A Whiter Australia?
They say racism starts from home. Damn right I say.
Working an evening shift in the restaurant on Tuesday night. A caucasian lady came in with two chatty caucasian boys. Very chatty and intelligent; I couldn’t help but listen to their animated conversations about storybooks, schools and mobile phones.
My manager had taken their orders earlier, and had left me in charge of serving their table.
Food is prepared and ready, and I walked over to their table with three plates in hand. I was greeted with a very loud misnomer from one of the two boys.
“KONICHIWA!!!”
Immediately the lady turned to him and said, “Charlie, that’s rude!”
With dinner plates still in my hand, I shot back.
“I’m not Japanese. What are you?”
Visibly embarrassed, the lady replied with a half-smile.
“He’s a messed-up boy. A little bit of German, Welsh, Irish…” I cut her off.
“Does he speak German? Welsh? Or Gaelic?”
“No, no, he doesn’t speak Gaelic, or any of the sort.”
I replied casually, while serving their dinners.
“Well best you sort out these kids here. Racism starts from home.”
The family ate quickly and left.
If this was in a less restricted setting i.e I wasn’t working I would have kicked up a real verbal fuss, stopping short of a Western suburb-style brawl. We Metrobloggers are too civilised for that :)
In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been that rude. But I do not feel any guilt. That kid was no more than ten years old, but he was looking at me as a category, not a person. And that’s just fucked up. Allowing racism to fester at a tender age will only magnify the racist’s stereotypical views of a non-White as he/she grows older. But allowing racist behaviour or comments to go ‘unpunished’ is worse.
Whatever it is, I’m glad I put the boy in his place. It didn’t matter if he understood it or not; what matters most is that I didn’t put up with it. Nobody should. The lady had better sort him out.
But whatever it is, I still win. Afterall, I’m not the one with the clownish name Charlie.
EDIT 13/7: Added ‘Caucasian’ to the lady and two boys sentence.
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I don’t quite understand. What exactly did Charlie do wrong?
You have a very broad definition of racism.
I don’t get it, the boy assumed the wrong Asian country? Theres many times Americans will be mistaken for Candians, Australians with New Zealanders…
I agree with Icekin. But maybe it’s because I’m white I don’t “get it”. Of course, having lived in America, I also have been affected by racism. Granted not as direct as non-whites, BUT reverse discrimination and racism DOES occur.
Plus, when people here or in other parts of the world hear my North American accent, and they find out I was raised in the US, I get all sorts of funny looks and remarks. Soon I think I will say I’m from Canada (actually, I’m from Germany, but my English has an American accent), since half the time I’m asked if I’m Canadian anyway. This way, I won’t get crazy looks because George Bush isn’t president of Canada.
I can see being offended that someone thinks you’re Japanese when you’re not. The kid may have only said that because he has had contact with kids who are Aussie but speak another language at home. And not everyone can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, etc. I’m slowly learning, but I haven’t been around enough people of various east Asian countries to be able to differentiate physically 100% of the time what ethnicity someone is (whereas, I can differentiate between a German and a Dutch, for example). So call me racist for not knowing the difference (Can you tell the difference between a Somalian and a Kenyan? If you can, good on you), but at least I’m trying to learn.
I dunno. But if it offended you, it offended you. There’s nothing that can change that.
I totally think that was completely racist. I’m Canadian and white I would not tolerate that garbage and that reaction would not be tolerated, at least in Toronto. The child assumes that you were 1. Japanese and 2. that you spoke a language other than English. I completely understand your anger.
Sorry mate I don’t get it either. He was only saying hello. I sometimes say such hello greetings as How, Buongiorno and a current American fave, Hey, as well as koninciwa. Racist KKK me.
I think you are being silly.
It’s not about knowing the difference between different races. It’s about making a spectacle out of a person’s skin colour. Would you yell out ‘hola’ at every Hispanic person?
