ABC News director Justin Stevens says comments made by political journalist Laura Tingle at Sydney Writers' Festival did not meet the organisation's editorial standards.
I agree with her statement, my problem is that it is a very polarising statement and she knows it. It is a waste of time arguing over whether Australia is racist and what that means, but a better use of time is to work out how to make life better for Indigenous Australians and other groups Australia is potentially racist towards.
You can’t make life better for marginalised groups if you don’t accept they are being marginalised in the first place. Before anything, Australians need to confront the actual reality of their country, including its real history. Yes, that will offend the uneducated initially but it is the only true way forward.
This is the reason that the request for Truth Telling is a fundamental part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart; we need to accept the ill effects of our past on the Aboriginal population, and recognise that colonisation is still happening. Racism has a lot to do with both of those things and it can’t be tiptoed around. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, it is absolutely necessary.
I agree with her statement, my problem is that it is a very polarising statement and she knows it. It is a waste of time arguing over whether Australia is racist and what that means, but a better use of time is to work out how to make life better for Indigenous Australians and other groups Australia is potentially racist towards.
You can’t make life better for marginalised groups if you don’t accept they are being marginalised in the first place. Before anything, Australians need to confront the actual reality of their country, including its real history. Yes, that will offend the uneducated initially but it is the only true way forward.
This is the reason that the request for Truth Telling is a fundamental part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart; we need to accept the ill effects of our past on the Aboriginal population, and recognise that colonisation is still happening. Racism has a lot to do with both of those things and it can’t be tiptoed around. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, it is absolutely necessary.