It seems incredibly antiquated that in this day in age people are still discriminated against based on the colour of their skin, however the unfortunate fact is that racism is globally pervasive. It dehumanises those who it reaches and ultimately affects their overall health. Racism can be defined as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or ethnic origin with the purpose of nullifying or impairing the recognition of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the fields of public life.” It occurs when a person is exposed to prejudice, discrimination or hatred, treated less favourably or not given equal opportunities because of their race, country they were born in, ethnicity or their skin colour. Racism can be violent or intimidating behaviour, racial name calling and jokes, exclusion and all the barriers that prevent a minority group from enjoying dignity and equality because of their race. Overtime, the level of perceived equality in Australia has levelled itself out to an extent, however the psychosocial stressor of racism can still be seen in everyday situations. Racism plays a negative role in individuals, but also in society and the community as a whole. This type of behaviour can affect an individual’s behavioural and mental health. The estimated 649,171 (2016) Indigenous Australians comprise 2.8% of the Australian population and are the most disadvantaged group in current Australian society. They suffer from high rates of unemployment and incarceration, low income, substandard housing, and a high burden of ill health and mortality, including a life expectancy that is 17 years less than other Australians. Health inequities in Australia, according to Kellie Horton, Manager of VicHealth, occurs when the “determinants of health are not distributed evenly between populations.” These inequities are beyond any individual’s control, unfair and unjust, creating uneven playing fields for the different groups of Australian society. There is no shortage of evidence that racism persists, where “three out of four Indigenous Australians experience racism in their everyday lives.” Racism is not rare, nor harmless. It is a deeply embedded pattern of events and behaviours that significantly contribute to the ill-health suffered by all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
The prevalence of racism in Australia directed towards our Indigenous population is incredibly alarming. As the first descendants of Australia, our Indigenous peoples have suffered deplorable accounts of racism dating as far back as when the first fleet of European settlers came to Australia in 1788. However, Australia’s most reprehensible acts of mistreatment and discrimination towards its Indigenous peoples to date occurred between 1910 and 1970. This period of time is recognised as the years of the Stolen Generations where the children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent were forcibly removed from their parents by the Australian Federal and State government agencies. These acts were intended to give the ‘disadvantaged’ Indigenous children a better chance at life by living with white families, where they spoke the English language, acted like white people and were forced to disregard their Indigenous culture altogether. On February 13th, 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd moved a motion of apology to the Indigenous Australians for the debilitating acts of the Stolen Generations in a moment of reconciliation for Australia. In a YouTube video titled, I’m Aboriginal, But I’m Not, various Indigenous Australians defy many of the common misconceptions and stereotypes that they are often labelled as. This powerful video demonstrates how many of these Indigenous citizens are vilified against and judged as a majority based on the acts of a minority. The video included a number of Indigenous people repeating the line “I’m Aboriginal, but I’m not…”, filling the blanks with common stereotypes such as stealing, uneducated, drug abuse, welfare benefits, violence, ignorance of other cultures, imprisonment, etc. It is acknowledged by most people in Australia that discrimination has an insidious effect on the lives of minorities, even when it’s unintentional. Racism can be divided into two categories, intentional and unintentional discrimination. Majority of the racism which occurs in Australia towards the Indigenous population is known as “unconscious unthinking discrimination.” Racism is inexcusable in any situation, although much of the stereotypes labelling Aborigines and the occurrences of unintentional discrimination originate mostly from learnt behaviours, whereby ‘monkey see monkey do.’ A common stereotype aimed at Indigenous Australians is their lack of trust of others as well as their inability to mix with other races. This stereotype, if true, stems as far back as the first European settlers in Australia whom invaded and took the land from Indigenous Australians, without reason. Additionally, the Stolen Generations of Australia could have caused Indigenous people to fear the unknown actions that white people might perform, that they might be under threat. This ‘white supremacy’ could be described as ‘domestic terrorism’ and in fact has shaped the mistrust that many Indigenous peoples have towards other non-Indigenous Australians today. Many Australians have learnt from their surroundings to be racist, although it should be understood in this day the pointlessness and cruelty of prejudice against people due to a physical characteristic over which they have no control. Non-Indigenous Australians must consider whether they are knowingly or unknowingly racist, if they perpetuate stereotypes, if they obtain any subtle attitudes or behaviours that contribute to racism, and primarily if they are a part of the problem.