I’m from the States so I’ll add another perspective. I’m surprised that more of you don’t find this off-putting. I agree with Reina - it’s, how do I put this — I don’t know if racism is the correct word, but it was the acknowledgement of you and identification of you as your race rather than as a person who shouldn’t be categorized, or treated, or greeted differently simply because he is Asian. Saying “Konichiwa” is treating him as a foreigner or an alien, and that makes a person feel like he is somehow different than every other Australian. Why not just “Hello”? It’s the same kind of greeting that makes any immigrant uncomfortable with the word “exotic” or that makes Indian people uncomfortable when ignorant people greet them with “Namaste” - they insist on treating the person as an ethnic identity rather than like another regular person among them. Why create such divisions? I’m sorry this happened you, and I know you must feel hurt, but you did the right thing in attempting to breed tolerance amidst intolerance.
I agree that this isn’t acceptable behaviour. It’s not really that the kid incorrectly assumed the OP to be Japanese, it’s that he made assumptions based on the colour of a person’s skin. It’s not a huge faux pas on the surface, but that’s where this sort of thing starts. If he is deliberately rude to a stranger - and his mum likely interprets his actions best - at such a young age, then he is likely to carry such behaviour into adulthood.
..Unless adrock2xander works in a Japanese restaurant.
He is a KID. I can’t believe a supposedly mature adult like you can be so easily offended by a 10 year old KID. KIDS are learning about the world and what is right and wrong. And it’s not like he said something completely and utterly racist. A lot will change in his coming years and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was to be the leader or founder of an anti-racism group in the future. He was simply being a KID. Surely you have said something offensive when you were a KID?
Tell me, did it make you feel big castigating a 10 year old child. Get a grip and perhaps pick on someone your own size next time. You’re lucky they didn’t complain and you lost your job, if I was that parent I would have complained without thinking twice, sure, what the kid said was wrong, but it was a KID. God help your kids if you ever have any, or if you already do.
Doesn’t mean he’s too young to learn not to stereotype people by their skin colour. If Charlie is being loud and rude to an adult stranger, I wonder how he’d behave towards his Asian classmates. I’ve seen kids in the schoolyard who call “nihao/konnichiwa” to get their asian classmates’ attention while pulling at the corners of their eyes to make fun of their appearance (because apparently all asians have small squinty eyes?). If an adult sees that behaviour are they to turn a blind eye because kids are ONLY being kids? Because they’re too young to learn not to disrespect or discriminate?
i honestly cannot believe adrock is still “contributing” to melb metblogs, sack him already neil.
Why? Did you read his much much earlier post entitled “I Love Melbourne?” Clearly he appreciates the diversity in Melbourne and loves where he lives, so why sack him the minute he doesn’t speak about his home in completely glowing terms? Progress lies in recognizing deficiencies and correcting them. He’s not calling Melbourne or even Australia a racist place, just that this particular encounter was inexcusable. The logic that “it’s just a kid” doesn’t work, because if those kids treated other kids in their school this way, they would still be damaging the feelings of another person by poking fun at their culture. Would that be acceptable to you? It isn’t where I’m from.
Ever heard Edmund Burke’s quote “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Of course, I’m not calling these children “evil” or calling Adrock a “good man” for that matter, haha, but you get the gist of it. Age is not an excuse for ignorance. If you don’t put a stop to that kind of behavior, you fuel that behavior. Plus, I rather like Adrock’s bluntness; it adds freshness and excitement, and sure, at times, controversy, but that is more good than bad in the blogging world.
Why? Did you read his much much earlier post entitled “I Love Melbourne?” Clearly he appreciates the diversity in Melbourne and loves where he lives, so why sack him the minute he doesn’t speak about his home in completely glowing terms? Progress lies in recognizing deficiencies and correcting them. He’s not calling Melbourne or even Australia a racist place, just that this particular encounter was inexcusable. The logic that “it’s just a kid” doesn’t work, because if those kids treated other kids in their school this way, they would still be damaging the feelings of another person by poking fun at their culture. Would that be acceptable to you? It isn’t where I’m from.
Ever heard Edmund Burke’s quote “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Now, I’m not calling these children “evil” or calling Adrock a “good man,” haha, but you get the gist of it. Age is not an excuse for ignorance. If you don’t put a stop to that kind of behavior, you fuel that behavior. Plus, I rather like Adrock’s bluntness; it adds freshness and excitement, and sure, at times, controversy, but that is more good than bad in the blogging world.
Sorry, I don’t get this either.
