Luke+G+-+Racism+Goes+Unnoticed

 **Racism goes Unnoticed (Magazine Article) ** Citizens around the world each day are facing the issue of racism head on, both taking it and dishing it out. A big area of this is in Australia where there is a big controversy of racism between the white Australians, and the aboriginal Australians.
 * By Luke Gangell **

Just today, at the Aboriginal Youth organization in Canberra, a young white male spray painted the word ‘Coons’, which is another but horrible word for aboriginals. This sparked the young aboriginals to go on a rampage around the area and start a brawl with any white person they saw. This led to the police being called in to stop this mess. Though it was not the aboriginals who instigated the fights due to the racism of the whites, they were the ones who got punished and blamed as they are of a different colour. An aboriginal onlooker who saw the brawls stated, “It was very brutal to see, but it would not have happened if the whites had not written that offensive word on their youth centre. We were the ones who first walked this land, yet were the ones to always get blamed and locked up for everything.” Mrs Goombanda stated. The word ' Coon ' is an insulting term for Aboriginal people and is believed to come from the 1850s Portuguese term 'barracoons' which describes a place of temporary confinement (usually a cage) for slaves or convicts where they were waiting to be sent away to do work in another country. 
 * “Racism is still alive and evil”[[image:Coons.JPG align="right"]] **

The White Australia Policy officially died with the election of the Labor Whitlam government in 1972. This policy was brought in just after the gold rush era due to a large number of Asian people in Australia and the citizens not liking them. It was abolished though just after the end of the Vietnam War due to Australia wanting to become a more “multicultural country” Some people still today believe that it was the wrong thing to do; so was it for the better or the worse? We have recently conducted a poll on what the public think about this, and it came back almost 50, 50. Though it was just off this mark, it was near in exact to the last one conducted. By the end, it finished at 55% of citizens wanting to keep Australia multicultural, and the other 45% wanting to bring the white Australia Policy back in. “This policy has stopped these immigrants coming in before, so why can’t it stop them again. I am sick and tired of our country being ruled by these foreign immigrants. They are able to start their own cultures and religions, and nothing is done about it. Then when we express ours, and they come to try and stop us from doing it. If they don’t like us doing it, they can go back to their own country.” An angry protestor said.
 * White Australia Policy to be brought back in? **

Racism is a term used one person, or a group of people make a derogative remark, or offensive term or language towards another person or race. Therefore the term racism means to be racist to a foreign race. Racism and racist remarks serve to bond with people who have the same opinion. Many people who have racist opinions somehow know that these are not accepted in mainstream society so they join political groups who share their racist views. One of these people who have done something like this is Pauline Hanson. Pauline Hanson, the founder of the One Nation Party explains her view on what racism is, “I believe you're hearing a racist person if they make general, derogative remarks about a group of people based on their race. Upon close inspection of their claims, most of them are incorrect.” She believes that we should all live in harmony as one nation and in peace. Racism is a big problem around the world, and it needs to be stopped. If everyone wants to live as one world, we need to stop being irrespective and mean, just because of the colour of their skin, the clothes they wear, or their native accent/voice. We need to make a stand against racism so the world doesn’t finish off in a World War III.
 * Racism; what is it? **

Australia was first walked on by the Aboriginal Australians, so why are the whites coming and claiming that it is theirs? We need to respect the lives, lifestyles and livings of these people who are equal to us. We cannot change how people live, but instead we can change our perspectives on how we look at them. These aboriginals have done nothing to offend us, yet we still find some reason to hurt/punish them.