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Racial Discrimination Demanding a Difference 

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Racial Discrimination Demanding a Difference 

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Racism. The term that either brings you back to years of pain and suffering or the term that you like to pretend you understand. For most Caucasian’s racism is something they will never understand- not because they don’t know what it is, but because they have never fallen victim to the hate of their peers. Mateship. A term that many Australian’s embrace and believe they possess. However, is it truly right to say Australia’s value of mateship truly exists when racism is still alive and destroying the lives of many? Racism is very much alive today and we need to become a better society. We need to take action and allow for workplace equality, defeat segregation and stop racial attitudes in order to achieve true mateship.

The film Hidden Figures, directed and written by Theodore Melfi in 2016, is based on a true story of three African American women working at NASA. The film explores the theme of racial discrimination through the main characters Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn. The three women all have exceptional intellect and work as ‘computers’ for NASA.

The film positions the audience to develop a new understanding of white American’s discrimination of African American people. This racism replicates the treatment of Indigenous Australians in today’s society.

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(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia)

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Katherine is reassigned from the coloured computing group to the white computing group due to her expert knowledge in mathematics. Katherine is asked by Mr Harrison, Katherine’s boss, to double check Paul Stafford’s calculations. Paul is offended by this order and is not willing to give up his white male privileges for an African American woman. He sternly states, “I can handle that”. As the long shot of Paul’s disgusted face and Katherine's astonished face is presented to me, I feel so angry. How can someone be so upset with another all because of their skin colour?

The representation of African American people in Hidden Figures mirrors Indigenous Australians. A 2011 survey researched academic staff in higher education and revealed that 70% of Aboriginal academic and professional staff had experienced discrimination in their workplace. This statistic relates to the discrimination Katherine faced despite excelling in her workplace. See link attached below for more information concerning racial discrimination within Australia.

We must work to achieve workplace equality. It is a human right to be equal in society therefore we need to protect these human rights and allow for equal opportunity within the workforce. It is simply not enough to have a multicultural workplace and not allow those of colour to reach their full potential.

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(https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racial-discrimination-in-australia)

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Dorothy is in the library searching for a book, however, she is looking in the ‘white only’ section. The librarian tells Dorothy “we don’t want any trouble here”. This reinforces the segregation present and represents the fear whites had of coloured. The close up of Dorothy’s awestruck face makes me feel so sorry for Dorothy. I just want to hug her and tell her everything will be okay. Although I know everything won’t be okay. Dorothy once again fell victim to the segregation present between coloured and non-coloured.

I liken the idea of judging those for their skin colour to the idea of judging someone based on the colour of their t-shirt. It would be crazy to judge someone for the colour of their t-shirt so why is judging someone based off their skin colour not considered as crazy?

As Caucasians we automatically have an attitude present that we are better than those of colour. but this is not right! We must break down this segregation and embrace those in our society or else we can’t say our country is built off mateship.

Elizabeth Jones, an Aboriginal woman, tells the story of how one year on reconciliation week, nobody showed up to her mother’s activities; “On enquiring as to why this was my mother was surprised to hear someone respond — ‘I am sorry but we did turn up and after only a few minutes someone had called the police concerned there was a bunch of black people congregating in the park and we were asked to move on’. See link attached below for further stories like these.

This is no extraordinary story, this is just another tail of Indigenous Australians being discriminated against. So why is this? Why do our traditional custodians of the land face everyday discrimination? And why is nothing being done?

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(https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/02/27/10-times-indigenous-australians-have-experienced-everyday-racism)

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The three women featured in the film smiled through each day and stayed quiet because that was their norm. This leaves the question of how many of us in Australia are smiling through each day despite being discriminated against. Constant racism directed towards one group of people can also lead to major mental health impacts. Some including psychological distress, anxiety and depression. See link below for article regarding mental health impacts of racism.

Mary defied her norm when she is granted permission from the city of Hampton to join an all-white male school to fulfil her dream of being an engineer. As Mary makes her statement to the court as to why she wants to attend this school, a full shot allows the audience to feel the power the judge has over Mary. Her future is truly in his hands. The Judge is positioned higher than Mary to symbolises her being inferior to the white male Judge.

Another survey conducted in 2017 by the Western Sydney University found that two thirds of Aboriginal people reported being called names and being treated with a lack of trust and respect. It is of paramount importance that we work together as a society and encourage others to stop these racist attitudes.

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(https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ResourceCentre/PublicationsandResources/Discrimination/Mental-health-impacts_racial-discrim_Indigenous.pdf?la=en&hash=AE2B376D4497D0D0C8F8B6EFEF03E33763328FA8)

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(https://quizlet.com/)

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Racism is an issue that is alive today, but I know we can stop the discrimination many people face daily. Hidden Figures demonstrated the pain that three women faced due to this discrimination and allowed for audiences to want to take action in their own community. When we allow for equality in the workplace, break down the segregated walls and stop societies racial attitudes, then and only then we will achieve true mateship

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Australian Human Rights Comission. (2014). Know your rights: Aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/knowyourrights_indigenous_2014.pdf

Korff, J. (2019, February 21). Racial discrimination in Australia. Retrieved from Creative Spirits: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racial-discrimination-in-australia

Morelli, L. (2017, March 2). 10 times Indigenous Australians have experienced 'everyday' racism. Retrieved from SBS: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/02/27/10-times-indigenous-australians-have-experienced-everyday-racism

National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling. (2011). Indigenous Disadvantage. Retrieved from https://www.natsem.canberra.edu.au/research/research-areas/indigenous-disadvantage/

Victoria Health. (2007). Mental health impacts of racial discrimination. Retrieved from https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/-/media/ResourceCentre/PublicationsandResources/Discrimination/Mental-health-impacts_racial-discrim_Indigenous.pdf?la=en&hash=AE2B376D4497D0D0C8F8B6EFEF03E33763328FA8