From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 14 June

I do not understand racism. I ponder it, regularly, and I find myself asking the same question: What causes someone to hate the blacks, the Jews, homosexuals, foreigners, and the Muslims.

STILL, there are those who hate Catholics, or the ‘Romans’ as they were known, pejoratively. Post WW2, government employment advertisements carried the specification: ‘Catholics and Jews need not apply’. If Catholics risked applying, and failed the Church of England version of the Lord’s Prayer test, they were shown the door, in no uncertain terms.

I was brought up by parents who did not notice the colour of people’s skin. Often times, my mother, Beria, shared whatever she had – which was little in the early days – with those in need, including the peripatetic Wongi people who lived in the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. My father, Ginger, wanted to marry Tessa, a half-caste as they were called, but she was not interested. According to my mother, Tessa broke his heart.

The murder of the African American, George Floyd, and the subsequent international eruption of protests demanding justice, is cause for serious reflection, by everyone. Disgruntled interest groups notwithstanding, the protests are a physical manifestation spawned by centuries of racial inequity against African Americans. The genesis of the bigotry can be traced back to the American slave trade.

Simplistically, and for the greater part of the 20th century, the majority of Australians believed the Aboriginal people were stone-age primitives to be hounded and excluded, at all levels of society; the Chinese males were opium addicts who wore their hair in a single, plaited pigtail, and were best suited to running laundries, restaurants and gambling dens; the Afghans were capable only of driving camel teams; the Italians and Greeks lived on the smell of an oily rag, carried knives, and were not to be trusted; those from the subcontinent were simpletons. In 1976, following the end of the Vietnam War, the first Vietnamese boat people arrived on our shores and immediately became the focus of virulent racial discrimination. Today, the Muslims are squarely in the crosshairs of white, xenophobic abuse.

Post-war baby boomers embraced Prime Minister Robert – ‘pig iron Bob’ – Menzies’ fixation with the White Australia Policy (Immigration Restriction Act 1901) with alacrity; although, on reflection, it is difficult to recall any serious discussion. The propaganda was peddled, and accepted, as being vital for the country, and Menzies had successfully unsettled the nation’s ethos with the dangers of the ‘Yellow Peril from the North’, and ‘Reds Under The Bed’. The blatant nationalism was widespread. A white Australian immigration officer – a true son of the Empire – routinely assessing Calabrians for suitability, disqualified an applicant on the grounds he was short, hairy, swarthy, and “he looks like an Ape”. Physically objectionable interviewees were subjected to a 50-word dictation test in any of the twenty-four official European languages, a test which every Australian, then and now, would fail.

It has been said that Australia is nation of comfortable racists. A white South African immigrant, when asked why some many of them were moving to Western Australia, commented, “Because you know how to treat your blacks.” Psychologists and physiatrist have differing explanations for racism; however, on one thing there is no divergence of view. Racism is taught from an early age, and, governed by degree, it develops into various dangerous, anti-social emotional anomalies. Sadly, it will not change in most of our lifetimes, but governments and educationalists must begin the process of inculcation; to teach our children not to follow in our wake. The ugly blight on society has to be eradicated, no matter the cost. We have to believe that all men and women are created equal regardless of colour, creed or race. We have to be prepared to defend the unalienable human Rights of every other person.  Pax Vobiscum.

Roland can be heard on RADIO 3BA, every Monday morning, 10.45 or contacted via [email protected].