Click+here+to+read+a+short+passage+about+racism.

What is Racism? Australia has many different people living in it. The reason for this can be explained by Australia’s indigenous population, colonial past and huge immigration from many countries. Australia is one of the most diverse populations in the world when it comes to language and culture. However racism does occur in Australia.

Racism is when an individual or group are treated unequal because of their background, religion, or language. There are two types of racism: direct and indirect. Direct racism can be anything from violence to teasing. An example would be if a principle does not accept an aboriginal student into the school. Indirect racism is an act that does not consider other races in society. For example a school might ban all students from wearing something on their heads including hats and beanies. But this rule does not consider the students who come from a religion that requires them to wear a hijab, so it is indirect racism. We need to be mindful always to respect other people and their rights.

It is human nature to push something away that is different rather than try to understand it. Similarly with people, we don’t try to understand their differences. Differences can be things like personality, food choice, music, clothing, socialising, and more. Very often when we see something different about a person we automatically relate it to their ethnic background. For example there might be a person who looks like they are from India on the train talking very loudly on their phone. This will bother people. Many times people will think straight away that all Indian people are rude and come up with all sorts of nasty comments in their heads. This is a type of racial discrimination. There are two things wrong with this. First of all, the person talking on his phone could be from anywhere. He could be from Mauritius, Pakistan, America, or even born in Australia. It isn’t fair to make a quick judgment like that. Secondly just because this one person is rude, that doesn’t mean we should generalise about a whole race of people. It is important to remember to always see a person as an individual, and not a group stereotype.

To be racist is actually against Australian law. Did you know that? It is illegal for people to take part in racist activity or to encourage, provoke or allow racist acts to occur. Australian law is set up to protect people from this. It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, colour, nationality, descent, and ethnic or religious background. It is also illegal to discriminate against someone who has a relative or friend who is of a particular race or group.

Now you know a little about racism and you know that it is illegal. Ask yourself, has something like this ever happened to you? How do you think you would feel?

Let’s all do our best to understand each other and enjoy one another’s company.

-Information from Racism. Noway website. found at: []