Saturday, 3 February 2007

"We are as Australian as them,"

Just read this great article over at the BBC website about a group of Australians who have become volunteer lifesavers in Sydney.

After the f%$king ridiculous and retarded race riots in Cronulla last year I became partially ashamed of Australia. I always knew there was racism there but had no idea it was this bad or that Sydney had that many tools.

It's great to see that the riots have had a positive effect and that the Muslim community have been inspired to prove that they're as Australian as we all are.

Going off on a bit of a tangent now, I've always loved how, for the most part, in Australia we call everyone "Australian". Not "Chinese Australian" or "Korean Australian". Everyone who has citizenship is inclusively called "Australian" as it should be.

I've never really got why in America everyone sees the need to specify their cultural background such as "Irish American", etc. I truly think a lot of the racism in American could be turned around if everyone was called simply "American". By calling someone "African American" it's saying they're not a real American. Noone is 100% American or 100% Australian. Everyone comes from somewhere. Hell, I've got Irish heritage but you don't see me introducing myself as "Irish Australian". I was born in Australia therefore I should be treated as an Australian.

Unless someone has dual nationality I see no reason to over complicate things. I've been told by some Americans from African heritage that they like to be called "African American" as it lets them show pride for their ancestors but I really think by doing so they're preventing others from seeing them on the same level as "regular Americans" or "real Americans".

No obviously there is racism in Australia, I'm not denying that but we do seem to be more inclusive of people from other cultures being "one of us".

When I walk around China Town in Sydney I never think "Look at all these Chinese Australian people". I'm thinking "Look at all these Australians". It's a subtle difference and an important one.

What do you think?

Labels: Australia, News, North America, Racism