GEOG1001 Environment and Society - Racism Essay

Introduction: 

Racism refers to the bias or contamination of behaviour that arises from the thought of all human beings not being equal (Grosfoguel, 2016). It means that people do not behave with everyone around them in the same manner. Also, they expect certain attitudes from people of a particular community based solely on their perception of those communities or what they might have heard about them. It prevents people from making rational, natural advances towards others and installs inhibitions in their actions resulting in the emergence of a restrictive and judgmental atmosphere in the society. This essay focuses on reducing racism in Australia.  It emphasizes on the fact that racism cannot be erased and hence the celebration of difference shall be enhanced. However, it is critical to value differences as the cultural differences are deeply rooted in the society and could be seen since ages. Moreover, politics of difference could also be felt over the years making it more difficult. The structural racism in the society shall therefore be removed for which possible options have been highlighted. 

Body:

The statement presented for analysis in this essay is very enlightening. It points to the misunderstanding often associated with the concept of elimination of racism and refutes it beautifully. To eliminate something as undesirable and deep rooted as racism; it is not at all necessary that the identity of different races be culminated as well. The classification that occurs in human beings, on justified and respectful basis, is significant and deserves due honour. The purpose of reducing racism is not to crush this difference. In fact, the intention behind reduction of racism revolves around the eradication of the negativity, scorn and ridicule associated with this system of classification. It aims to remove the bias that appears when different races interact with each other and fall into the pointless competition of superiority. The true purpose behind this cause can only be achieved when all human beings respect each other while accepting and honouring the differences that exist between them. 

Racism springs from a feeling of superiority to others, encouraging the person to ridicule the other and not treating him or her with respect. This automatically leads to an oppression of the others, mostly the people who occur in minorities in a society. People may find different excuses for subjecting others to such humiliation. It may include factors such as language, culture, religious background, academic qualification, financial status, religious background, gender and sexual preferences. It is always a more privileged group of people who develops the audacity of denying others equal respect and opportunities. Such behaviour may begin consciously and then seep deeper in the roots of society, leading to unconscious expressions of discrimination. It may take many forms. One such form is that of exploitation, in which people are not rewarded justly for their efforts and talents. Such discrimination usually takes place on gender and racial basis. Physical and/or mental disabilities might earn people the disadvantage of marginalization. They are denied reasonable opportunities of living comfortably and made to suffer. This seems to amalgamate into another dimension of oppression, which is powerlessness. Some people may be outright denied the right to choose for themselves and exercise their powers to authorize and command actions. Sometimes, the mere attribute of being in majority instills a feeling of superiority among people and allows the negative behaviour of imperialism to propagate. Such people will consider anything different from them as an outcast and subject it to humiliation and suppression. Oppression takes its worst form in violence, where physical abuse is tormented upon sufferers. 

Traditionally, human beings have divided themselves in different cultures, communities and ethnicities. Such grouping can be done on the basis of religion, language, region of origin, caste or colour; the dividing factors are unlimited. As a result, several different types of racist behaviours emerge in the society. Some may be directed towards a particular gender; others might target people from a certain financial background. Someone’s education may earn him or her a biased attitude while another one may suffer because of the profession he or she is associated with. Attributes as simple and harmless as choice of clothes, dietary preferences and linguistic command could trigger racist behaviour among people. Extremely personal choices such as sexual orientation, gender identification or choice of religion can also catalyse racial discrimination. 

Australia is a country with a very rich mix of different nationalities. People from all over the world side here. As a result, the society consists of people from different geographical, linguistic, financial and religious backgrounds. The prevalence of a particular group may vary over the land of Australia, but the fact remains that it is home to a wide variety of cultures. The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginals, arriving from Asia 50,000 – 60,000 years ago (Australia.gov.au, 2019). Since then, population has continued to grow. This fact cannot be ignored that a major part of the population is comprised of immigrants. According to a survey in 2013, about 60% of the population growth was credited to migration (Humanrights.gov.au, 2015). As the arrival of immigrants continued, so did the bias and hostility towards them. Notable is the emergence of the White Australia Policy, a set of policies by the government forbidding people of certain races, predominantly those belonging to Pacific Island and Asia, from migrating to Australia (McGregor, 2012). This policy created a major divide among the country on geographical and social levels. Today, 67.4% of the Australian population claims British origin, 8.7% is Irish, 3.8% is Italian, 3.7% is German, 3.6% is Chinese, 3 % are Aboriginal Australians, 1.7% are Indians, 1.6% are Greek, 1.2% are Dutch while others constitute the remaining 5.3% (Pariona, 2019). Clearly, the variety of people living as a nation is vast and it is not surprising that racial differences emerge and cause discord. 

