The Goodes issue: Who can decide what is racist?

“That is moronic Rebecca,” yells Dermott Brereton, spit dripping down his iPhone as he vehemently defends his provocative stance on Adam Goodes.

Brereton then proceeds to inform Rebecca Wilson, the woman on the other end of line, that his article “is open to interpretation” and was in no way racist.

Brereton leads a merry band of football journalists and social commentators who fail to identify and/or accept the nuances of Australia’s racism, and continually ignore the white privilege they were born into. Hence they fill the football and social landscape with uneducated and misinformed drivel that fuels the subtle racism that exists within this country.

They’re probably not actually racist, but their failure to discourage the booing of Adam Goodes is shameful and irresponsible.

Perhaps it is unfair to name just Dermott – there are many to blame for providing comfort to people who are confronted by Goodes’ activism and thus try to boo and chastise him into submission.

Miranda Devine has told her legion of right-wing readers that Goodes was himself racist by criticising Australians. Alan Jones accused Goodes of “victimising” a 13-year-old girl. Other journalists in positions of influence actively motivate fans and enrage the masses by criticising the AFL for aligning themselves with Goodes.

The frustrating thing about this whole debate is that these well-informed people – who have money, education and most importantly influence – are feeding this racially motivated vitriol to the less educated, and Goodes has become the victim in it all.

People feel that somehow this issue isn’t their responsibility and is instead the fault of Goodes, who should be more introspective and change his behaviour if he wants the booing to stop.

Too often it is white voices in this country who determine what is racist, and what black people should be offended by. And too often black voices who feel that they have been vilified are drowned out by calls of “toughen up” or “I wouldn’t find that offensive”.

If a black person reacts adversely to subtle racism, people in this country are quick to throw the issue back on them, and wash themselves clean of any wrongdoing.

The idea of racism in this country is completely skewed. Somehow the perpetrator has the right to tell us if they were being racist or not.

If a boss tells a female employee that they didn’t mean anything by stroking their thigh, the courts and public opinion think otherwise.

The fact that people even dispute the idea that Goodes’ issue is race related, instead claiming it’s a reflection of the victim’s behaviour, exemplifies the issue we have in this country with race relations.

The truth of the matter is that Goodes has every right to feel that this concerted campaign of bullying is racially motivated.

Goodes himself would know he’s never been particularly liked by opposition fans. He’s a stager, an umpire’s pet, he’s been known to do things outside of the spirit of the game, and – perhaps worst of all – he’s a bloody good footballer.

Goodes has always played the game this way, and Sydney Swans fans love it and opposition fans hate it. It makes him an ideal candidate for the ‘hated footballers’ club.

Never before this year though has Goodes been booed. Sure he’s probably copped God knows what over the fence, but never has their been a united movement of vitriol levelled towards him.

So why now? Why is it that fans now feel the need to lambast him? The only explanation for it is that fateful night in May 2013 when Goodes made a stand.

He heard the word “ape”, pointed the person out who said it, and demanded they leave.

Goodes was in the midst of playing, he had no concept of how old the person was, what background they came from, or any information that would prompt him to handle the situation differently.

When it emerged the person who had made this racial slur was a 13-year-old girl, Goodes stressed to the media that the focus should be on the issue of racial ignorance rather on the actual perpetrator.

In the ridiculous aftermath complete mistruths were perpetrated in the media, tainting people’s memory of the incident, and somehow Goodes became the bad guy.

When Goodes was named Australian of the year, media commentators and fans ignored the work he had done for a number of Indigenous social welfare programs, and instead propelled the complete misnomer that Goodes was awarded it for “humiliating” a young girl.

Then there is the criticism of Goodes for describing Australia as a racist country.

Sure they are inflammatory remarks, and people in the white Australian middle-class don’t like the idea of a rich black man telling them that they are inherently racist.

But what people seem to forget is that despite the fact Goodes has been subject to widespread racism over his life, and his mother was a part of the Stolen Generation, he has a right to say what ever he wants.

You can absolutely disagree with his contention, but to say he is wrong, or that he should toughen up and just get on with it, is a complete attack on his right to speak freely as an Australian.

Which brings us to the booing.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the booing this year started against Hawthorn in Round 8 – his history with the Hawks has been well documented.

However for the booing to continue from teams like Brisbane, the Gold Coast, North Melbourne and Adelaide – teams that had never expressed any outward dislike towards him before – one has to concede that there are factors other than his on-field behaviour for the booing.

These are most certainly related to his outspokenness, and to boo Goodes for being outspoken is to be unequivocally racist.

I would be surprised if most black and Indigenous people didn’t share the same views as Goodes, yet consistently, the views of black people in this issue are disregarded.

Instead we hear from the white people who reassure us that what they are doing isn’t racist, and that no one has any right to tell the fans to stop bullying Goodes.

How could these people be so irresponsible? How can anyone say that after Goodes was booed by 20,000 white people for no clear, apparent reason, he has no right or reason to see it as racist.

We are now at a point where Goodes is considering retiring from the game he loves.

This is an embarrassing episode in Australia’s history. We have bullied and intimidated a great footballer and person while proving that despite being tolerant of a variety of cultures we are not willing to accept them if they don’t fall in to line.

In this debate we hear statements like “There’s heaps of Indigenous footballers out there, I don’t boo any of those guys.” Yet if any other indigenous players were as high profile as Goodes and took the same sort of stance, I’m quite sure they would garner the same reaction.

It is a sad state of affairs; it’s humiliating to all reasonable thinking Australians.

One thing is certain though: Aussies who booed and the commentators that provided a platform for the booers will be seen in the same light as those who didn’t accept Michael Long when he first made a stand, or those who were too ignorant to accept those sprinters in black gloves back in 1968.

This is a turning point in our history. The booing needs to stop, but most importantly we need to recognise what is racist and understand that black people in this country have the right to feel vilified, white people cannot decide for them.

Here’s to hoping Goodes can play again in footballing peace.