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The death of culture is upon us – the social backlash to Adam Goodes’ actions show this.
The closet racism that lies underneath our footy scarfs isn’t camouflaged anymore. It is present, it is visible and you can hear it. Boo!
These closet racists are winning. The backlash that was given to Adam Goodes after performing an Indigenous dance to celebrate his culture will prevent other Indigenous Australians from doing the same.
Culture will die.
People are against Indigenous athletes celebrating Indigenous culture during Indigenous round.
With this ambition to sanitise our society, consistency is needed Australia.
Prevent Irish women and men from Irish dancing on St Patrick’s Day. When arriving in Hawaii, rip off those flowers that natives drape around your neck. Assemble the bobcats in Cairo, those pyramids are too provocative.
When Adam Goodes is booed, it challenges the very premise that Australia is multicultural. Australia is not multicultural – Australia is multiracial and monocultural. We constantly expect immigrants to assimilate to our cultural emptiness.
Who are we kidding?
“We boo him because he dives for free kicks.”
Adam Goodes is not Fabio Grosso.
There is a glitch in the game. Umpires aren’t good enough to differentiate between what is real and what is fake. Don’t blame Adam Goodes, we wouldn’t blame Grosso if he was Australian. Poor stewardship of the game is responsible for players faking incident for advantage.
The epicentre of this racism was when a 13-year-old girl racially abused Goodes at the MCG.
Forget Goodes’ actions after the abuse. Forget the 13-year-old’s football allegiances. Remember that she is a young Australian. It is here where I side with caution, normally, when racism is distributed, it is propelled by some bitter, stupid, drunk, middle-aged man.
But this time, it was a 13-year-old girl. The impressionable are being impressed by racism.
Imagine how powerless Adam felt when he turned around and saw a child.
“Really? A 13-year-old had the audacity to racially abuse me in public? Enough is enough.”
Goodes has power and we witnessed it. He pointed out the racism and we didn’t like it.
Boo!
Last week, after expressing disapproval on Twitter that my fellow Hawthorn supporters were booing Goodes, a Hawthorn supporter replied, “Hawthorn aren’t racist, they employ Aboriginals too.”
Hawthorn think Cyril Rioli and Shaun Burgoyne are really good footballers. Hawthorn fans do too. But that’s not case closed.
I’m not saying anything about the club or its management, but the example of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling thinking Chris Paul is a really good point guard should remind us that employing coloured people doesn’t mean you’re not racist.
The AFL really let itself down last down last week. The AFL could have been honest and tough. Hawthorn fans should have been banned from the next three Hawthorn home games.
The AFL could have said, ‘You know what, this booing isn’t instigated because Goodes is a bad sportsman, and it isn’t brought on by himself, it was brought on because he is an unintentional racial and cultural icon of this nation.
‘For some reason – maybe they are xenophobic or jealous of his status – Hawthorn fans decided to boo him. This action is tough and drastic, and we acknowledge that, but the racism shown by AFL fans towards one of our players was indisputably drastic and intolerable.”’
Meanwhile, Adam Goodes gets stronger every week. Go get them, Adam.
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