Published in Bellingen Courier Sun on 20 March 2019
Let’s Stop the Hate Speech
I was born in Australia over 70 years ago. All of my life I
have had to listen to so-called White Australians publicly denigrating people
of all minority groups such as Muslims, Asians, Aboriginal people and gay
people.
When the use of this hate speech is so prevalent is it any
wonder that this culminates in the appalling tragedy in Christchurch.
Especially when this racist, bigoted and xenophobic language
is fully embraced for purely political purposes by some of our leading politicians.
When, for example, the Minister for Immigration hysterically and erroneously
states that a small number of refugees from Manus Island and Nauru coming to
our shores for urgent medical treatment will take our jobs, kick patients off
hospital waiting lists and evict people out of their social housing. This is
base politics at its lowest and most dangerous level.
In the absence of any leadership from our politicians, we
all, as citizens of this great country, need to take personal responsibility to
avoid using racist and bigoted language and to condemn and call out all who
resort to this hate speech.
Paul Bartholomew
Boambee East
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