Backlash

"Proud to be a white Australian:

There are Aboriginals, Torres Strait Islanders, Kiwi Australians,
Lebanese Australians, Asian Australians, Arab Australians and boat
People from all over the place.

And then there are just Australians. White Australians, ordinary
Australians, who love their country. Australians who don't really care
About the skin colour of others - until they find themselves on the
Wrong end of abuse because they happen to be white Australians.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me
'Australian Dog', 'White boy', 'Cracker', 'Honky', 'Whitey', 'Caveman'.
And that's OK. But when I call you, Blackfella, Kike, Towelhead,
Sand-Nigger, Sheep Shagger, Camel Jockey, Gook or Chink, you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the
Aboriginal suburbs such as Redfern and Muslim and Asian suburbs such as
Lakemba, Bankstown and Cabramatta the most dangerous places to live?

You have Invasion Day. You Have Yom Hashoah You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.

But if we had a 'White Pride' Day, you would call us racists.

You want us to study Aboriginal history and indoctrinate us to believe
That we are ruthless invaders. You want us to say sorry for something we
Did not do. But, because we want to teach history as it happened, we are racists.

If we had an organisation for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives. We'd be racists.

If we had a university fund that only gave white students scholarships, we'd be racists

There are many indigenous organisations that are only open to
Aboriginals. Are there any organisations that are restricted to whites
Only? Of course not, because if there were, we would be called racists.

Australia has a flag that represents everybody. Aboriginals have a flag
That represents only them, but they don't think that's racist. However
If white Australians dared to have a flag that only represented white
Australians and white athletes who won an Olympic event ran around
Draped in such a flag, they would be condemned as racists.

If you are not white, you can march for your race and rights. If we
Marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not
Afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police
Officer shoots a Muslim gang member or beats up a Lebanese drug dealer
Running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud. But you call me a racist. Why is it that only whites can be racists?"

An email now doing the rounds.


For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. We get called white cunts round here all the time; car windows smashed, robbed. Every single window in this house has a grill on it. It's impregnable. We had never been robbed until I left the backdoor open one night a few months back, the first time in the years I've been here, I got home from work, had a cigarette on the back step and bang, wallet keys phone gone, play stations gone, my son's wallet, gone. They're like cockroaches, someone said, when I started talking about how even though I had left the back door open the place was very difficult to get into anyway; a large back fence, a narrow side path.

They're very light fingered. Another said: they used to wander round this country picking up things and they're still doing the same thing. But nobody apologies to us. There's a bit of white in me and I apologise for that, I heard one of them say when addressing a rally a few months back. There are convoluted contradictions in the apology which will play out in the next few months in no doubt odd and interesting ways. I was on a radio panel with an indigenous government minister recently; and I felt like saying, or thought about saying afterwards: you're a member of a government that has proudly increased the rate of removal of children from troubled families, all in the name of child protection and that most dishonest of all phrases, the child's best interest. You don't bother working with these families and all they have to do is have a disagreement with a DOCS officer to lose their kids.

That leftwing icon the Family Court removes kids from a parent, usually the father, every day of the week. After leaving that court half those kids won't see their dad more than once a year. Yet it was the left which championed the apology to indigenous people and so effectively wedged the Liberals on the issue. And now that it's happened, now that we have passed through the sound barrier, the apology barrier, what next? People dedicate their lives to these issues, these noble social justice causes, finding a noble victim and campaigning for them for decades on end, caught in the intense emotional drama, railing against the racist whities infesting our land, those that are left after decades of multiculturalism has deconstructed the mainstream culture as best it can.

They're like cockroaches scuttling away from beneath a lifted board, afraid of the light, the proponents of noble causes who now don't know where to go. Talkback has run hot; with caller after caller claiming there was no such thing as the stolen generation and condemning the public displays of hysteria and self-flagellation. Soon there will be nowhere to hide. Everyone knows the chaos going on in remote aboriginal communities now. The Liberals, after ignoring what was going on for a decade, decided foolishly to take action in an election year and make it an election issue, hoping to gain votes. It was the wrong thing to do on so many levels, but to do nothing following the Little Chidlren Are Sacred report was also impossible.

