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Is it worse to be called a racist, or be racially abused?

Roar Pro
31st July, 2015
36

It hurts to be called a racist. It damages your pride in a way that other jibes can’t. As such, being called a racist makes you defensive. You jump straight to excuses, telling the accuser why they are wrong about you.

All you want is for people to listen to you, but their accusations towards you are relentless, and regardless of what you say, you can’t win. It leaves you frustrated not only because they think you’re a racist, but because they won’t listen to what you have to say.

“They don’t know me,” you reason to yourself. “What right do they have to say such things about me?”

Now let’s flip this situation on its head, and suppose that instead of being called a racist, you’re the target of racism.

Let’s say you were followed by racist slurs everywhere you went, and were the sole target of this venom. You were personally bullied at your workplace, anonymously trolled over the internet, and belittled by the media.

It hurts to be racially abused. It damages your pride in a way that other jibes can’t. As such, being racially abused makes you defensive. You want to defend yourself and your honour, to convince your accuser that they are wrong about you, and wrong about your race.

All you want is for people to listen to you, but their accusations towards you are relentless, and regardless of what you say, you can’t win. It leaves you frustrated not only because they don’t respect you, but because they won’t listen to what you have to say.

“They don’t know me,” you reason to yourself. “What right do they have to say such things about me?”

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See what I’m getting at?

Obviously it’s ludicrous to compare the experience of Adam Goodes with the plight of those poor white Australians being accused of racism. But I make this comparison to highlight the double standards being applied by many of those in the pro-booing crowd.

The individuals accused of being racist are intent on claiming that their reason for booing Adam Goodes is purely based on the footballer’s on-field antics – the fact that Goodes is an outspoken indigenous activist is clearly a coincidence.

To them, the idea that Goodes feels racially insulted by the boos is incomprehensible, and only adds to their distaste for him.

Logic would suggest that if a marginalised Indigenous person (or in this case, the people speaking on Adam Goodes behalf) claims that they are being racially abused, then we should listen to them, not marginalise them even further and complain about them speaking out. After all, they know more about how they feel than we do.

It’s not our role as non-marginalised white Australians to say, “No, you’re not being racially abused”, or “You’re a flog. Shut up”. That only fuels the problem.

It may well be true that you’ve been booing Adam Goodes for years, for any number of reasons. Open any online footy forums and you’ll read all kinds of things about him. Punters claim to hate him because of his ‘dirty tactics’ or ‘show boating’. But read more comments, and you’ll see that they also hate him for throwing an invisible spear, insulting the institution of Australia Day, shaming an innocent girl, or never shutting up.

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The public’s hate for Adam Goodes the player has transferred to a hate for Adam Goodes the person. And when that person spends most of their public life advocating for better treatment of Indigenous people, it’s easy for fans to take the next step and begin hating Adam Goodes the Indigenous activist.

Whether you like it or not, the Adam Goodes boos have developed racist undertones, and there are racist people who boo Adam Goodes. You may not claim to boo him for racist reasons, but Adam Goodes can’t hear your inner thoughts – he can only hear the collective groan of thousands of voices opposed to his. If you truly only boo him because you don’t like the way he plays, then what are you honestly trying to achieve?

Unfortunately the only people with the power to end this debate are the booers, who physically maintain the loudest voice. Without a change in attitudes from this crowd, this Adam Goodes saga may never end.

If this crowd of privileged Australians are being told by Indigenous Australians that their behaviour is racist, perhaps they should take the time to consider whether or not their behaviour is, or can be perceived as, racist.

More boo advocates need to have the courage to ask themselves this question, and stop prioritising their right to defend their racism over Adam Goodes’ right to say that he feels racial abused.

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