People always show their true colours when times are tough. That saying reared its ugly head over the last few months when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Australia and we subsequently saw a rise in racism and racist incidents.
It seems out-of-character for a country that prides itself on giving everyone a “fair go.” But as history and personal experience has shown us, not only does Australia frequently dip its toes in the casual racism pool, the country has always been racist and is good at hiding it.
On a more positive note, the GOAT team talk about Michelle Obama’s new doco on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
I grew up in a tiny rural Australian town, one that’s as Australian as you can get. For the most part, I was fortunate enough to not experience bullying that revolved around my being Chinese. At least I thought that was the case until all the instances of COVID-19 racism (including some that happened to me personally) made me realise that I was looking at it with rose-tinted glasses.
My most vivid recollection is the hot shot footy boys’ reasoning for not messing with me. I was never friends with them but we got along well enough without any major hassle. When questioned why that is, I was told “oh, your dad makes the best fried rice.”
Turns out my worth as a human being, an Australian and a Chinese person wasn’t due to respect or equality from my Aussie neighbours. It all had to do with my dad being a good cook and whether I was willing to give them discounts on a large combination fried rice.
And even then, the respect was fleeting because once you get a group of kids together, the “ching-chongs” and slanted eye gestures will always be thrown around like a football regardless of how much they like fried rice. Equal treatment isn’t a guarantee. It’s given when it’s convenient or beneficial.
When humans face something they don’t understand, their first response is fear followed by knee-jerk justifications and explanations that aren’t based on anything more than instinct or attempts at rationalising things.
With COVID-19 and the fear that comes with facing a pandemic, it’s caused Australia to drop the facade of civility and giving everyone a “fair go.” There’s no reason for them to keep pretending.
In an effort to find meaning or reason as to why something like COVID-19 is happening, it seems like a lot of people’s reaction is to “blame it on the Chinese,” even though the origins of the coronavirus has yet to be properly determined.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Australia is racist though. We went through something broadly similar to COVID-19 when SARS was a thing back in 2003, and it’s clear we haven’t learned a thing. Looking back even further at our history to our treatment of Indigenous Australians, it’s definitely not a stretch to say that racism is essentially part of Australia’s DNA.
Even today, we still haven’t gotten to the point where racism completely flushed out of the country’s system. How else can we explain the existence of things like One Nation?
That’s not to say that all Australians are racist and those who are can’t be better people. But the fact that I have to even say that demonstrates how racism has been part of Australia’s fabric since the beginning. After what’s happened with COVID-19, I’m getting a little tired of defending a country I love that’s increasingly shown itself to be seeped in racism and is proud of it.
Australia is racist and has been well before COVID-19 even hit our shores. It’s just really good at pretending it isn’t.
Always be in the loop with our snackable podcast breaking the biggest story of the day. Subscribe to It’s Been A Big Day For… on your favourite podcast app.