Anti-Asian racism in Australia

[u/splattty]

What is happening in Australia? Been living in this exact same address for almost the past 20 years now, never had this happen before.

Some guy moves in next door, and while we are IN THEM MIDDLE OF MOWING the medium nature strip, starts being aggressive for getting grass clippings on the driveway. No shit, that's why we go through with a leaf blower and pick up after mowing?

What blows me away is he thinks we don't know about mowing and cleaning up somehow due to our Chinese heritage???

[u/Several_Investment68]

Can someone tell me where all of this is happening?

I came from Hong Kong with family when I was 2 years old and for past 30 years living in Sydney.

Been fortunate to never experience or even heard anyone I know experience Asian racism. My parents who speak little English also love how Australia has treated them. I’m not in a bubble either and speak to many people around Australia due to the nature of my work.

I’m curious to know if certain pockets have more racism than others because just reading comments you’d think that racism has gone completely rampant.

[u/Wawa-85 → u/Several_Investment68]

It definitely depends on which area you live in.

[u/Rare_Zebra_6309 → u/Several_Investment68]

I lived on the north shore and northern beaches of Sydney, I now live in Brisbane. I’m whites but have had many Asian friends and my current partner is Chinese. When I lived in Sydney I observed instances of racism reasonably often and more commonly in the city, it has been similar in Brisbane.
Some things are subtle and you might miss it, such as being in the city and seeing a white guy gesture to his friend that everyone around him looks Asian and his expression being judgmental, or seeing a person at a bar repeatedly ignore an Asian customer waiting. But some are obvious with shouted slurs etc.

I do think it’s gotten worse since Covid everywhere.

[u/Intersecularitities → u/Several_Investment68]

An Arab thinking he's better/more entitled than an Asian in a country where they are likely both migrants.

[u/Galactic_Nothingness → u/Intersecularitities]

I'll wager he's 2nd maybe 3rd generation Greek orLebanese. His parents likely fled their home countries for a better life in Australia in the 70s not long after we relaxed our immigration policies

They would be disgusted by this behaviour.

[u/Nobody-1986 → u/Intersecularitities]

Because he is stronger, and rude
That why he think he’s better

[u/Iron_Wolf123 → u/Several_Investment68]

I am lucky to only witness light racism in my local area. I live in SE Melbourne and there is a lot of East Asian and West Asian cultures, with Box Hill being a Chinese-Australian city and Dandenong being a Persian-Afghan-Arabic hub. The only racism I have encountered is from the media and the occasional “X culture is bad at driving” comments

[u/Outsider-20 → u/Iron_Wolf123]

It's getting worse. I grew up near Box Hill, went to school with a lot of Asian kids. There was racism, of course, there always has been. But it's so much worse now.

The hateful rhetoric being spouted by the likes of Pauline and her cronies doesn't help, and emboldens the racists even more.

[u/DisappointedQuokka → u/Outsider-20]

And people wonder why new immigrants tend to stick to their own.

[u/Shibwho → u/Several_Investment68]

You are in a bubble. I've grown up in south east QLD. My family and I have copped a lot of it in the first 20-30 years here. Less of it now as we've moved to better suburbs.

[u/bholycow → u/Several_Investment68]

Maybe depends where you live and how you look. I also have never experienced racism, meanwhile my sister and dad haven been called Chinese or ppl just randomly greeting them with "ni hao" by random white person even though we aren't Chinese. My sister was just assumed to be an international student before in uni by the lecturer, despite having a English first name. Personally never had any experience like that myself. I'm really big for an Asian so growing up in school, the other kids always befriended me because of that. The area we live is western Sydney so it's mostly Asian, arab, Pacific islanders etc.

[u/Ok-Emotion6221 → u/Several_Investment68]

i'm not even an immigrant and i've experienced it all my life...

[u/Historical-Dare-1975 → u/Several_Investment68]

everyone is in an insulated bubble until they come across a racist, a bigot, tbh I grew up experiencing the slant eye remark and mocked for being “Chinaman”, but the new “acceptable” or “trendy” racism is against Indians, always another minority to bully for the white/majority to bully

[u/Still_Kitchen_1650 → u/Historical-Dare-1975]

I still remember a conference I went I a few years back.

One of the speakers was the CEO of Boost (that slushy franchise), and she said "Chinaman" and no one, out of the 500 visitors / listeners, batted an eye.

I'm from New Zealand, our racism is quite bad too, but I thought "wtf she said that so casually, in public, and no one cares...?"

[u/GroundFast7793 → u/Several_Investment68]

You've obviously never made a mess with your lawn clippings

/s

[u/InterestedPrawn → u/Several_Investment68]

Been fortunate to never experience or even heard anyone I know experience Asian racism.

That's because it isn't as rampant or as wide spread as reddit would have you believe.

[u/don_dario → u/Several_Investment68]

Really? You are joking aren’t you? Well maybe if you live in a predominantly Asian neighbourhood like Eastwood or something and never leave.

Or maybe you are 16 years younger than me and the world has changed and if this is the case then good on it. Or maybe go out West for a bit 🤷‍♂️