Gary, in my experience the nature of “racism” expressed by the white Caucasian Oz citizen (WCO) reflects said WCO person’s upbringing with like. There has always been cultural barriers that seem to prevent their comfort around non WCO’s. Pauline Hanson is a fabulous example. I met the lady only weeks ago and asked her why she does it……she answered “I want my Australia back”. Like that is going to happen, honey. WCO’s really need to get over the fear of change and the cultural discomfort they sense and move on, but there is a minority like Pauline that can’t. They fear they are being squeezed out by foreigners. You won’t change them, just ignore them and let them die out.

Maybe I was a lucky WCO. I went to a boarding school that accepted PNG kids. This was a rare event in the 50’s & 60’s. For me black skinned people, although rare outside school, were the same as me. I grew up with them, although I have always been fascinated by the dark skin, lighter palms and feet. But no racism feelings ever emerged. Also as a kid I went to the races on a Saturday with my dad. We went in the cheap seats (the flat enclosure….no stand to watch from and way from the paddock where the toffs were). I have two clear memories from those days in the 60’s. One, I used to play ball games on the racetrack lawns with aboriginal kids. They treated me as normal as I did them. They were just as black as the night. Their colour fascinated me. Two, the head honcho of the race club was a knight and a Wickham Tce specialist Dr Sir Clive Uhr. People would always speak in hushed tones in his presence. Every Sat, the man would find the time to come over to the flat to kick ball with us kids for a few minutes. The only toff I ever met to do something like that. He didn’t have to do that. That taught me, by his actions, it was OK to mix with other cultures.

When I worked in the old LMP labs in the 70’s I met one of those dreaded boat people from Vietnam. The bloke was short as, looked like a chinaman, was a doctor in the South and fled with his wife and kids in a leaky boat. His English was fair but he sure had a funny accent. We worked together like a house on fire, and stayed in contact after I moved to PAH and RBH. We would have dinner a few times a year (always a Viet restaurant!!) and we both talk often in retirement. That’s 40 years of friendship. He even taught me how to pronounce the common surname Ng.

Socially in the 70’s and 80’s I joined a service organisation dominated by Jews. Talk about Shalom. Great people and friends to this day. Just funny ideas about food though. Being a Christian, I would stir them about pulling up one prophet short of the finish line.

Then at PAH I met this strange chinaman who was a path registrar. He could be a bit of an arsehole at times but that had nothing to do with his heritage. He was an ABC and got the arsehole trait from being Australian. We got on pretty well. By then I was totally comfortable with all racial cultures I came across. With this chinaman I even felt comfortable making cultural jokes like if we had a lunch in Chinatown I would remark about all his relatives being there (they all look the same you know). It wasn’t racist, and as far as I know it wasn’t taken as such. He would have said something if he took it poorly. We remain mates today.

In the 90’s I employed an Afgan refugee at RBH. A Muslim for gawd sake. Didn’t give that act a second thought, in fact I felt good doing it. In return I was rewarded with loyalty, hard work and friendship. We remain friends and stay in touch today.

When I had children, I always made sure Sesame Street was on in the mornings. Why? Not to amuse them, but to get them used to multi racism. The kids on that show were white, black, orange, yellow etc and they were equals and all normal in my kids eyes. So when they hit school age, different cultures were normal.

Without trying to defend my racist WCO’s I can understand how some will find mixing with or accepting other cultures. My own mother had a phobia about Japanese that came from WW2. She would never change, totally unable to. When I first went to study at CDC in the 70’s I would catch public transport and was often the only Caucasian on the bus or train. I never held any fear, but it was unsettling. Why, I was used to a mix, but not being a small minority. I understood how strange my Viet mate would felt in those early days. You get stared at. It is naturally unsettling. Even with my background of acceptance of multi culturalism.

So. Fred’s train problem is still common but quickly diminishing. It is real, we can’t change people like that, just hope they gain enlightenment as they get older. Even Jesus copped a fair bit of it as he trapsed around the middle east preaching change.

Cheers Rodderick