This Sunday, Australia marks Harmony Day, the culmination of Harmony Week. This national observance, led by the Department of Home Affairs, encourages us to “celebrate Australian multiculturalism” under the slogan “Everyone belongs”.
An Australia where everyone truly feels they belong is a worthy goal, but it doesn’t feel like something we’ve already achieved.
There is no doubt that promoting harmony and inclusion is important. It’s critical. But it can’t be the broom we use to sweep Australia’s ongoing and deeply ingrained racism under the rug.
While we pat ourselves on the back for being tolerant, inclusive and a welcoming place for people from all cultural backgrounds, we risk ignoring the lived realities of our diverse communities.
Just this week we marked the second anniversary of the horrific Christchurch massacre, in which 51 innocent people were killed while worshipping at a mosque. The shooter was an Australian man with direct links to the white supremacist movement.
This month research was released showing almost one in five respondents from the Chinese-Australian community had been physically threatened or attacked in the past 12 months due to their heritage. Thirty-one per cent had been called offensive names, and 37 per cent reported being treated less favourably because of their background.
Last month in Perth an Indigenous woman and her teenage daughter were walking to the shops when a man with a Nazi symbol painted on his forehead shouted racial abuse at them before attacking them with a makeshift flamethrower comprising a can of deodorant and a lighter.
Read the article by Scott McDougall in The Sydney Morning Herald.