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blair

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blair

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blair

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Although I live and breathe Aussie Rules, I am an American citizen, and have lived my entire life in the western United States. It’s also relevant to this article to point out that I am beige in colour, and my ancestry is mostly from the British Isles, many centuries ago. I am old enough to remember the tail end of the 1960s in America, and how race relations between “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners,” as Martin Luther King Jr put it, evolved from fire hoses and the National Guard in place to integrate Deep South elementary schools into what in some places is still an uneasy détente. Most of the nation, however, reached the point where if its citizens weren’t colour blind per se, they were at least colour-tolerant for the most part.In 2008, we elected a black President. The major topic of that campaign was not his colour but his inexperience. However, his eloquence and his message of cooperation between rival factions saw him win against two good candidates from the opposition party, John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. 

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Although I live and breathe Aussie Rules, I am an American citizen, and have lived my entire life in the western United States. It’s also relevant to this article to point out that I am beige in colour, and my ancestry is mostly from the British Isles, many centuries ago. I am old enough to remember the tail end of the 1960s in America, and how race relations between “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners,” as Martin Luther King Jr put it, evolved from fire hoses and the National Guard in place to integrate Deep South elementary schools into what in some places is still an uneasy détente. Most of the nation, however, reached the point where if its citizens weren’t colour blind per se, they were at least colour-tolerant for the most part.In 2008, we elected a black President. The major topic of that campaign was not his colour but his inexperience. However, his eloquence and his message of cooperation between rival factions saw him win against two good candidates from the opposition party, John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. 

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sport brings different regions and genders togther 

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sport brings different regions and genders togther 

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blair

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In a world where religion and race cause rivalry and war, sport brings us something that nothing else even comes close to giving us, peace and unity

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In a world where religion and race cause rivalry and war, sport brings us something that nothing else even comes close to giving us, peace and unity

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blair

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different skin colour doesn't mean they're different to us

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different skin colour doesn't mean they're different to us

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blair

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no matter your background they work as a team

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no matter your background they work as a team

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Updated July 30, 2015 17:57:38

The Adam Goodes booing saga goes to the heart of this nation. And standing in the middle of it all is the Indigenous football star himself, who must wrestle with who he is, what he represents and where he's expected to take us. Tracey Holmes writes.
Play on, Adam, play on.

I can already hear the slow hand clapping. The kind that builds in pace and volume inside a sporting cauldron as an athlete prepares for a long jump and begins the run up before making an almighty leap. Today's slow hand clappers are the same people who've been booing AFL star Adam Goodes for two seasons with increasing ferocity.

If, as some expect, Goodes decides to retire with immediate effect, and not extend this drama any further, the slow hand clappers will celebrate wildly. Victory. They would have succeeded in getting an "outspoken black man" to throw in the white towel of defeat and retreat in shame.

Words previously whispered will be shouted - on air and in headlines - "the sook", "couldn't handle it", "could give it, but could not take it".

This is no small, insignificant, quirky sport-only story. This goes to the heart of this nation. This is laying Australia bare for the world to see.

Australia's number one shock jock, Alan Jones, summed it up on Macquarie radio for those in the blue corner. It's not racism, people just don't like the bloke, "they don't like his behaviour". In the red corner is the nation's Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, who describes the relentless crowd booing as "despicable behaviour" designed to silence and intimidate "someone who speaks out about racism".

Everyone from politicians to powerless punters are lining up at various grid positions along the race divide. Clearly, not all those who boo Goodes are racist. But as the weeks and months roll on, those jumping on the "boo-gooders" band wagon have become more overt in their intentions and motivations.

Standing in the middle is the Indigenous football star Adam Goodes. Should he stay - and with each game he plays, stand as a reminder of the way this country was taken from his people by white settlers? Should he retire quietly - and release the pressure valve for his teammates, his football code and his nation, apparently still too afraid to confront its violent, racist history?

Many of the Goodes supporters want him to stand up this weekend and stare down the haters. Do not give in. Last weekend's game-long attack from those in the West Coast Eagles* crowd must not be able to claim the killer blow.

