

[other99]

How big is racism is big in Australia against Aborigines or in the city or town where you live where Aborigines live? Would you feel uncomfortable living next to an Aborigine?

[Trimac20]

There've been threads on this. A lot of people have some racist attitudes to them, but largely because of how they behave, e.g. always on the dole, alcoholism, drug use, violence...I definitely understand that it's because they were disadvantaged in history, but how long is this going to go on?

[minibrings]

Other. Do an advanced search. This exact question has been posted before at least once.

[Oz Train Driver]

I saw one a few weeks ago. Previous to that it was probably a few months earlier. Ive never dealt with one in my life. You'll find thats the case with most people in suburban areas.

[sulkiercupid]

I wouldn't be uncomfortable living next to good Aboriginal neighbours. A large part of the racism comes from significant elements of dysfunction in their culture, which is due to historical disadvantage, displacement, and discrimination. Its a very deep poverty cycle and something that will take a long time to overcome.

[BCC_1]

I've never seen any aboriginals anywhere I've lived. They'd stick out like a sore thumb to be honest. And I doubt they'd be all to welcome.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by BCC_1

I've never seen any aboriginals anywhere I've lived. They'd stick out like a sore thumb to be honest. And I doubt they'd be all to welcome.

They tend to be a lot more common in certain areas. Where I grew up there were hardly any - I recall a couple went to my school - but there are probably a dozen or so in the whole suburb. The next suburb along, vastly different in terms of socio-economic profile and demographics, had many aboriginal people.

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by BCC_1

I've never seen any aboriginals anywhere I've lived. They'd stick out like a sore thumb to be honest. And I doubt they'd be all to welcome.

That's a sad commentary. Even if they were living an unobtrusive, suburban lifestyle like everyone else on the street?

One of my favorite moments in an Australian film is in the 1995 comedy "The Life of Harry Dare" in which two young, middle-class Aboriginal guys pretend to be African-American DJs in order to get into an exclusive nightclub. They're treated like royalty until the real DJs show up and then mistaken identity, hilarity and racism ensue and the Aboriginal guys get chased out of the club. I guess it's like the old saying, "it's funny because it's true."

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by TrueDat

That's a sad commentary. Even if they were living an unobtrusive, suburban lifestyle like everyone else on the street?

One of my favorite moments in an Australian film is in the 1995 comedy "The Life of Harry Dare" in which two young, middle-class Aboriginal guys pretend to be African-American DJs in order to get into an exclusive nightclub. They're treated like royalty until the real DJs show up and then mistaken identity, hilarity and racism ensue and the Aboriginal guys get chased out of the club. I guess it's like the old saying, "it's funny because it's true."

Yeah most Australians don't have contact with aborigines on a daily basis. Mostly their experience of them is seeing groups of them hanging out in the CBD at night, or in certain suburbs.

I've noticed aboriginal people seem more visible in Perth then Brisbane then Sydney then Adelaide and Melbourne of the major capitals. I think I've only seen one aboriginal person I can remember in Melbourne on my 6 or so visits there. He was playing a guitar on a tram. Probably seen a couple more, maybe in the Northern or Western suburbs but they seem particularly invisible in Melbourne. In many suburbs of Perth they are extremely visible.

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Yeah most Australians don't have contact with aborigines on a daily basis. Mostly their experience of them is seeing groups of them hanging out in the CBD at night, or in certain suburbs.

I've noticed aboriginal people seem more visible in Perth then Brisbane then Sydney then Adelaide and Melbourne of the major capitals. I think I've only seen one aboriginal person I can remember in Melbourne on my 6 or so visits there. He was playing a guitar on a tram. Probably seen a couple more, maybe in the Northern or Western suburbs but they seem particularly invisible in Melbourne. In many suburbs of Perth they are extremely visible.

When you say visible, do you mean visible as in loitering groups on the street or just people who happen to live in that neighborhood going about their lives? Or both?

I think one of the big misconceptions that Americans have is to compare Aboriginals with African-Americans. By that standard, Australia seems more racist as Aboriginals haven't achieved as much integration/visibility as African-Americans in the US.

A better comparison though is to Native Americans and Inuit (Eskimos), in terms of their percentage of the population and their centers of population being in remote areas though there are some cities -- Albuquerque and Oklahoma City come to mind -- where Native American culture is more visible. Still, most North Americans don't know/work with or even see Native Americans on a regular basis, just as most Aussies don't know any Aboriginals.

Granted, unlike Australian Aboriginals, some tribes have made money through casino gambling, but Native Americans overall are still very much at the bottom of the heap in terms of income, health, and other vital statistics, just like Australian Aboriginals.

The State of Native America: Very Unemployed and Mostly Ignored - Working In These Times

Native American Poverty, by Tom Rodgers - Spotlight On Poverty