Like many other people, I was aghast by two recent disgusting, intoxicatingly negative episodes that happened in Australia.
Earlier this month, commuters on a packed suburban Melbourne bus ride hurled racist and violent threats at a fellow passenger, a French woman who was singing in her native tongue. Video footage of this incident shows a middle-aged man yelling at her to speak English and all the worst obscenities possible. A man pushing a pram chimed in to the xenophobic chorus, shouting vulgar phrases at her.
People of all backgrounds going about their own business in Melbourne’s CBD. No fuss, no drama. It’s like this almost everyday. Photo by Mabel Kwong.
At the beginning of the month, Channel 9’s A Current Affair broadcasted a report titled “All-Asian Mall” that investigated the apparent “Asian invasion” of a shopping mall in NSW suburb Castle Hill. This television segment emphatically stated the mall was receiving an “Asian makeover” with four Asian food shops moving in and (white) Aussie shopkeepers were unfairly forced to move out as a result. This was later refuted.
Mabel Kwong 