The health margin between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is alarmingly poorer than many expect. It is well known that Indigenous Australians have a much lower life expectancy than other Australians and have disproportionately high rates of diseases and other health problems, however the question can be raised as to whether this could in part be due to racism? Indigenous Australians are losing 2.3 times the number of healthy years to death and disease than their non-Indigenous counterparts, according to new research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Life expectancy is affected by a range of factors including disease incidence and prevalence, health behaviours such as smoking, social determinants such as education, income and employment and access to health services. Alongside in figure 1 , it can be seen that the life expectancy at birth between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in 2010-2012 is significantly different. The Australian Bureaucracy of Statistics (ABS) recorded that Indigenous men had a life expectancy of 10.6 years lower than non-Indigenous males and Indigenous women had a life expectancy of 9.5 years lower than non-Indigenous females.
The impact that racial discrimination has on an individual’s health is nothing short of harmful. Racism has a lasting effect on people’s feelings and emotions which can eventually lead to a major reduction in physical health. According to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), “On an individual level, exposure to racism is associated with psychological distress, depression, poor quality of life, and substance misuse, all of which contribute significantly to the overall ill-health experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.” Constant exposure to discrimination can provoke stress and adversely affect an individual’s psychological and physiological functioning. Prolonged experiences of stress can also negatively impact different parts of the body such as on the immune, endocrine and cardiovascular systems. Stress which often arises due to racial abuse can often cause the victim to engage in unhealthy activities such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as disengaging from healthy activities like sleep, exercise and socialising and so instigating and perpetuating the very stigma associated with many aboriginals. Additionally, it has been found that internalising racial discrimination has led to behavioural conditions linked to anger and conduct problems, as well as leading to poorer self-esteem and higher levels of hopelessness. “As a life stressor, racism directly and negatively affects the cardiovascular system causing high blood pressure/hypertension and heart disease. It seriously affects mental health causing depression, anxiety and other psychological and psychiatric disorders and racism contributes to low birth weight of newborns, as well as premature birth”, said the CEO Donna Ah Chee of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC). For Indigenous peoples, unlike white Australians, racism is a fundamental driver of health. Regular exposure to racism has been proven to lead people to withdrawing from work, study or reduced and unequal access to the societal resources required for health (e.g. employment, education, housing, medical care, social support), diminishing their overall quality of life. In the largest national Indigenous health survey released by the ABS, it was found that more than one in ten (11%) Indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over had never visited a dentist (or other health professional) about their teeth and in remote areas, almost a quarter (24%) had never visited a dentist. These shocking figures indicate that for many Indigenous Australians they find it difficult to reach out to health services in comparison to non-Indigenous Australians who would not hesitate to.
Abraham Maslow’s humanistic conception of personality states that we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs which allows us to reach our full potential. Maslow stated that we must satisfy the deficiency needs (physiological, safety and security, love and belongingness, and self-esteem needs) before satisfying the growth needs (knowledge and understanding, aesthetic, self-actualisation and transcendence needs). Alongside in Figure 2 , Maslow’s concept can be interpreted through a visual representation of his hierarchy. Racism in Australian society can be related to Maslow’s hierarchy whereby non-Indigenous Australians gravitate towards being racist as a quick fix of fulfilling their needs to be safe, belong and feel good about themselves. True racism is the persistent, passed-down, perpetuation of hypocrisy; a gross short-circuiting of Maslow's hierarchy. Like the Emperor and his townsfolk, we gravitate towards the idea of race because it is a quick fix towards fulfilling the needs to feel safe, belong and feel good about ourselves. The concept of racism is a psychological narcotic that inebriates the social conscious of its users, ever increasing its user’s dependency and absolute lust for it. It is a virus that spreads via the open sores of ignorance, seeping down deep into generation after generation. It "feels good" for some people to put down other people, feeding that insatiable hunger of the ‘self-esteem’ level of Maslow’s hierarchy. This dynamic even exists among members of the same group, as when "light skinned" Indigenous people are compared to "dark skinned" Indigenous people. Often racism in Australian society is unintentional due to a lack of people believing that they are racist, otherwise those who are intentionally derogatory towards Indigenous people. Ignorance can play a part in feeding people’s racial attitudes. Racism is not always malicious, but sometimes the harm of racism can be done innocently because someone may not know better. A common misconception seems to be that any racism directed towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is regrettable, but that such incidents are minor, trivial and essentially harmless. Racist ideas and attitudes are not something that is innate, it is something that is learnt. However, regrettably there remains a small minority of people who believe that some races are superior to others. Most people in Australia today accepts the diversity of our society, yet some inexplicably still believe racial groups should not mix. A belief in racial superiority or purity can lead to racial hatred. Recruiters may look through job applicants and decide to disregard people with Indigenous sounding surnames or looks. Other situations may include Indigenous peoples being rejected of housing they can afford because of their ethnicity.
