In their own words - racial harassment
“I was verbally abused by customers both male and female for being of a more pale
descent and not being “brown enough” which is what is normally expected of a security
role in the hospitality industry. I felt like I had to act more like a Polynesian within
the workplace to please others when in reality all I needed to be was myself. All they
saw was some “white boy” trying to do a “brown boy’s” job apparently. It left negative
thoughts in my mind, but it was never bad to the point where I thought that I should
make complaints because I felt like that would’ve done nothing, and would only escalate
the situation further considering my work environment (which was mainly white).”
- Male who was working in the accommodation and food services sector
“I was serving a customer with a complaint about a product when she became angry
and called me a racial slur and then went to complain to the manager who agreed to
the customer’s complaint and replaced the product which the customer said was faulty.
The manager came to me and told me I had made a mistake, even though I had another
staff member who heard what she had said and also agreed with me. We were both told
the customer is always right.”
- Male who was working in the retail trade sector
“Being an Indian and working in an area where it is mainly kiwi Europeans, you get
subtle racist comments about being Indian or eating Indian food and all that.”
- Male who was working in the education and training sector
“Racism is very subtle in Christchurch, it happens all the time, and I can see it with my
own two eyes. It’s very subtle. People look at us brown skin [people] in a negative view,
because the white skin [people] think they are superior. It’s called a white privilege
society.”
- Male who was working in the wholesale trade sector
KANTAR PUBLIC 2022
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