Brad Ideas - Australia, fair - Comments

African Americans in Australia

LuzTeTT — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:27:21 -0700

I'd actually like to marry an African American woman... so you've given me ideas. =P
More seriously though - education isn't entirely Australia's biggest point. But if what you're doing is covered properly here, it can't hurt to try.

LuzTeTT

African American with plans on returning to Australia

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:06:05 -0800

I am graduating from undergrad in the States in April. I spent 2 months in Australia this summer and it was amazing!! I am an African American female and I felt by-far more comfortable, accepted and welcomed in Australia than in the U.S.! I plan/hope to return to Sydney to study toward my masters and even Ph.D. and I can't wait!!!

Nah

brad — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:07:53 -0700

You're seeing the edges in some comments here. It looked pretty inviting to me, and I know many who have gone there to live and enjoyed it, though a few who haven't (more because of sexism than racism.)

Thoughts of Moving To Austrailia

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:55:54 -0700

I was just asking a few friends about moving to Austrailia from the US. I'm trying to gather all of the facts before even applying for residency. I've read some of the comments in this blog, but doesn't sound like Austrailia is very inviting, but I don't want to just hear it from someone who just speculates. Is their anyone out there who has worked temporarily over there or lived for a short time? I'd be glad to hear your comments and or recieve your email.

Cheers!
Tony

Am i going to be safe? :-|

Tavinder — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:12:46 -0700

I know a little bit about the riots in aus.. I'm a British Asian Indian... doing Medicine in Oxford... and I can tell there's quite a bit of racism to both of my nationalities over in Aussieland :(. I love that place on Neighbours, but suddenly when u look behind the facade you see the racist side of Australia and its really sad... I thought Australia was such a friendly place.

Anywhoo... I have about 4 months when I can go work in a hospital in a foriegn country... and i didnt want to go america or anywhere that doesn't speak the language i speak. No offence. I just want to work thats all and i thought Asutalia would be just fab..

You think I should be scared if i decided to go there... or would they really judge me because i was born in a particular place and by the amount of melanin in my skin?!

Really hope not... please reply need some answers soon! :)

love to all, Tav. Xxx

Is it okay for African-Americans to visit Australia?

LuzTeTT — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:01:10 -0700

Yes, definitely. Your accent will definitely tear you apart from the Aboriginals from here.
I'm sure you LOOK African-American so you won't be discriminated against...
Chances are people will be quite fond of you and treat you like a rich tourist. Believe me there's a lot of people in Australia that want to meet an African-American. I know I do. Curtis Jackson just isn't enough for me.

is it O.K. for black people to visit.

Grad student — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:44:03 -0700

I am an African-American grad journalism student from America. I was thinking about doing a study abroad in Australia but I got really scared when I studied a little about the history of the Aboriginal people. To think they weren't considered humans until 1968? Does anyone know if it is a good idea for black people not from Australia to visit the country?

A very good summary indeed.

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2006 21:13:33 -0700

A very good summary indeed. Nicely put :)

huh?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:26:13 -0800

Look, basically anywhere you go you're going to encounter racism, maybe you should start to accept that it's human nature for some to descriminate against those who are different from them, and poms (if i may be so bold, i hope not to offend anyone by the horrid discriminatory nature of the word, THE HORROR!) are not exempt from this, far from it. Maybe before pinning things like the genocide of Tasmania on australia, you should understand that was done by English soldiers who henceforth returned to England, or you should take into account that Australia's indigenous mess was kickstarted by the English. Although it's been along time since federation, strong preconceptions are hard to break, no matter what race is concerned.

