Racism....does it still exist?

"Racism and Culture has always been intertwined, or as Robert Young puts it, 'the racial was always cultural' (1995:28)." Lentin & Titley, (2011:51).

Although this statement may be very well true, how evident is this still in the Australian education system? Personally, I came from a public primary school where nearly every single student was Caucasian, to then a public high school which was similar with a few Indigenous students before getting a massive culture shock when I came to attend UNSW this year. I've never really first handedly witnessed racism in schooling, so was quite shocked when I came across an article online through 'life from every angle: Youth Central'. I read an interview of a girl who was merely seventeen years old, reporting her experience of being 'cultured' in a schooling environment. Her name is Sarah Gastar, she is of Filipino descent and ultimately her one wish is to be Anglo-Australian, a more technical term of wishing she was 'white'. She was raised in Australia, loves Vegemite and couldn't be any different to the rest of her class, except for her appearance.

"I think what hurts most is being told to go home. I don't get it. I am home. Australia is where I was born and I don't know any other life. When they say that, it makes me feel like I don't belong anywhere." she sadly exclaims.

This is absolutely mind blowing, how this can be occurring in the 21st century. Have we not learnt anything from 'sorry' day? Research was undertaken through the Foundation of Young Australians and it was noted that just over a whopping seventy percent of young Australian students have either witnessed or experienced racism on a daily basis. I know that myself for one was very oblivious to this, I guess not being brought up in a multicultural school I was never exposed to this, and it shocks me how this statistic can be so huge, in what is supposed to be such an accepting, multicultural era of modern society. Thankfully, though, through social media, if we are suffering from this, we can turn to help. The brilliant website 'Racism: No way' helps us as outsiders to understand racism and how we can report it and aid those around us.

It made my blood boil when I studied modern history in year 12 and was dumbfounded by Hitler's racist, twisted views in the Holocaust. It made my blood boil when reading about the 'White Australia Policy' and admittedly, society still makes my blood boil that we as individuals can feel scared and isolated in the education system. We are all human beings, and education is a privilege and a right. No skin colour, or our families background should sacrifice this for us.

References:  http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?&repositoryName=&siteNodeId=515&ItemID=15527#.Uj_W7cYSY1s

http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/understanding/schools.html#Heading205

http://www.fya.org.au/research/research-publications/