I'm no racist

[Zondrae]

G'day Ross,

I've been away and having the odd computer problem. Having lived among, and worked with, Aboriginal people at Tabulam, I found that it was the effects of alcohol which caused most of the trouble in that population. The men, who did occasional casual work on local properties, would work hard all day, sometimes two or three days, but as soon as they got their pay they headed for the pub. We employed a couple of men on fencing contracts and found that, as long as we didn't pay them until the job was finished, they were good reliable workers.

How some of the children are cared for (or I should say not cared for) breaks my heart. I will not go into detail, but if the authorities came across any children in that condition, they would remove them from their parents. I was raised to believe that all people are created equal and had no racial bias until I saw these children. Now I take each case as I find it but have an extra hard look at the children before I decide if I respect the parent.

I have not, in the years that I have been sharing the two web pages with you, ever found you to be anything but fair in your attitude to all. And I like some (well quite a bit actually) of your poetry too.

[Irene]

Hi Matt
Yes, racism exists - on both sides of the fence.
I worked for many years, and was good friends with a really lovely lady, who freely admitted that her family was racist against the white population. (She herself wasn't), and my sons have been abused in the streets because they were white!
Marty is correct in saying the the popular perception is that racism is a one way street with the white population as the perpetrators. Until both sides look at breaking down the barriers, there will be no easy solution.
In my eyes, we are all australians, no matter what colour our skin is, and yes, I believe racism should be condemned with much venom - on both sides! But as per other comments, the term 'racist' should not be used to stop debate on issues that affect our society - white or black.


Ross, like the others, I also have never considered you racist. The issues that are affecting many sections of our society need to be bought out and discussed openly and fairly in order to find a solution, irrespective of what groups are causing the issues.

Catchya
IRene

[Neville Briggs]

G'day Matt. I am sure there are people who act with prejudice, cruelty and oppression. These deeds are apparent and we rightly judge them to be wrong no matter who it is directed at. The reason I reject the term racist is because I believe it is an undefined term used to presume to be able to judge people's motives.
Interestingly, in our criminal justice system after being accused of homicide, many people escape conviction for murder and are convicted of manslaughter because their defense is that they didn't intend to kill. The prosecution usually has no evidence of a persons motive unless the person states their motives. So those accused of being murderers can deflect that charge easily on the basis of evidence. Those who make the accusation of racist so often have no evidentiary basis and listen to no explanations.

For example a very well known public personality was the guest speaker at the Bourke Rotary Club some years ago. When he noticed that there were no aboriginal members he openly accused the members of being " racists' He presumed to judge their motives without any attempt to examine any evidence or check the opinions of members.

So Matt I deplore what you deplore, prejudice, cruelty, oppression. We can judge these things because they are extant actions. I argue that " racist " is not an action, it is a dogma and cannot rightly be used as a handy all purpose template for presumptuous people to judge motives without evidence. But they do. So I say there is no such thing as racist, because those who accuse must prove, and usually there is no proof of anything other than a distinction between people at odds.

[r.magnay]

I am glad I made the effort to raise this issue, I was never too concerned about my mates on this site considering me a racist, I believe as this conversation indicates that if you did you would have told me so. I have never subscribed to the..."name and address supplied" tag, if I have something to say I will always put my name to it, and I did have concerns that people who visit this site but do not necessarily contribute, may form an unfair opinion. I must admit though, I did have reservations about how much actual fact some opinions here were based on, those reservations have now been allayed.

[Neville Briggs]

You're a good man Matt.

[manfredvijars]

Just wondering if any on this board have been subject to racist attacks?
Conversely, have any of us made any demeaning racist comments against anyone? (I have - to my shame)

[r.magnay]

an interesting question Manfred, once again who is the judge of what is racist or for that matter demeaning? When I used to work undergound there was a black fella who was a truck driver, we got on pretty well but I was a bit older than him, he always used to call me an old bastard, to which I would reply, whatda you want you black bastard. One day he must have thought I had been taking offence to being called old and he said, "you don't mind me calling you old do you?" I replied, "Why should I, I'm old aren't I?" sensing that maybe it was because I used to respond to him with the black bastard reply I said, Why? do you mind me calling you a black bastard?" to which he replied "I'm black aren't I?" ....I just reckon there is too much made of the whole bloody thing myself.

