Eddie's Fight Against Racism in Australia

[cookie2]

That highlights how laudable the helping hand extended by the Jewish community was. There is tension between the Jewish community and the black community, especially black Muslims. The lesson should be that we should be allies of those experiencing discrimination even if they are in some ways our enemies. If minorities only support those who share common interests with them, they might find they have little support when it’s their turn in the barrel.

Niemöller’s words are inscribed in the Holocaust Museum:

Plenty of people/groups need “speaking for” in this world of turmoil. Do we speak for all of them or are some more deserving, urgent or important than others. Politics, religion, economics, etc etc will always be involved.

[Mav]

But insisting that effort/comment should be spread equally among all groups/people experiencing discrimination or hatred throughout the world is a pretty good way of killing off any effort or comment. Rather than waiting for the big war against hatred that will never come, fight the smaller battles as they arise. I'm sure that over time, many, many different groups will be highlighted.

To me, the idea that one particular group's concerns can't be highlighted without devoting equal time to every instance of injustice is just an attempt to silence people. It's like when Black Lives Matter was trying to draw attention to the tendency of US police to kill blacks as a reflex action. Soon enough, All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter banners were being flown. Ironically, right-wingers loved the Blue Lives Matter slogan until the Jan 6 Insurrection, and then the Trumpists started beating them with anything at hand.

The big tell is that there's no attempt to progress the debate after the "all injustice/bigotry is bad" point is made. That's just the end of the effort. It's not as though those who rely upon that argument follow it up with "We should do X, Y & Z" to address bigotry. GTC starts the thread with a call to action but the response is "Meh, there's a lot of things out there that aren't great, so I'm not going to bother with this".

[cookie2]

I despise injustice and discrimination and would normally call it out as and when it crosses my path. However, I am very wary of groups organising to push a specific cause and of some of the individuals who may jump on board. I have some experience in this and of a well meaning group being hijacked by less than honest people surreptitiously pushing an extreme political view. It was a hard and distressing lesson so please forgive my occasional cynicism.

BTW, I am right behind Eddie in what he is doing but I would advise him to beware of fellow-travellers.

[Gointocarlton]

GTC starts the thread with a call to action but the response is "Meh, there's a lot of things out there that aren't great, so I'm not going to bother with this".

Beat me to it, lots of intellectual verbiage and nothing about vile taunts on social media and in the public towards Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders and the effect its having on one of our own. I'm disappointed, but I'm not giving up on Eddie, I will continue to try and make contact with him and offer my help and support (with our without anyone here).

[kruddler]

GTC starts the thread with a call to action but the response is "Meh, there's a lot of things out there that aren't great, so I'm not going to bother with this".

You read what you want to read, and ignore what doesn't suit you.

I don't think people are not interested, people are offering up alternative thinking on the subject. 2 different things.

Someone gets their arm pulled off.
Someone offers them a bandaid.
Someone else offers to drive them to hospital.
Someone else offers to do the surgery.

All trying to help, some are more helpful than others.

Why offer a bandaid, where its clear that much more action is required?

[Mav]

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

[kruddler]

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Sure, it helps if you know which direction your destination is though.

[ElwoodBlues1]

I’m certainly not advocating discriminating against any group but if the reaction to attempts to fight discrimination against 1 group is met with “What about X?”, there’ll never be progress on any front.

Problem is without " X, Y or Z" buying in you wont get anywhere because those sections of the community already feel left out and will stick in their enclaves. Fighting bullying which essentially is what racism is requires a community effort with people sticking together and changing the laws so bullies/racists are accountable by law and when they are brought to justice you have laws made and administered by the community which has to include representatives from every sector not just one minority group.

[Mav]

Sure, it helps if you know which direction your destination is though.

Just see where Pauline Hanson is heading and go in the opposite direction.

[LP]

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

It can't be a divisive step, there are far too many scatterbrain solutions being touted that effectively divide rather than unify.

The only safe first step that I can see is that if you want to stop racism then do not be racist, you can't be half-pregnant, and you can't be selectively racist.  Anybody can be racist, it's not the purview of the wealthy, the white or the Christians.

I heard a great speech about this, I think it was from Dr Tom Calma, he basically called for Indigenous groups and youth to stop the labelling as a first step to a resolution, and they basically disowned him. Instead they aligned with someone like Anthony Mundine to create and apply bunch of chest beating emotive "us versus them" labels, it can't succeed because it is basically a rock throwing war. Of course on the flipside Calma was also shouted down for calling for the change to Australia Day, but you can see that the problems here arise from both sides of the debate.