With such a large variety of communities originating from different backgrounds and coming equipped with different skills, it is natural that their pattern of settlement varies. An observation of the recent statistics reveals that the greatest number of immigrants settled in Sydney followed immediately by Melbourne (Abs.gov.au, 2018). This is because of the vast career and residential opportunities available here. At the same time, living together is not always safe and peaceful for these communities. Statistics show that the minority ethnic groups are more commonly subjected to cases of assault and crime. In 2010-11, 0.6% of the native Australian population reported to have been victimized by cases of crime. On the other hand, 1.5% of people who were not born in Australia were reported as victims of cases of assault (Abs.gov.au, 2018). This shows that the vulnerability of other ethnicities to criminal acts is thrice that of the natives. 

It has been established that Australia is home to many different races. Many authors have highlighted that racism has just been because of cultural differences, however, Dunn et al. (2004) claim that it is a belief of biological notions of innate race differences. Dunn et al. (2004) focuses on two types of racism using a social constructivist approach. These are old racism and new racism. Old racism was the racism prevailing from Federation until White Australia’s dismantlement while new racism developed with the incompatibility of differences in inherent culture. The old racism which was based on socio-biological forms have not disappeared rather new racism are more pervasive in the society. The overt scientific race logic is continually influencing the society and government. Many diversities are not accepted and secular democratic state is limited within hidden impermeable boundaries of preferred cultural values (Jayasuriya, 2002). At this stage, an important term to be discussed is ‘politics of difference’. The bias of people towards minority ethnicities and races shows its effect in politics too. The government system cannot run smoothly unless all participants are granted honest representation and authority. Unfortunately, this equality is not always practiced and the differences among cultures are used as manoeuvres for success in politics (Forrest and Dunn, 2010). Not only academics but in the political group lobby also, the value and worth of national heritage and cultural difference is exaggerated to exploit their own advantage. For the longest time, people of black origin have been suppressed by the political moves of the white members (Abbas, 2019). The biggest conflict arises among people over language or religion. While it is relatively manageable to overcome the barrier of language, religion is not that adaptable a matter and often forms the basis of a more serious divide (Brubaker, 2012). A constructive politics of opposition is needed to be developed to expose the dishonesty and falsity of logics of ‘new racism. ‘The political ideology representing ‘right to be different’ as national unity and social cohesion thus prioritising their cultural values is what is needed (Jayasuriya, 2002).  Moving away from cultural to political nation and refining politics of universalism to integrate the politics of difference is necessary which can be supported by a formal constitutional and statutory basis. The laws of the country shall be made with care regarding maintenance of sanctity and honour of all the people living here. The manipulated and structural racism (neutral on its face) in Australia shall be moulded into a new cultural racism which ensures that the displaced groups are not exploited anymore (Bolger, 2016). 

Racism has become very common at all levels. Sometimes these divisions are registered in formal levels while on other occasions, these reflect only in the behaviour or daily interaction of people (Dunn et al., 2009). It is important to notice that it is not only a one-way traffic. As Jones (2018) points out, individual racism occurs with a person’s attitudes, beliefs and actions while interpersonal racism involves a white person employing their personal racism against another color person actively or passively. Similarly, cultural racism arises from cultural differences with white people having supremacy over others. Many times, the Aboriginal people are also subjected to racial discrimination (Priest et al., 2011). It has been observed that by becoming the minority, they also have to experience ridicule at the hands of their peers (Priest et al., 2011). A study was conducted in which it was found that several young members of the Aboriginal community suffered acts of discrimination because of racial profiling. As a result, they fell victim to poor social and mental well-being. Depression, anxiety, risk of suicide and poor mental health were noted to be quite common among such victims (Priest et al., 2011). It is common for feelings and actions of hostility to prevail in neighbourhoods housing people from different communities.