1) He was a kid trying to be friendly — so he made a mistake, kids do this a lot. OK, so that still means he needed to be told what the mistake was, which leads me to …
2) By your own account, his mother immediately pulled him up on it (”Charlie, that’s rude!”) So she was ALREADY dealing with it, and for all you know might have proceeded to give him a lecture on why stereotyping is bad if you hadn’t felt the need to backchat to your customers.
I would have left quickly too, and not come back.
I think the mother should have gone a step further and apologized for her son. The situation would have been mended there, and then the guy probably wouldn’t have felt the need to defend himself. I don’t think the mother is racist, because the “that’s rude!” comment tells me that she herself knew that was wrong, and that she isn’t planning on raising her children to be racists or anything like that. I think it’s really just ignorant children, who hopefully got a bit of talking to that day, and learned the wrong in what they said.
The mum probably said that to save face in front of Adrock. I know people who would not say something racist in front of someone of a different race, but when around people of their own race say outrageous things.
This boy has obviously learned to identify and treat people differently from someone and its probably at home.
I’m not caucasian, I’m Asian too. But now I think I understand your point of view. If it were me, I’d have simply pointed out to the kid that I was in fact not Japanese, and said ‘Hello’ in my own language. That way, he’d learn that there’s another country and culture. I would have done the same even if it was an adult. I don’t think racism was intended here by anyone.
Icekin (and Katja), i can’t speak for him but i don’t think it is (just) that Adrock was mistaken for Japanese that offended him, it’s that the kid saw an Asian person and his first thought was “konichiwa”.
I see what you’re saying in that he could have used it as an opportunity to educate in a more polite way, but really, isn’t it a bit unfair to expect every Asian person to be unofficially deputized to make public service announcements on cultural sensitivity?
Ive gotta say as well, some of the other comments seem to be almost *deliberately* missing the point.
I mean, really, Patrick: “I sometimes say such hello greetings as How, Buongiorno and a current American fave, Hey…” Did you really get what Adrock was complaining about? I somehow don’t think the kid was equally likely to have said “bongiorno” or “priviet”.
I konichiwa and harigato a lot when I was in Italy. Especially when wearing a camera around my neck.
Here in Melbourne, I get a lot of Asian people come and talk to me in Cantonese or Mandarin assuming that I understand. I would say that is equally poor form.
But in the end that’s all it is - poor form. The kid doesn’t hate you or want you out of the country or even exterminated or anything like that. I hate to see the day where people have to be careful with everything they say because they are afraid of being labelled a racist, sexist, homophobic etc. What I also hate is the increasing attitude that only white people can be racist. Okay, its not a politically correct thing to say, but there isn’t a person I’ve met anywhere that doesn’t generalise or profile people by their appearances.
Australia is a great place to live and I’m just sick of people accusing us of racism and intolerance.
Some slightly rambling thoughts…
“I hate to see the day where people have to be careful with everything they say”
I don’t think that it’s a matter of ‘being careful with what you say’. As long as you’re just, not racist, i don’t think things like that would ever even come up (and if they did, it would be as a misunderstanding, which both parties should just have a laugh over).
Re: “What I also hate is the increasing attitude that only white people can be racist.”
That annoys me too, but I think its been around for a long time. (Notice how Katja even referred to racism against “whites” as “reverse discrimination”… that drives me mad! It’s such an illogical piece of language; philosophically, there isn’t any such thing as “reverse racism”. It’s either racism or it’s not.)
Ditto “political correctness”. If you believe a certain way you should act accordingly. If you really dont have any issues with race, then you dont have any issues with race. “Political correctness” implies that you’re only acting a certain way in order to *pretend* you have certain beleifs. I don’t think it’s a useful concept at all.
I’ve heard from people doing linguisticy media-y subjects at uni that the phrase was basically just invented by right-wing pundits in America during the 70s and 80s to try and clog up the debate, though i dont know how true it is. It makes sense to me, though. Whenever its brought up in the media, it’s just a… cloggy, cloudy sort of thought. It never advances the discussion.
I have worked at primary schools in Melbourne, and sometimes when they say Konnichiwa or Ni hao, it’s done with sarcasm. Even their classmates said so.