Rednecks the World Over

I am vehemently against racism. Growing up during apartheid in South Africa, just about everybody I know is too – nobody can stand bigots and racists.

I heard a story yesterday that reminded me no matter where you go, you will always find a few.

Pigs’ heads on stakes draped in an Australian flag were placed at the site of a proposed Islamic school yesterday in country Australia. The amazing thing is that people don’t seem completely outraged. There is an undercurrent of muslim hatred in this country that has evidenced itself in other forms before, and it’s completely sickening. The trouble in Aus is that the minorities really are just that – small minorities, and so it’s so easy to ignore them.

Why do some people think they are ‘the chosen ones’ – why do (some) Australians find it so hard to apologise to the Aboriginals about the stolen generations? We find it so hard to live with people – even just ’sharing’ a country as big as this is a challenge – people mistrust those of a different ethnicity than themselves. It’s so unbelievable that we have not learnt from those mistakes after history has shown us that it’s wrong.

I wonder if we’ll ever learn to live together?