Education is a common need of all inhabitants of a society. It has been seen that sometimes, racism might contaminate this prestigious cause as well. Students of cultural minorities might be denied access to education in the first place. Schools are not constructed in areas where a certain ethnicity is prevalent. If such people gain access to an educational institution by some means, they might have to face several hurdles. Racial discrimination may come from the behaviour of school administration, teaching faculty or even the classmates. No matter what the extent of efforts, it has been found in a study pertaining to secondary school students that verbal and physical abuse springing from racial discrimination can infect the school atmosphere (Mansouri and Jenkins, 2010). This concept is not limited to schools but is also noticeable at the level of university students, emerging from different identities (Fotovatian, 2012). It is important to note that it is not just students who suffer from racism. Immigrant teachers, who constitute about 17% of the teaching population in Australia, complained about having to go through tedious and often unnecessary paperwork and employment procedures (Collins and Reid, 2012). They were dissatisfied with the bureaucratic system and employment and promotion opportunities. 

With the huge rate of migration, it is no doubt that the workplaces are becoming increasingly multiracial. People from different backgrounds are coming and working together. Following the end of the 1970s, the focus of the government policies was on encouraging migration of skilled workers in the country (Colic-Peisker, 2011). As a result, a rapid increase was seen in the emergence of a ‘multicultural middle class’, comprising of people who were not native English speakers and were employed as skilled workers (Colic-Peisker, 2011). It is no surprise that the poison of racism has infected workplaces as well. As Jones (2018) also highlights the concept of institutional racism in which organisations are involved in racism. Although explicit institutional racism is not seen much, it still exists. Immigrants complain about availability of employment opportunities as well as the scrutiny that their talents are exposed to. Companies are spending more and more energy into effective management of the diverse environments and looking for ways to produce a peaceful and productive environment for all their employees (Trenerry and Paradies, 2012). 

To make sure that the best measures are designed to counter racism, it is necessary that it be studied taking into account all the factors related to it. Australia is a multicultural country and its leading cities are particularly loaded with immigrants (Forrest, Elias and Paradies, 2016). It is essential that the pattern of settlement and experiences of those people be considered with reference to their socioeconomic status and level of opportunities available to them. The factor of geographical distribution is of prime importance in this respect because it translates directly into the level of tolerance being shown to those people (Forrest and Dunn, 2007). Also, propagation of culture has a huge connection with the geographical factors of residence (Mitchell, 2000). The variety of ideas people have about racism is parallel to the variety of people co-inhabiting in Australia. Everybody views it differently (Forrest and Dunn, 2006). This makes it even more important for a unanimously agreed upon perspective to emerge so that the efforts to counter racism can be directed conscientiously in one direction. It is important that the healthcare needs of all inhabitants be ensured in the first place because health is the primary requirement for the wellbeing of a society. There exists a gap in the demand and supply of healthcare facilities to all members of the society and this needs to be addressed as the first priority of relevant authorities (Awofeso, 2011). 

The efforts that the Australian government is putting in to reduce racism are praiseworthy. The government realizes that the important part is to value and honour and the difference that exists between its people. The government makes exhaustive efforts to ensure that no discrimination occurs on the basis of age, race, disability, gender and sexual orientation at any level of social, academic, religious or commercial interaction. Many laws and policies have been introduced in this respect. “Australia's federal anti-discrimination laws are contained in the following legislation: Age Discrimination Act 2004, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. 

Conclusion:

Drawing together all the points raised in the essay, it can be stated that racism has seeped deep into the roots of our society. Racists have a feeling of superiority which do not let them treat people equal leading to oppression. They are ill-treated and not given due honour. It is an unfortunate but unavoidable fact. Racism has been embedded as biological process into the Whites which is now stated as cultural differences. Moreover, politics of difference could be seen as politicians have used the concept for their own benefits rather taking a serious step. Although major acts and policies now exist, real change will come when people will learn to embrace and respect these differences and proceed in their lives while appreciating their existence. This can be inculcated at school level by imparting such education, university level and at the workplace along with the stricter policies and acts of the government.