Responding to Racism

Book excerpt: The global spread of the Black Lives Matter movement has exposed the profound and wide-reaching impacts of racial injustice. Racism happens in many forms and contexts, ranging from casual to systemic racism, racial vilification and physical violence. This book looks at how the social cohesion of a culturally diverse nation like Australia is challenged by the complex and incendiary issue of racial discrimination. Topics explored include casual racism, hate speech, cyber racism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, white supremacist extremism, abuse of Asian people during the coronavirus pandemic, the influence of the BLM protest movement, and the longstanding racial justice calls by Australia’s First Nations peoples. Strategies are also offered on how to deal with racial discrimination through promoting greater awareness of legal rights and protections, as well as explaining how we as a community can manage and eliminate racism in public, at school, in sport, and online. Learn to recognise racism and respond with equality and respect for people of every race, colour and creed.