Fellow Australians, who or what are we afraid of?

In the last couple of months, numerous racist verbal abuses within Australia have been recorded and shared amongst various social media sites. One attack in particular that has caught my attention is an attack an old woman made against a school boy in Sydney on a bus early this year. Below I have pasted the link to the footage taken on the day when the abuse occurred. I will have to warn you all though that there is explicit language spoken so viewer discretion is advised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiLpFG5uUc0

During my research into this particular case, there was one thing that had really bothered me about this. Recently, the woman who abused the student had been taken to court, but has left the case with no conviction. That’s right, no conviction. She had pleaded guilty, but had escaped the incident with only a six-month good behaviour bond. This case is only one of many incidents where these ‘abusers’ escape harsh punishments after racially abusing numerous people of different cultural backgrounds. And so, through these incidents, I instantly think of how such attacks can create a social hierarchy within schools since many would become suppressed by another, bringing me to my question – do these incidents happen due to ‘whiteness’, or is it because we are down-right racist?

As seen in numerous incidents, it has always involved a person of ‘Caucasian’ background, against another who is of a different race from them. These attackers verbally abuse the victim(s), and it usually involves anything to do with the fact that they do not belong in this country, or that they are not a ‘true Australian’, whatever that means. This really allows me to focus on the true power of words, and how these attacks, despite it not being physical, can truly affect someone. As Minikel-Lacocque (2013) states in her work “…Words carry significant power. They have the potential to help maintain various inequalities…on a societal level…” This quote then leads me to my next question, is there evidence of this behaviour in education which defines societal levels and if so, is it whiteness, or racism?

Sadly, the answer is a big yes yet, I assume the reasons behind the behaviour can be debatable. Evidence of this can be seen in the recent “Education Revolution” led by the former Rudd and Gillard government. As Vass (2012) states in his findings on school-based inequalities, NAPLAN is an active process in promoting inequality. As the results of NAPLAN are associated with federal funding, there has subsequently been an initiative to teach students the “white” cultural capital (p.4). Furthermore, evidence has also demonstrated the fact that schools are devising strategies to avoid low-achieving students to take the NAPLAN tests. Within this group of students most likely include Indigenous students, as schools automatically presume that these students will lack in performance behind their peers based on the societal, constructed beliefs. So, is this due to whiteness, or is it racism against the minority? Who knows.

So, today I am still just as disgusted about these attacks against other races which now even exist on our public transport. This type of behaviour and treatment is unacceptable in society, so likewise schools should not tolerate with this either. However, as much as we would like to deny it, it still happens regardless. 

References:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiLpFG5uUc0
2.  Minikel-Lacocque, J. (2013). Racism, college and the power of words: Racial microaggressions reconsidered. American Educational Research Journal, 50, pp. 432-465.
3. Vass, G. (2012). The racialised educational landscape in Australia: listening to the whispering elephant. Race Ethnicity and Education, pp. 1-26.
4. AAP (August 6^th 2013), “No Conviction for racist Sydney bus rants”, Sydney Morning Herald, accessed Spetember 20^th: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/no-conviction-for-racist-sydney-bus-rants-20130806-2rbmj.html