Racism and the land down under

This is quite an old story now – It was filed by the ABC about a week ago. But I don’t think it received the media interest that it deserved.

Rockhampton man jailed over Aboriginal shootings
A 19-year-old Rockhampton man has been sentenced to two years' jail for his role in a racially motivated shooting last year.
On Australia Day last year, Hayden John Nitz and his four co-accused drove around Rockhampton, in central Queensland, shooting at members of the Aboriginal community with a slug gun.
The court heard Nitz shot at three people in separate locations, striking a 13-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. Both needed medical attention.
Judge David Serle said the event was reminiscent of Alabama in the 1960s and not Australia in 2007, and a general deterrent needed to be set.
Nitz pleaded guilty to numerous offences and was sentenced to two years imprisonment with a parole date of June next year.
His four co-accused were sentenced to between six and nine months jail, to be served as an intensive correction order.

And the case still seriously disturbs me. This is my home town and I am the same age as this guy. To deliberately go on an old fashioned “nigger” shoot, deliberately searching for Aboriginal people (the local newspaper reported this) is so disgusting to me and for it to happen on Australia Day just makes it even more disturbing.

Australia Day is seriously a day of mourning for Indigenous people. It represents the beginning of European settlement in this country, therefore pointing to the start of more than two centuries of human rights abuses against Aboriginal people. I still don’t know why people continue to celebrate it. White Australians try and make it into a day of patriotism, going around wearing Australian flags and painting their faces blue red and white. They don’t realize that they are segregating themselves and alienating the many ethnic groups who now make up Australia, not just Indigenous people.

Last Australia Day, or Invasion Day, did contain a light at the end of the tunnel. On the same day, an independent report by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street was released, finding enough evidence to charge Senior Seargent Chris Hurley over the death in custody of Aboriginal Palm Islander Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died on a watchhouse floor in November 2004.


But the Australia Day before, this racially motivated shoot occurred in my home town. It really is unbelievable- the inherent racism that still exists in Australian society. And it is equally amazing that Australians still continue to ignore that it even exists – just because you yourself can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.


This is John Howard in December 2005, about the Cronulla Riots:

"Mob violence is always sickening and always to be unconditionally condemned," he said. "Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of their own background and irrespective of their politics."
But he said the riots were primarily a "law and order issue".
"I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. I do not believe Australians are racist."

Sorry, I nearly died from a coughing fit.

Here is a recent report by ABC's Media Watch:

But take a look at Adelaide Now - the online site for News Limited's Adelaide Advertiser and Sunday Mail - that allowed these comments in response to a story about an alleged crime by a group of Aboriginal men?

Of course, not all Australians are racist. But there is an inherent racist undertone in Australian society. When I hear cases such as this, it just amazes me that people would say otherwise.