26 Jan: a brief reflection [Note: Content Warning - racism, colonialism, social division]

My first conscious awareness of racism was at high school in the central Queensland town of Mackay in the 1970s. The fact that that was my first conscious awareness of it is a measure of how powerful white supremacism in Australia was (and still is), as I cannot recall seeing any people other than Caucasians until we moved there. 

Mackay had Indigenous people, descendants of people who had been blackbirded, and also a strong Maltese presence - many of whom were descended from families who had helped establish the sugar cane industry that the town was known for at that time. 

And blatantly, abusive racist teachers. 

We had one Indigenous student in our class. I knew from interacting with him outside of the classroom that he was quite intelligent, but he was the subject of sarcastic, offensive and aggressive language - which had not been triggered in any way by his behaviour (he was actually one of the quieter students in the classroom).

And it had an effect - clearly visible, even to me, just another teenager in the class. 

There were several teachers at that school who I loathed - and their abusive behaviour was one of the reasons I ignored the suggestions of a few teachers that I consider taking up teaching. 

I don’t know what happened to him after high school. At our 20 year reunion he wasn’t there and no-one had any information. 

I suspect I saw someone whose life was destroyed by racism. 

And there were people at that school who claimed the school didn’t have any racism. 

Now, half a century later, there have been apologies, Indigenous culture is finally being appreciated (particularly for its wisdom on environmental matters), reconciliation is underway, and Indigenous people are - quite rightly - celebrating 85 years of Blak Activism using words such as “resilience, strength, resistance, and sovereignty” and “FIERCE”. 

(And I am learning a great deal from the posts of Indigenous people on Mastodon.)

 

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

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Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.