If Goodes does not get off the mat and extend the fight for another round it will not just be those in the Perth crowd who have succeeded but a lifelong series of people and experiences that have no doubt put Adam where he is today, leaving him to ask the most pressing question of his career so far.

Adam is not sulking in a corner feeling sorry for himself; he is contemplating the past, the present and the future. If he stays, it gives the haters more reason to hate. If he goes, he can help stop the rot. Conversely, if he stays he continues to be a leader of people still looking for constitutional recognition, where as if he goes will he be remembered as a quitter?

There is no right or wrong answer here. This is the reality of being an athlete who is wrestling with who he is, what he represents and where he's expected to take us. He is in the unenviable position of having to decide for both his supporters and detractors.

For many Australians Adam is merely a statistic. For those Australians who've never met an Aborigine, never spent time with an Indigenous family, never invited Indigenous people into their homes, Adam is not one of us, he is one of them.

Adam is a statistic that says the AFL is great for having 10 per cent representation of Indigenous players when they make up only two percent of the Australian population; a statistic that says he's likely to die a decade before his white teammates; a statistic that says he's two and a half times more likely to commit suicide and many times more likely to end up in prison.

Adam Goodes was a child in a country where Indigenous children are locked up at 24 times the rate of white children; he'd have relatives who were stolen from their parents and has heard the stories of having their land and homes confiscated. Aborigines yesterday, like asylum seekers today, were rounded up and put on missions - for "safe keeping" under the watchful eyes of white authorities.

Playing sport has provided perhaps the biggest escape from a sad recent history but that too is under the scrutiny of the white authorities. When Victorian premier Daniel Andrews called on all premiers to ask AFL crowds to put an end to the booing, WA Premier Colin Barnett flipped the guilt.

To the AFL and to Aboriginal footballers, I think also you could back off a little bit ... don't re-enact the spear throwing ... it's provocative, it's not necessary, so both sides, get over it.

Provocative? In a way that booing isn't? In a way that "terra nullius" isn't? In a way that cutting off power and water supplies to remote communities isn't? In a way that says choosing poverty, joblessness and homelessness as a "lifestyle choice" isn't?

This was one man performing a cultural dance in a performance arena versus thousands of anonymous football fans in a cauldron chanting negatively in unison towards one man. Where lies the provocation?

Cultural celebration can only be defined as provocation if those witnessing it are fearful or ignorant. It seems there's still a lot of both in Australia. An education system that teaches both Indigenous and imported culture would stem that tide. Representation that extended beyond anomalies would also provide redress to a situation where "success" is still seen to belong to the white folk while "luck" is the provence of the few blackfellas that reach any height above the appalling statistics of many of their kin.

If provocation means holding up a mirror to see what's really there, then I, for one, am all for it.

Play on, Adam. Play on.
*Editor's note (July 30, 2015): The original version incorrectly identified the crowd as belonging to Fremantle. Tracey Holmes has focussed her career in journalism on sport and its wider implications.
Topics: australian-football-league, race-relations, aboriginal, discrimination, sport

First posted July 30, 2015 16:38:36

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Australia laid bare in Adam Goodes booing saga

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This is no small, quirky sport-only story. This goes to the heart of this nation. And standing in the middle of it all is the Indigenous football star himself, who must wrestle with who he is, what he represents and where he's expected to take us.

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makes people be friends

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Different races are celebrated through sport 

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Different races are celebrated through sport 

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Kenya

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brings countries together eg. Olympics, Tournaments, Commonwealth Games

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brings countries together eg. Olympics, Tournaments, Commonwealth Games

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Alyssa and Demi

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Tristan

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Brings fans together when celebrating a win of final

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Brings fans together when celebrating a win of final

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Kenya

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People of all ages working together, eg. players, coaches and umpire 

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People of all ages working together, eg. players, coaches and umpire 

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Alyssa and Demi

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gets families involved in the community with sports

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gets families involved in the community with sports

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tim

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Kenya

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Tristan

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Alyssa and Demi

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following the same sport as someone else

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following the same sport as someone else

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Mitchell

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Alyssa and Demi