My brother Warren has been in Sydney for a few days from near San Diego where he lives with his family. He left here decades ago to make his fortune in silicon valley, and would never have done very well if he had stayed here. There's just not the same opportunities. And here, multiple layers of government parasites and crippling multiple layers of laws and regulation make progress impossible for all but the fortunate view; who prosper astonishingly. The rest of us are left working week to week. He went out to Newport, to the house where we grew up, an act I've been putting up for years; reluctant to confront the emotional chaos of the past. We're crimnals, we're scooting on the edge, we're dark shadows in the city's night bars and nothing can rescue us, nothing can make the cruel past go away, nothing can stop the festering of past pain which had so distorted his life.

You wouldn't recognise the place, it's double story now, and some new people have just moved in. I bowled up and said: this might seem strange but I grew up here, and they were very welcoming. I live an hour and a half away; and I'm yet to do that simple act: confrontation; those terrible beatings. No wonder I don't want to go there.


THE BIGGER STORY:

Police Media:

Nine arrested following fights in Sydney CBD

2008-02-16 14:31:45

Police have arrested nine people after two fights in central Sydney this
morning.

Police from The Rocks and City Central Local Area Commands and the
Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) responded to numerous calls to
'Triple Zero' reporting a brawl involving 15-20 men at King Street
Wharf, in the Darling Harbour precinct, about 12.15am today.

A PORS officer used a Taser stun gun during the arrest of a 19-year-old
Willmot man who was allegedly pinning a male officer to the ground.

The decision to use the Taser was based on the extreme violence
displayed and the probability of injuries inflicted upon the officer.

The man was arrested and taken to City Central Police Station where he
was examined by NSW Ambulance officers before being charged.

As a result of inquiries:

* A 19-year-old man from Willmot was charged with
affray, resisting police, resisting arrest, and assaulting police. He
was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court today.

* A 19-year-old man from Bidwill was charged with
resisting police, refusing to comply with a police direction, and
offensive language. He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail
court today.

* A 19-year-old woman from Bidwill was charged with
resisting police, refusing to comply with a direction, and offensive
behaviour. She was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court
today.

* A 19-year-old man from Blackett was charged with
two counts of resisting police, and one count each of affray and
assaulting police. He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail
court today.

* A 19-year-old woman from Rooty Hill was charged
with affray and resisting police. She was refused bail to Parramatta
Bail Court today.


* A 20-year-old woman from Whalan was charged with
affray and assaulting police. She was also refused bail to Parramatta
Bail Court today.

* A 16-year-old Tregear youth was charged with
affray and resisting police. He was granted conditional bail and is due
to appear in Bidura Children's Court on March 10.

* A 17-year-old youth from Tregear has been charged
with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count
of affray. He was granted conditional bail to appear in Bidura
Children's Court on 10 March.

A female police officer suffered facial injuries after allegedly being
elbowed in the face during the scuffle, while the male officer suffered
a wrist injury. They were treated at the scene by ambulance officers.

Two men were taken to St Vincent's Hospital suffering head injuries
after allegedly being assaulted by the group. Police are still to
interview the two injured men.

Police have also charged a youth following an unrelated assault in
George Street, in central Sydney, this morning.

The incident happened about 3am, when an 18-year-old Merrylands man went
to the aid of two other people being assaulted. Police will allege he in
turn was attacked, suffering facial injuries.

A 17-year-old youth from Dharruk has been charged with one count each of
assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in Bidura
Children's Court on 10 March.

Police are waiting to interview the victim of the original incident.
That person was taken to hospital suffering serious eye injuries.

Inquiries are continuing.


The neighbours.