Racism is defined by the Australian Human Rights Commission as racism takes many forms and can happen in many places; it includes prejudice, discrimination or hatred directed at someone because of their color, ethnicity or national region. Australia is known as a very culturally diverse country, about half of Australians were born overseas or had one or more parents born overseas. It is stated by the Scanlon Foundations Mapping Social Cohesion survey in 206 that 20% of Australians had experienced racial or religious discrimination during the past 2 months, these numbers are made up of diverse cultures such as Asian, Indian, Muslim, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Africans. Majority of the cases reported are in public areas including transport areas, in streets and shops (32% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents experienced racial discrimination from local shop owners and/or staff and 7 out of 0 Muslims reported experiencing racism on public transport or on the street). The constant exposure to racism in peoples daily lives, in the media, hearing it in the Australian parliament, being confronted by it every day will undermine peoples sense of self. It can strip away self-worth and confidence in engaging in the Australian society around them. It indefinitely contributes to feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness that leads to far too many of people taking their lives. It is recorded that racism is a factor in the suicide and mental health crisis gripping our communities, examples of this can be described as depression, anxiety, stress, anger and constant fear of verbal or physical abuse. Racism is not only seen within the public, racism can occur anywhere including schools, workplaces, sports, media and online.
Australias culture is flooded with sports Australia is most known for their professional AFL, NRL, BBL and Cricket teams, it is estimated 60% of Australians ( million) are involved in sports. Racism is widely seen w
ithin the AFL (been around for 23 years), the earliest incident being in 993 and the issue is still present to this day. One of the most known cases of racism seen in AFL is the Adam Goodes saga, in May 203, during the AFLs indigenous round, a 3-year-old Collingwood supporter called Goodes an ‘ape’ (who later apologized to Goodes, did not realize that what she had said was a racial slur). Over the following years Goodes was repeatedly booed at majority of the games he attended. The booing was foreseen to most as unacceptable and motivated by racism, either because those booing felt affronted by his race or by the political positions Goodes had taken on racial issues. Later in 205 Goodes celebrated a goal by performing an Indigenous war dance in which he acted in throwing an imaginary spear in the direction of the Carlton supporters. Goodes intended this act as an expression of Indigenous pride during the Indigenous Round, not in an offensive or to intimidate the crowd. Following these events Goodes decided the best option was to retire from his beloved sport and end his career short. Goodes would later join Racism It Stops with Me scheme in 209. However, racism in Australian sports isnt always at the professional league or adult league. Junior sports also face the same attitudes towards foreign players. Osman Jebara (the Paramatta Eels NRL coach) migrated from Lebanon to Australia at a young age, and can still vividly recount his first encounter with racism. In an interview with the ABC Osman states when I was 2 years old, I was stopped on the street by an older man in a car. He looked at me and then said ‘You’re a f**king wog. You’re a f**king wog, aren’t you?”, – he recalls. I was just a kid & and I didn’t want to say anything to him. So, I just kept quiet and didn’t look back at him. Racism is still highly evident within the Australian sporting culture, with the most recent case being only two weeks ago at the start of September 2020.