By Peter Bugden
BISHOP Christopher Saunders is urging the “silent majority” to fight racism from their lounge rooms.
Bishop Saunders, whose Diocese of Broome in Western Australia has a high indigenous population and who was appalled by recent racist treatment of Sydney Swans AFL star Adam Goodes by “football yobbos” and “a vocal minority” – has made the call in a letter to parishes this weekend.
Goodes withdrew from the Swans game last weekend after he had been subjected to continued booing and taunts during AFL matches.
The situation had reached a head for him the previous weekend during the Swans’ game against West Coast in Perth, sparking a national debate.
Already incensed by the treatment of the dual Brownlow Medallist and 2014 Australian of the Year, Bishop Saunders was further prompted to act after a chat with a group of young Aboriginal men in his diocese in north-western Australia who said they were “deeply offended” by the racist treatment of Goodes.
He decided to write a letter to the parishes of the diocese, asking “where do we stand on racism”?
“Do we stand with Jesus Christ?” he asked.
“Or, do we stand with the yobbos?”
Then the bishop suggested a practical response.
“If you’re watching your favourite football code on TV and you hear booing in the crowd like this again, turn your TV off,” he said.
“And ring the station and tell them what you’ve done and why.
“If I hear it again, that’s certainly what I’ll be doing, and I’ll ring the TV station and let them know.
“If enough people do that, they’ll soon take notice.”
The bishop, who until recently had chaired the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council and the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, said the Goodes situation had “uncovered a suppurating sore in the Australian psyche that’s been there for 200 years”.
“It appears there’s latent racism … and it has come out in these football yobbos,” he said.
“I believe the majority of people in this country are capable of practising moral worth and are deeply offended (by the racist treatment of Goodes), but there’s a vocal minority.
“I think the silent majority who understand what moral worth is about need to have their say.
“Every team in the AFL and every AFL player should stand up and condemn racism, and it will take oxygen away from these vocal minority.”
Centacare Brisbane’s Murri Ministry co-ordinator Ravina Waldren said “it’s just so ridiculous in 2015 that we’re still talking about whether this is racism or not”.
She said she was disappointed with sections of the media that pushed hard to deny racism.
“And top sport players, even (Shane Warne) Warnie was challenging Goodes and saying he shouldn’t have been named Australian of the Year,” she said.
“It’s terrible to think we’re still dealing with this stuff.”
Ms Waldren said it was wonderful, though, to see the support being offered to Goodes by other AFL players and other leading sports people.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council chair Thelma Parker, of Mt Isa, has spoken out in support of Goodes and the stand he has taken.
“Have you ever been to work and been booed by 50,000 people while trying to do your job?” she asked.
“Adam Goodes is facing it every week.
“I am proud of Adam Goodes and what he is facing up to.
“He is sacrificing his career to stand up for himself and his people.”
Ms Parker said Goodes “deserves to be able to live his life without constant criticism and analysis”.
“For a young Aboriginal man that is a role model at a national level, he should be afforded the respect to continue to share his natural gifts, ability and natural talents,” she said.
“He is a being ridiculed for showing pride in his culture.
“Our young people need to know that they should be proud of who they are.”
Ms Parker said Australians needed to “continue to work towards the concept of ‘practical racism’”.
“Practical racism means that Australia’s first people have the same opportunities as everyone else on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
“It means that an Aboriginal man can express his feelings and opinions without being chastised mercilessly.
“It means that we, as a contemporary modern society accept that Aboriginal and Islander people have different views on issues such as Australia Day and the concept of racism, and that is okay.
“It is important to remember that there are Aboriginal people facing the same, and sometimes greater, challenges than Adam that don’t have a public profile.
“Let’s let Adam do what he does best and continue to be a proud and inspirational man, but at the same time remember those that are living in third world conditions and suffering domestic violence and a suicide epidemic in our own communities.”
