Say No to Racism!!!

I was rushing to my class today morning when this dude just pops out of nowhere and hands me this pamphlet that screams : SAY NO TO RACISM!!! JOIN THE DISCUSSION 5:30 P.M TODAY AT THE STATE LIBRARY!! (I made up the venue). As always, I toss pamphlets into the next rubbish bin that I find and this was no exception. I threw it away but not before actually thinking about the impact the words had on me.

I recall the time when I was in the metro with my parents and we sat across a lady, who after a few minutes, excused herself, claiming to be claustrophobic. Bear in mind, it was peak hour, 5 in the evening and hence the train would be jam-packed with office-goers and students rushing home after a long day. If she truly felt claustrophobic, she would get out of the train and board the next to next one when the rush hour had died down. But instead she just sat behind us, right in the middle of where it was so crowded that people had to stand due to lack of seating spaces. I could only assume that she had incorrectly diagnosed herself of claustrophobia when in fact she was suffering from Islamophobia.

Australia always has something or the other with different minority groups. Doesn’t help with the fact that Tony Abbott is only adding fuel to the fire. Then there are media people (Andrew Bolt of Herald Sun),handing out generalizations and incorrect knowledge to the masses who just chew up on it and sit in fear of any hijabis or extremists. Narrow minded bigots who yell at others to go back where they came from, could you kindly look back a couple of generations and see how your forefathers were shipped from Britain as convicts?

Refugees , Muslims and Aboriginal people are all people. There are good and bad in each population group. If we are posting labels of terrorism on ALL Muslims, why don’t we label all white American males as shooters and British as looters (who plundered vast wealths from India and other colonies)?

Before I conclude my rant, I would like to clarify that I am not validating any shooting or terror attack, or supporting those who purport violence. I detest savage and brute attacks of power.I detest closed minds. I detest brainwashing masses of people with misguided information. What I especially detest is being placed in the same category as the people I detest.

*Side Note : Not all Australians are rednecks. That would just be generalizing them (and oh my,how I truly detest doing that!!). Some are truly the loveliest people I have known. Another blog post on that later.

***All images via Google Search.

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