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FEBRUARY, 2014 9:53PM
“GOOD people” who remain silent in the face of racism are guilty of collusion and must take responsibility for their actions, South Australian Senator Penny Wong says.
In a rare insight into her own experiences with racism, the Malaysian-born Labor MP, who arrived in Australia as a child in the mid-1970s, said she was confronted with overt racism that forced her to become resilient.
“I’ve been confronted by abusive people who were frightening. I have also been abused while others stood or sat silently,” she said.
Senator Wong is usually reticent about her private life, but has said in the past that racist experiences when she first arrived in Australia helped drive her into politics. She asked: “‘How long do you have to be here and how much do you have to love this country before you are accepted?”.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane said one in five Australians have experienced race hate, and that there had been an increase in racial or religious discrimination in the past year.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/nat...-formative-years/story-fnii5yv8-1226833178858
“GOOD people” who remain silent in the face of racism are guilty of collusion and must take responsibility for their actions, South Australian Senator Penny Wong says.
In a rare insight into her own experiences with racism, the Malaysian-born Labor MP, who arrived in Australia as a child in the mid-1970s, said she was confronted with overt racism that forced her to become resilient.
“I’ve been confronted by abusive people who were frightening. I have also been abused while others stood or sat silently,” she said.
Senator Wong is usually reticent about her private life, but has said in the past that racist experiences when she first arrived in Australia helped drive her into politics. She asked: “‘How long do you have to be here and how much do you have to love this country before you are accepted?”.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane said one in five Australians have experienced race hate, and that there had been an increase in racial or religious discrimination in the past year.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/nat...-formative-years/story-fnii5yv8-1226833178858