Australians can be racist, then so can the English, or any other socio-cultural group (Hence why the world is such a violent place), stop being pathetic, if you don't like NZ or Australia, don't come back, i doubt anyone really cares either way.

nz racism

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 21:53:13 -0800

Racism toward the English is also alive and well here in New Zealand and appears to be the accepted 'norm'. I take great offence to being called a 'pom'and will not accept anyone calling me it in any form. If one were ever to make a comment about Maoris, Asians, or Indians etc. in the same manner there would be a riot on your hands of the biggest proportion - why is it so acceptable toward the English? The strangest thing about it is that the English admire the Aussies and Kiwis and are nothing but friendly and accomodating to them on their O/E's - it's a shame they cannot extend the same courtesy.

racist aussies

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 17:20:11 -0800

I don't know about coloureds, but the racism toward the English is the one thing that no one ever comments on (presumably because it isn't politically incorrect enough). The English are "poms" and stupid and not to be trusted, let alone spoken to or befriended. The colonial chip they have on their shoulder toward the English is gobsmacking, and the constant casual racism is finally driving me to drink (and a one-way ticket out of this racist berg).

canadas similarities with oz

TOM — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:00:23 -0800

After travelling the world pretty extensivly, i find that canada is definately the most similar place to australia i have ever been, having lived in vancouver and calgary, and now living in london uk for over a year, i think we are hardly like england at all. There are parts of sydney and melbourne i have to look twice at to make sure i havnt fallen asleep and found myself back in the great white north.

The thing that definately sets Australia appart from london is most definately the food, i have always heard that england has a bed reputation for food, and it has.
Sydney kills london in the eats department, london has a lot of nice high end places to eat, then so does sydney, then so does any of the worlds big cities. But i know that within 3 minute walk in sydney you can stumble on about 5 different nationalities cuisine, all tasting great and affordable, but in london unless your in the city, good luck. Its a pub, a fish and chip shop or a curry. A lot of the times nothing at all.

australia dont bother coming ...

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 02:23:06 -0800

its a pity we have people like Daniel and his family in this country . why tell racist jokes ? does that make you feel better about yourself ? when i was in Australia i was shocked to hear the jokes about the indiginous population its like most "aussies" know them ..
Of course you would be scared in the US (thats great)its a little to multicultural for rednecks like you . Go to new york i got got family in Flat bush Brooklyn and tell the NON WHITE people your jokes and see what happens . Dont be scared you get what you deserve :)

Race

Daniel — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:50:48 -0800

When I first moved to the US, I was shocked that I couldn't even get away with telling racist jokes. I was afraid of black people and espically Mexicans (never seen many before). And overall I'm impressed with the many laws trying to protect minorities here. When I go back to Australia, I'm now amazed that even my family will happily make jokes about Asians or any other nationality, although they mean nothing bad by them. Just strange.

I think Australian's have a

dahna — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 23:46:14 -0700

I think Australian's have a reputation as being friendly, layed-back etc, and to a point I'm sure we are, but like any culture we are made up of a lot of individuals. There is definitely a number of strains of racism that exist here- racism toward our indigenous aboriginals- this is made worse by our prime minister being unwilling to aplogise for all the atrocities that happened during colonisation, and also I racism driven by the terrorist â€œfear campaignâ€ and fear of the â€œotherâ€ is quite strong too.

We are also a very diverse group of people and there ARE, I hope, a majority that are friendly and accepting. And yes- Canadian accents rock! I friend of mine from Canada back in uni days used to get jobs in hospitality just because of his accent alone =)

Hope you had a good trip â€“ wish the weather turned it on more for you.

Australia, fair

brad — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:25:56 -0700

I’ve arrived this morning in Melbourne, a very pleasant city in which I haven’t allocated enough time, as per usual. Lots of interesting food, seems very livable with great transit, pleasant spaces and parks and architecture. And also surveillance cameras, everywhere. And warnings about stopping terrorism even though there hasn’t really been much here.

Once again I wish there were simple agencies to rent you all your tourist things so you didn’t have to pack them or worry about them. As I wished for before, there was a Vodaphone store in the airport arrivals lounge that sold me a SIM card for $30, though to get a really good deal you have to buy another $50 (AUS, 37.5 USD) of airtime.

My tour will take me now to Adelaide briefly, then up to Darwin to stay in Kakadu national park, then to Cairns (reef, of course) and finally ending in Sydney on the 17th, including speaking at the AUUG open source and unix conference on the 19th. Should be a great trip, and I’ll try to blog other observations about Australia.

Some immediate ones: Most people have told me they felt australians were great friendly people. My cab driver (black) said he loved Australia except the people were the most unfriendly in the world… Race may have something to do with this, I fear. I’m told my (barely) Canadian accent will sound sexy here.