Another common situation for prejudice and racism is often in health or social services. According to Pat Anderson of the Lowitia Institute, “there are lots of scenarios of Aboriginal people being considered perhaps being seriously intoxicated when in fact they are seriously ill.” This prejudgement makes many Indigenous people feel unwelcome or not deserving of aid unlike any other non-Indigenous person, causing them to become reluctant in seeking much needed health, housing, welfare or other services from providers they perceive to be unwelcoming or feel may hold negative stereotypes about their race. These scenarios raise questions as to why some of the sickest people are restricted from receiving equitable access to healthcare. Within the hospital system Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face racist barriers to gaining appropriate health care, which contributes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ low level of trust for hospitals as institutions. The 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey found that little more than 60% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people said that they felt hospitals could be trusted. This level of distrust is reflected in the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are critically five times as likely to leave hospitals against medical advice or be discharged at their own risk compared to other Australians. Little daily indignities like being treated with less courtesy than others, being treated with less respect than others, receiving poorer service at restaurants or stores, affect many Indigenous peoples’ health. Research shows that pregnant women who report high levels of discrimination give birth to babies who are lower in birth weight. In Australia it has been found that, compared to non-Indigenous patients with the same medical needs, Indigenous patients were about one-third less likely to receive appropriate medical care across all conditions , as well as for particular diseases such as lung cancer and coronary procedures. In one particular study, Indigenous Darwin singer Gurrumul Yunupingu told 105.7 ABC Darwin that he nearly bled to death in Royal Darwin Hospital after languishing with internal bleeding for eight hours relating to an ongoing liver condition. It was discovered later that he was written off as “a drinker”, when the singer’s condition was actually the result of having had Hepatitis B as a child. Yunupingu’s doctor, Dr Paul Lawton, said the singer’s experience was infuriatingly endemic of a broader problem across Australian health care. Dr Lawton said, “Aboriginal people admitted to hospital are much less likely to get a procedure for that condition than non-Aboriginal people in Australia. The idea is not that individual people are racist but that the whole system is designed with certain assumptions that lead to people not receiving appropriate treatment for their conditions because of issues related to race.”
Social justice is made up of the rights for all people in a community to be considered in a fair and equitable manner. Social justice specifically targets the marginalised and disadvantaged groups in society, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander as well as people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. A socially just society consists of health policies which ensure all peoples have equal access to quality health care services, people in remote areas are given the same access to fresh water and sanitation as someone would in a metropolitan area. Social justice principles work together to manage health inequities based on morbidity and mortality rates and cultural, social, economic and political factors. Social injustices can occur when a particular group of people are treated inferiorly or deprived of services that other groups are provided with. The purpose of social justice is for everyone to be treated equally regardless of their attributes. Deeming someone inferior due to their race is a direct violation of social justice. Discrimination promotes or reveals unfair treatment of a person or a particular group of people on the basis of prejudice and partiality. Discrimination can be considered as a mild or serious form of suffering, which is why racism is considered a primary cause of social injustice issue in Australian society. Social injustices, on the other hand, can cause health inequities in Australian society. Lack of income, unemployment, inadequate housing causes stress. Unemployment may lead to poor health, but poor health may lead to unemployment . Social injustices like discrimination, social exclusion and stereotypes can provoke the previously mentioned health issues of social withdrawal leading to mental health issues, as well as worsening of health due to lack of exercise and alcohol/substance misuse. Social justice links to the Indigenous peoples’ right for land. Australia’s history of European settlers, invaded the land of its owners and forced them to feel a strong sense of loss. Positively, in many formal education and national events today, the Indigenous acknowledgment of land (Guarna Statement) is recited more prevalently than previously to ensure that white Australians pay their respects to the traditional land of the Indigenous people. A society lacking in social justice, with an abundance of people with racist views and attitudes towards Indigenous people, creates social justice inequalities and barriers to an Indigenous Australian improving their health. As such, racism directed at Indigenous Australians needs to be addressed to eliminate social injustices, which in turn will help to lessen the health inequalities present in Australian society today.
