Manzanar was a surprise to me. I vaguely recall driving past it to Mammoth from SoCal before it was restored. I've been back a couple of times since they opened up the center there, and I cry every time, and find it immensely healing to have a heretofore obfuscated bit of history acknowledged. Even more that they tie it into peace protests against the war in Iraq, and against the PATRIOT act. It is, as you say, a thing of much passion for me.
I hadn't thought about how the current government's style was affecting Aboriginal Australians - most of what I've heard has been about the effect on...Lebanese Australians, is that the big group I'm thinking of? I know some Asian Australians of various ethnic origins who give me an idea that it's not quite as terrifyingly White Australia as when I was a kid, but...
Ooh, seatback entertainment! I miss flying, although the TSA's security theater has made it altogether unpleasant, especially with children in tow. (I have horror stories about traveling with my two kids, a laptop, winter garments, a stroller and a carryon.)
I'd be open to the TSA horror stories-I somehow like getting pissed off at those. Hell, a bloke who used to live around the corner from me is having a hard time getting into the country as we speak-it seems Julian Assange isn't a good person to be mates with. (I wonder if he has an LJ.)
The Lebanese are one of the more recent migrant groups in Australia. They were starting to appear when I was in high school, and I sometimes heard people spouting crap about them not assimilating, stealing jobs, and similar predictable venom. I occasionally heard it from the Vietnamese, who were the new immigrant group before them. I'm sure some Lebanese say the same about today's Sudanese immigrants.
The incident you're thinking about was probably what happened in Cronulla, a southern beach suburb of Sydney, where race riots occurred several years ago. It's the area where purplespark grew up, and he was particularly upset over it. (He lives in LA, so you could ask him yourself.) I was shocked myself, but not surprised that unchecked racist expressions had boiled over. Our Prime Minister at the time, who was a national disgrace the entire time he was in office, even tried to claim that racism wasn't the issue-I actually hold him personally responsible for a big part of it.
Honestly, Australia is like the US, and probably most places: it has its progressive parts (inner-city Sydney, San Francisco, Brisbane, West Hollywood and Melbourne) and its redneck backwaters (e.g. rural Queensland and Texas). It pisses me off that you and I can't both go to any place in either country without harassment, and it pisses me off even more that there are a lot more places I can go harassment-free than you can. But there are a lot of Australians, and a lot of Americans, of all ethnic backgrounds who are just as angry about it as me, so there's hope.
The difference between Australia and the US is that there's a lot more denial of the problem in Australia. You get a lot of 'I'm not racist but' types, and even a former PM making idiotic statements like 'I don't want kids to grow up thinking Australia has a racist, bigoted past'-we do have a racist, bigoted past, you moron, and I don't want kids to grow up in an Australia that has a racist, bigoted future! Australia has made a few advances the U.S. hasn't, but I'm not sure there'll be an Australian PM without white skin in my lifetime.
Yes, it was Cronulla. And I'd forgotten that I actually have met purplespark! I haven't seen them in years.
The access barriers by perceived ethnicity has weighed heavy on my mind for some time. I get some international access because of the current economic prestige of East Asians, but it often results in tourist rates, etc. I'm hoping that more people being more aware turns the tide, too.
TSA rant: I don't know if you know what "Robeez" are - they're like elastic cuff leather slippers for toddlers. Very soft leather, barely reinforced bottom. More like a leather oversock than anything. I had M in those, and snuggled up in a comfy sling, to get us all through security. I was traveling with Ben, so we had two laptops that needed unearthing, plus shoes and toiletries. And the stroller/carseat. And Ben's rolly, as we were traveling for one of his teaching jobs. Put all the usual things on the conveyor. TSA insists on baby out of the sling, AND SHOES OFF. (He's asleep, mind you.) Gee, THANKS.
Their rules are so *stupid*, and I read Schneier just for the pleasure of having someone pierce through all that *concisely*.
As far as Australia's future with a non-white PM? I used to think I wouldn't live to see a non-white U.S. President. One never knows.
Must wrap this up, let's see if LJ thinks it's short enough to post!
I hadn't thought about how the current government's style was affecting Aboriginal Australians - most of what I've heard has been about the effect on...Lebanese Australians, is that the big group I'm thinking of? I know some Asian Australians of various ethnic origins who give me an idea that it's not quite as terrifyingly White Australia as when I was a kid, but...
Ooh, seatback entertainment! I miss flying, although the TSA's security theater has made it altogether unpleasant, especially with children in tow. (I have horror stories about traveling with my two kids, a laptop, winter garments, a stroller and a carryon.)
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The Lebanese are one of the more recent migrant groups in Australia. They were starting to appear when I was in high school, and I sometimes heard people spouting crap about them not assimilating, stealing jobs, and similar predictable venom. I occasionally heard it from the Vietnamese, who were the new immigrant group before them. I'm sure some Lebanese say the same about today's Sudanese immigrants.
The incident you're thinking about was probably what happened in Cronulla, a southern beach suburb of Sydney, where race riots occurred several years ago. It's the area where purplespark grew up, and he was particularly upset over it. (He lives in LA, so you could ask him yourself.) I was shocked myself, but not surprised that unchecked racist expressions had boiled over. Our Prime Minister at the time, who was a national disgrace the entire time he was in office, even tried to claim that racism wasn't the issue-I actually hold him personally responsible for a big part of it.
Honestly, Australia is like the US, and probably most places: it has its progressive parts (inner-city Sydney, San Francisco, Brisbane, West Hollywood and Melbourne) and its redneck backwaters (e.g. rural Queensland and Texas). It pisses me off that you and I can't both go to any place in either country without harassment, and it pisses me off even more that there are a lot more places I can go harassment-free than you can. But there are a lot of Australians, and a lot of Americans, of all ethnic backgrounds who are just as angry about it as me, so there's hope.
The difference between Australia and the US is that there's a lot more denial of the problem in Australia. You get a lot of 'I'm not racist but' types, and even a former PM making idiotic statements like 'I don't want kids to grow up thinking Australia has a racist, bigoted past'-we do have a racist, bigoted past, you moron, and I don't want kids to grow up in an Australia that has a racist, bigoted future! Australia has made a few advances the U.S. hasn't, but I'm not sure there'll be an Australian PM without white skin in my lifetime.
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The access barriers by perceived ethnicity has weighed heavy on my mind for some time. I get some international access because of the current economic prestige of East Asians, but it often results in tourist rates, etc. I'm hoping that more people being more aware turns the tide, too.
TSA rant:
I don't know if you know what "Robeez" are - they're like elastic cuff leather slippers for toddlers. Very soft leather, barely reinforced bottom. More like a leather oversock than anything. I had M in those, and snuggled up in a comfy sling, to get us all through security. I was traveling with Ben, so we had two laptops that needed unearthing, plus shoes and toiletries. And the stroller/carseat. And Ben's rolly, as we were traveling for one of his teaching jobs. Put all the usual things on the conveyor. TSA insists on baby out of the sling, AND SHOES OFF. (He's asleep, mind you.) Gee, THANKS.
Their rules are so *stupid*, and I read Schneier just for the pleasure of having someone pierce through all that *concisely*.
As far as Australia's future with a non-white PM? I used to think I wouldn't live to see a non-white U.S. President. One never knows.
Must wrap this up, let's see if LJ thinks it's short enough to post!
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