An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia Media Media institutions play a vital role in shaping public opinion. Diverse voices and experiences, when showcased in respectful and meaningful ways, can help to transform cultural stereotypes, and to encourage more inclusive attitudes and public spaces. Media is a powerful tool to shape notions and images of what it means to be ‘Australian’ and to belong to the nation. This includes not only the stories that are told, but who tells them. However, in Australia’s current media landscape, there is still under representation from professionals from multicultural backgrounds.30 A 2022 study found that while 25 per cent of Australians have a non-European background, nonEuropean presenters account for only 8.1 per cent of television appearances. 31 Multicultural audiences who feel unrepresented or misrepresented in media are less likely to feel they are recognised as Australians, and that can also impact on their participation in social and political life. 32 Rather than a unifier, media can actually function as a divider in society: “The media supports racism. For example, when an African athlete in Australia does good, he is labelled as Australian but when he does bad, he is identified as African. There was someone who committed a crime, in the news they said middle aged Australian man, Caucasian etc. They said he has mental health issues that is why he did it. Whereas you see in another one, they say African man that has come to Australia did it and that he should get deported.” – Consultations with young people “There is particularly racist coverage in the mainstream media of Asian and Muslim people.” – Consultations with community media 30 31 32 18 Dezuanni, M., Notley. T., Di Martino, L. (2021). Towards a national strategy for media literacy. Research report. Australian Media Literacy Alliance, https://medialiteracy.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/AMLAConsultation-Workshop-Report_UPDATE-25-10-2021-1.pdf Groutsis et al (2022) Who gets to Tell Australian stories? 2.0. Media Diversity Australia, the University of Sydney and UTS, https://www. mediadiversityaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Who-Gets-toTell-Australian-Stories_2.0_FINAL_pdf.pdf Park, S., Griffiths, R., McGuinness, K., Nguyen, T. & Lee, J. (2023). Sense of belonging among multilingual audiences in Australia. Canberra, University of Canberra and Special Broadcasting Service. Community members also mentioned how racism is not discussed in Australia because mainstream media is silent on the issue. There were conversations about the need to move away from sensationalist and toxic reporting, which often portrays negative views of migrants and refugees, to more responsible journalism that creates a more welcoming and inclusive narrative: “How often do you see a story about racism in the mainstream media, unless it’s huge or becomes a scandal? The change has to happen from the mainstream. Mainstream media has a lot to answer for. It’s about finding a more positive and aspirational way of living with each other and respecting each other and bringing people with you.” - Consultations with community media Intersectionality Matters Kimberley Crenshaw’s original analysis of intersectionality cited the case of Black women who had experienced race and sex discrimination, but when faced with a legal system that did not allow claims based on intersecting forms of discrimination, they were often pushed to choose between either race or sex as the basis for their claims. 33 The consultations conducted for this report were rich in experiences that denoted similar difficulties in isolating ‘race’ from other sources for marginalisation and discrimination, such as gender, sexuality, religion, or migration status. The report on the consultations with multicultural LGBTQIA+ groups provided rich examples on the complex ways in which race discrimination manifests for these groups, and its harmful impacts. Participants commented on racism from white LGBTQIA+ communities, and experiences of homophobia, transphobia, and queerphobia within multicultural communities. This intersection of race, culture, gender, sex and sexuality highlighted the ways in which services are only tailored to cater to discrete aspects of their identities - either their culture and race or their gender and sexuality. This creates challenges to navigate discrimination in their daily lives, and create difficulties in accessing culturally safe, affordable, and gender/ sexuality safe services from healthcare to language support through interpreters: 33 Crenshaw, K (1989). ‘Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine.’ Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum v.1989, Issue 1, https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1052&context=uclf “The obstacles and hardships during the service process that LGBTQ+ multicultural individuals have encountered could potentially result in trauma and ongoing trauma. For example, participants recounted instances of receiving poor treatment at Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) test centres, with one individual sharing an experience of being laughed at, leading to their decision to leave the facility. Participants also shared cases where multicultural LGBTQ+ clients were referred to services but found they couldn’t afford them or couldn’t access them due to eligibility issues (available for PR and citizen only).” – Report on consultations with LGBTQIA+ communities A consultation with interpreters who identify as LGBTQIA+ or work with LGBTQIA+ communities illustrated how difficult and complex it can be for LGBTQ+ people who do not speak fluent English to access safe services, and the ways in which professional guidelines are creating loopholes: “The code of ethics for interpreters and translators allows them to withdraw from or refuse an assignment if they perceive a conflict of interest or if it contradicts their personal beliefs. However, some interpreters misuse this clause to justify refusing service to LGBTQ+ CALD individuals, failing in their duty to provide inclusive and nondiscriminatory services to all community members” – Report on consultations with interpreters who identify as LGBTQIA+ or work with LGBTQIA+ communities LGBTQ+ people are being denied a service due to prejudice against their gender or sexuality, and this prejudice is being enabled by professional guidelines. While interpreters were able to provide culturally sensitive and tailored services, there is a glaring gap in their ability to also provide safe services for LGBTQ+ communities. Consultations also indicated frustration over the simplification or ‘tick the box’ notion of diversity: “One participant recounted providing feedback for the hiring process, emphasising the need for more POC [people of colour] in a clinical setting to provide service to clients from different cultural backgrounds. In response, the HR department indicated that they had hired a transgender individual, which, while valuable, did not address the specific concern raised by the participant. This response reflects a broader issue where diversity initiatives are reduced to a “box-ticking” exercise.” – Report on the consultation with LGBTQIA+ communities The issue of racism and sex and gender-based discrimination appeared in many instances. From Muslim women wearing a hijab to the fetishisation and over-sexualisation of Asian women and queer Asians, lived experiences of discrimination were hardly reduceable to ‘colour of skin:’ “Racism impacts women differently, in terms of stereotypes especially from particular backgrounds. For instance, women wearing hijab may be wrongly perceived as voiceless and subservient by some individuals. This misconception can lead to increased incidents of sexual harassment and racism directed towards these women.” – Report from consultation in Canberra with various cohorts The experience below, shared in a consultation with people with disability, was perhaps the most powerful example of the complexity of racism and responses to it: “When I was born, my mother took me to an optometry appointment and during the optometry appointment, there were two dummies and I was crying. So, the doctor offered to give me a dummy, but my mother said no. When my mum left the room and the doctor had me, he gave me the dummy without my mum’s consent. My mum got home and she received a phone call and they said that the dummy that the doctor gave me was contaminated with a disease which left me hearing impaired. And I think, for her, being a first-generation African coming to Australia, the last thing you necessarily want to do is start chaos. So, I think she kind of just internalized that and I think that›s another form of racism that sometimes we don›t necessarily see or hear about.” – Consultation with people with disability Racism in Multicultural Communities “When we say racism, we look at white against Black but I see racism in Black against Black. We do perpetuate a lot of it though, passively or subconsciously, but it is racism and we need to address it” – Consultation with new and emerging communities (African communities) One of the most powerful consequences of systemic racism is that it embeds a logic of conflict amongst those who are marginalised by this system. For many individuals in multicultural communities in Australia, internalised racism and attempts to improve their position in the (white) dominant system, can often lead to discriminatory behaviours that feed into internal differences and reproduce racialised hierarchy. 19