In one recent study in Victoria, alarming results of various experiences of racism experienced by Indigenous Australians were revealed in figure 3 alongside. It found that of the 755 Aboriginal Victorians surveyed, 97% had inappropriately experienced racism in the previous year, 92% were subjected to racist name calling, jokes or comments based on stereotypes, 84% had been sworn at or verbally abused, 67% had been spat at or had something thrown at them, 66% were told they do not belong in Australia and they should “go home” or 55% having their property vandalised because they are Indigenous. The issue of racism unbecomingly prevails all around us in Australian society however is more understood by the majority of those who follow Australian Rules Football. Racism in Australian Rules Football has been an issue the AFL has been battling for many years. In 1995 during the annual Anzac Day match, a Collingwood player who fought Indigenous Essendon players Michael Long and Che Cockatoo-Collins yelled at Long, “Get off me, you little black c**t”. The umpire, within earshot, did nothing. In more recent years, Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes heard a young girl call him an “ape” as he contested the ball on the boundary. “To hear a 13-year-old girl call me an ape … it was shattering,” Goodes said, “racism has a face. It’s a 13-year-old girl.” In the following year, for weeks every time Goodes went near the ball, large amounts of the crowd would erupt in relentless booing. Even when Sydney Swans officials said the booing was an expression of racism, people kept booing even louder. “Given the attention that the issue of racism is now getting as a result of the racist treatment of Adam Goodes, there is an opportunity for the Australian community to gain a deeper understanding of the harm caused by racism, to Aboriginal health and well-being”, said the CEO of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Aboriginal Corporation, Donna Ah Chee. In 2016, during Showdown 41, a Port Power fan was caught on video throwing a banana at Crows player Eddie Betts in the final quarter of the game. The incident was taken very seriously with a Port Adelaide investigation deeming that it was “clear that the offender’s behaviour was racially motivated.” A banana being thrown at an Indigenous man is unambiguously racist. Following the incident, Betts stated "enough is enough. It's racism and we want to stomp it out of the game. It affects me, but it affects people around me more. We want to make footy an enjoyable place to go and support your team. There is racial abuse and it's not kid-friendly, it's just not a great place to be." From July 2014, beyondblue began a national campaign which highlights the impact of racial discrimination on the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 1,000 non-Indigenous Australians aged 25 – 44 years were surveyed to gain insight into attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in relation to discrimination against Indigenous Australians. Shockingly, 21% admit they would move away if an Indigenous Australian sat near them, 42% believe Indigenous Australians are given unfair advantages by government, 37% believe Indigenous Australians are sometimes a bit lazy, 31% believe Indigenous Australians should behave more like “other Australians”, 20% believe that terms used to describe Indigenous Australians that are now considered racist are not that bad, 21% believe it is hard to treat Indigenous Australians in the same way as everyone else and 24% believe that not hiring an Indigenous Australian would be an automatic or unconscious action on the part of the discriminator. With these outrageous attitudes and beliefs concerning Indigenous Australians, it is little wonder why there is still so much racism present in Australian society and why the health gap and social inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is still so significant.
The Human Rights Commission are a national human rights institution which are in place to ensure the Racial Discrimination Act is being followed in Australian society. In 1975, the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) was implemented, finally making discrimination in different parts of public life illegal. The RDA protects people from racial hatred and discrimination in many areas of public life, including employment, education, getting or using services, renting or buying a house or unit, and accessing public places. Examples of racial discrimination in employment could include insisting that all employees speak English at all times, not employing someone from a particular racial group because of preconceived ideas, or not employing or promoting someone because of assumptions that they wouldn’t ‘fit in’ with their colleagues because of their race. The RDA appropriately makes it unlawful to discriminate in the provision of services, such as banking and insurance, government departments, transport or telecommunication, professional like lawyers, doctors or tradespeople, and services provided by restaurants, shops or entertainment venues. This means that it is against the law for a provider of goods or services to discriminate against a person by refusing to or unfairly providing a person with goods, services and facilities, because of their race. Under the RDA, it is unlawful to do or say something in public that is reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate a person or group because of their race, colour, or national or ethnic origin. Such examples of racial hatred include racially offensive material in print or online, or racially offensive behaviour or language in a public place, like calling people racist names, making racially offensive comments, jokes or gestures. The Act continues to send a strong message about our common commitment to racial equality and the importance of a fair go for all. Despite this legal protection, too many people in Australia continue to experience prejudice and unfair treatment because of how they look or where they come from. Thankfully most Australians (86%) support action to tackle racism in Australia, seen alongside in figure 4 .