[Zondrae]

Evening all.

I am not getting into the phylosophy of this topic but it is my feeling that, I would be happier if it were left as it is and can we think about something else now. I am of course speaking only of this forum and not life in general. I know it is a hot topic but pease, can we call it quits?

Who do you think will win the cricket? ,,, and I live in the next suburb from the 'girl in the wheely bin' murder. Is it safe for me to go out at night? and how quickly will we find out who won the NSW Performance Championship? Also the written Championship? ... who else didn't get their entries in in time?
As soon as anything on these topics pops up, I will remove this from here.

[manfredvijars]

There's no censorship here because we are (mostly) reasonable adults ...
Just like our writings we explore all topics, the happy, sad, awquard AND 'ikky'.
Members will stop posting when they stop posting. If a thread interests me I may read it or I may not ...

The membership here tend to be a bunch of free-thinking individuals who's company I enjoy - not necessarilly aggree with in all cases, but certainly enjoy ...

[warooa]

There's a relevant message in this poem (which doesn't mean it aint a bunch of retarded gumph! ) Got half rhymes and dodgy metre - work in progress sorta thing but thought I'd chuck it up

Kerbert the Carotene Kid
(c) M.Pattie 2011

Young Kerbert’s Mum and Dad were hippies when he was conceived,
who lived on carbon-neutral fruit – true hippies; they believed.
And Kerbert’s Mum loved sweet potato, also tangerine,
but little did she know . . . effects of too much carotene.
She juiced up mandarins and carrots – drank it by the gallon,
gorged on paw paws everyday – and lots of fresh rock melon.

Just fruit for ev’ry meal, her hippy diet it entailed.
“I’m eating now for two” she said, as mangos got inhaled.
And then when Kerbert arrived – and saw the world that he was in,
he saw the shock and heard the cry “That kid’s got orange skin!!”
And over time his skin still glowed – his Mum said “no one warned us!”
And all her hippy mates said “don’t fret dude . . it’s only jaundice”

From that day on, wherever he went, whatever the young boy did
he carried the unwanted moniker of ‘Kerbert the Carotene Kid’
His Mum stopped feeding Kerbert fruit – it’s all that she could do,
his Dad forced him to eat his greens – but that just made him blue.
Then Kerbert crawled and walked and talked, but still looked tangerine,
and soon found out that other kids could be so bloody mean.

Off to school where bullies roamed and always picked their mark,
so Kerbert hid in closets but he glowed bright in the dark.
Then other kids they called him names, but “sticks and stones” he said,
like water off a ducks back ‘hey butter-nut pumpkin head!!’
And then the names got worse and soon poor Kerbert started cryin’
the cruellest verbal barb of all: ‘ya look like Kerry O’brien!’

He learnt to run real fast – and they thought black kids they could run,
but Kerbert flew just like a tangerine fired from a gun!
He wished that he could stand and fight – and give them bullies a kickin’
but even though they made him angry – deep down he was chicken.
From anger he was seein’ red, but deep down feelin’ yellow
which didn’t help the pigment of the funny lookin’ fellow

Then adulthood and the Carotene Kid took the drug addiction track,
and launched into amphetamines, then ice and crack and smack.
The complexion of a junkie . . . that was Kerberts holy grail,
as all the other users they were pasty and all pale.
So Kerbert got all wacked and wasted – well and truly hooked,
but all to no avail, the shade of carrots he still looked.

So he give up on the drugs – still lookin’ like a bad fake tan,
and the Carotene Kid was known for a while as the orange Methadone Man.
Then on the straight and narrow – he scored a job as a ‘stop and go’ man,
you know the blokes at road works with the lollypop in their hand?
It sounded just too easy – green means go and red means stay,
but his massive amber cranium caused confusion every day.

Then having the build of a jockey – he worked for a while at Ascot,
then chucked that in for a gig as a real-life Hare Krishna mascot.
The last time I saw Kerbert – he’d found his niche, I’ll let ya know,
as the principal Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonkas travellin’ show.
And not tryin’ to change his colour - he’s embraced himself instead,
as the Oompa Loompa groupies take a shine to his big orange head.