An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia How Racism is Experienced While examples of racism were based on behaviours such as microaggressions, derogatory remarks, bullying, and stereotypes, participants also discussed how these interpersonal manifestations were connected to broader systems: “I have difficulties going to the chemist because they always think I am stealing; this has stopped me from accessing essential medicine that I need as I do not feel like going there because of the way they make me feel when I am shopping.” – Consultation with young people “Taking my children to the park one day and there were like 3 other mothers there, as we approached the swings and the slides, one of the mothers called out to her child that it was time to go home because the playground was no longer safe. Right there and then I turned to see at what she meant by that, then it dawned on me that she was referring to me and my children. It is very sad to witness such behaviour and attitude without understanding the cause and the effect of it.” – Consultation with refugees “Parents in childcare choose white educators to talk to. Parents do not want to speak to educators other than white people.” – Consultation with new and emerging communities “In a meeting, I asked a question but the client addressed my white colleague even though I was his boss.” – Consultation with member from new and emerging communities “I have found that the racism often comes out as microaggressions or a sense of alienation or exclusion ... very subtle and very hard to identify...” – Consultation with LGBTQIA+ communities An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia Systemic Racism When people spoke about their experiences of racism, the most common places were schools, workplaces, health care services, and in interactions with the police. In all these settings, they have interacted with authorities who had the e power to determine whether they would get access to what they needed, be that education, care, employment and career opportunities, or justice. Here we give special emphasis on reproducing the quotes as the best way to directly convey the messages from consultation participants. Racism in schools “We are supposed to be safe in our schools. But if teachers discriminate, who do we go to?” – Consultation with young people “Because of my hijab, I was treated differently in school… the kids all stared at me. It made me feel uncomfortable. This was a massive shock to me.” – Consultation with refugees Studies have shown how students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and multicultural backgrounds experience racism in Australian schools. 26 Data from consultations validated many of the findings from previous research. Young people and their parents spoke about both direct discrimination in the form of racial slurs, and indirect discrimination in the form of stereotyping and lower expectations from teachers: “Teachers did not believe in my abilities despite showing them that I am capable.” – Consultation with young people “In high school, my teacher told me that I should not do physics and chemistry because it did not make sense for someone like me to be in those classes.” – Consultation with young people The experiences shared through consultations reaffirmed the urgent need to address the normalisation of everyday racism and its acceptance as something that one has to learn to ‘get on with’. 25 26 25 14 For the analysis of the term ‘everyday racism,’ see Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism: An interdisciplinary theory. Sage Publications. See Priest, N., Chong, S., Truong, M., Sharif, M. et al (2019). ‘Findings from the 2017 Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR) student and staff surveys.’ ANU Centre for Social Research & Methods (CSRM) Working Paper Series, No. 3, https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/ docs/2019/8/CSRM-WP-SOAR_PUBLISH_1.pdf ; Ubuntu Project and Arashiro, Z (2021). Racism in schools: African Australian students speak up, Ubuntu Project. https://fliphtml5.com/nbxmp/ukwb “A stereotype that a lot of those with darker skin tones tend to be intellectually lower than everyone else. So then, when you come into the school setting, teachers at times perpetrate that ideology within the classroom setting, and that makes people feel uncomfortable because you are always then trying to prove yourself to others when you must go that extra mile.” – Consultation with people with disability Racism in workplaces “When I was studying at TAFE, I was the only Asian and the way I spoke wasn’t as good as the others and the teachers asked me to withdraw from the course. I think it would have been best to provide me with the option to improve my English as opposed to asked to leave. I feel that happens a lot, [I’m] treated different.” – Consultation with young people “A person’s name can affect employment opportunities. I had 1 in 10 interview opportunities before I changed my name. I had 10/10 interview opportunities when I changed my last name after getting married to Anglo-Australian. I specifically named my kids English names, so they don’t have to go through the same things I have been through.” – Consultation with women “It happens a lot in the field that I study in IT, Black people are not seen as intelligent enough to do it. A lot of the time when I’m in class, some people may feel Black people cannot contribute to certain things because they feel like you’re not capable. I have seen this happen to other Black people and have personally experienced it.” – Consultation with young people Students’ and parents’ experiences with complaints and redress mechanisms reinforced to them that schools, principals, and teachers were not equipped to address racism and to create safe and inclusive environments. Rather than receiving support from the schools, victims were at times punished for ‘acting out.’ “So many of the girls who wear hijabs have had them pulled at school, when they let a teacher or other staff know about this, nothing is done, they are told ‘there is nothing they can do about it’ but I think these issues are not being taken seriously and that the teachers and others are not confident in addressing these issues.” – Consultation with refugees “My nephew is 8 years old at school and they are playing, and some sort of disagreement happened, and they called him a [N-word]. My nephew got mad and started a fight. The school called home and told us to come get him because he was being violent. His punishment was to go home. This was unsatisfactory as they never addressed the issue which was the kids being racist to my nephew. I believe the school was too afraid to deal with the problem. The other kids got nothing because the new problem became my nephew being violent instead of their racism.” – Consultation with young people Racism in workplaces was commonly mentioned. Participants spoke about encountering racism in the process of applying for jobs. Many, for instance, cited the need to change names to an ‘Anglo sounding name’ to increase their chances of getting a job interview: In workplaces, racism took many forms, from microaggressions and bullying, to violation of workers’ rights: “I started working in aged care after I had completed training. There was a particular team leader who when she gave me tasks to do, would always ask ‘do you think you can do this’ or ‘do you know how to do this.’ If she had said this to every other worker I wouldn’t have taken any notice, but it was clear she was just asking me this.” – Consultation with refugee women “At work, a group of men were talking about the cost of things and one of them said $300,000 is enough to buy a [N-word]. It made me very uncomfortable. But they just laughed about it. I didn’t say anything because I was just starting my job and didn’t want this to affect my career.” – Consultation with young people “At work, there are instances where supervisors don’t grant annual leaves or sick leaves to Asians.” – Consultation with new and emerging communities Participants also discussed how employees from minority backgrounds tend to face additional barriers to promotion and career advancement: “There are people who don’t get a position even if passing all requirements.” – Consultation with new and emerging communities “Subjective assessments, even with objective recruitment criteria, continue to lock out diverse candidates from senior positions. This has an effect on who sits at the decisionmaking tables and perpetuates continued exclusion. With racism, one cannot become a leader” – Consultation with new and emerging communities 15