Despite the social injustices and issues previously mentioned, the Australian Government has fittingly helped raise awareness regarding discrimination in Australia and the importance of not suffering in silence. The Australian government have developed many programs and campaigns in order to address the ongoing issue of racism aimed towards Indigenous Australians. Such significant campaigns include Closing the Gap, Racism… It Stops with Me, and Racism No Way. The Close the Gap campaign, launched in April 2007, is Australia’s largest public movement for health equality, with almost 200,000 Australians having formally pledged their support. The campaign aims to close the unacceptable health and life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians within a generation, by addressing racism directly. The goal of the campaign is that “by 2030 any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child born in this country will have the same opportunity as other Australian children to live a long, healthy and happy life.” This organisation is known for their nationally accredited annual event, Close the Gap Day (17 March), which has been present since 2009. Reflecting the importance of the campaign, it has become the largest and highest profile Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health event in the country. In the year 2012, Racism… It Stops with Me, campaign was introduced by the Human Rights Commission to help the Australian community respond to prejudice. The campaign thrives to ensure that more Australians recognise the unacceptable nature of racism in our community, also empowering organisations to prevent and respond effectively to racism. Ultimately, this particular movement is designed to encourage as many individuals and organisations as possible to take a stand against racism and pledge their support of the program. Since its establishment, more than 400 organisations and thousands of people have come on board and stand with this powerful movement. In 2016 after an opposition supporter threw a banana at him, Adelaide Crows player Eddie Betts memorably said, “no one is born racist. It is ingrained in them somewhere down the track. It all comes down to that, to be educated.” Such a key point of Betts’ statement is of education, whereby Australians can be taught the impact of racism and the detrimental effects it has on a person’s health. The Australian government has recognised the importance of racial education and as such, have implemented an anti-racist program into schools, known as Racism No Way. This program is designed to recognise illogical and racist attitudes that many young Australian students and even teachers, have been taught, and to correct these attitudes in the hopes of reducing racism. The program, aligned with Australian laws, imposes an obligation on all Australians in the education system to be vigilant regarding racism and to take action when incidents of racism occur. Communal alikeness that these three initiatives share are their overall virtuous goals as well as the positive impact they have all created regarding social justice. As all three government funded services are accessible to all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are given an opportunity to express their passion for racial equality in this country while taking a stand forward, wherever they may be without the barriers of location. Racism No Way has been introduced to all Australian schools as part of their education to ensure that all Australian children are exposed to the effects of racism and the importance of its cease.
Racism is a serious problem that Australia is yet to properly address. It should never be trivialised, it needs to be dealt with. Although there are many initiatives to eliminate racism in Australia, the health issue is incredibly complicated and as such, cannot be fixed overnight. Some barriers to overcoming discrimination include strong mindsets of individuals and not understanding how to do it. The government needs to acknowledge and address the clear occurrence of racism within the health and services field, identifying the impact that it has on the overall health of many Indigenous peoples. Cultural awareness training for health and community professionals could help in reducing the incidence of racism. Aboriginal people must feel that they are in a safe environment. In order to do this, these services must create staff that have a strong understanding of the Indigenous culture, history, lived experiences and common health concerns they might have, in order to work competently and ethically with Indigenous Australians. If this is achieved, Indigenous peoples will feel a connection to these services and hopefully not avoid them. Further development of educational initiative like Racism No Way, need to be incorporated into all factors of Australian lives, not just within the education systems. Anti-racist education should be implemented in workplaces and throughout newspapers, television and social media to ensure that all Australians are receiving adequate racial equality education. Especially older and middle-aged Australians, if as Eddie said racism is ingrained/learnt then these people tend to have strong mindsets and lack understanding of racial issues due to the upbringing of racial ideas and attitudes that they have lived with their whole life. As such, all Australians must be educated that discriminatory remarks and stereotypes, however casual or apparently light-hearted, have implications for other people’s health. Whichever approach Australia adopts, there needs to be a great deal of recognition and understanding that individuals cannot prosper if they feel unconnected. Indigenous Australians need to be connected with their own families, communities and cultures, as well as a connection to the rest of society. Racism creates a strong barrier to that connection.
Following thorough research, it is clear that racial discrimination towards Indigenous Australians is a pernicious issue that is apparent in today’s society. Australia has a long sad history of racism directed at its Indigenous peoples and this needs to be properly addressed in order to take a step forwards as a country towards reconciliation. Although there is a substantial amount of funding and government initiatives regarding racism in Australia, it seems there is an inadequate amount of attention and support specifically regarding the health inequities that racism causes. The increase of education for specialised groups in Australia needs to be incorporated into daily Australian life to help minimise racism towards the Indigenous and hopefully reduce its severe impact on health in Australian society.