One But Many

As I take one last look over the Hollywood Hills, my Uber timely pulls up. Greeted by a smiley American, we head back down to West Hollywood. “Where are you from?”, he asks making conversation. “I’m from Australia,” I casually reply back. “No you’re not,” he laughs.
I reassure him once more that I am with my perfect Sydney accent but he laughs it off again. “No but you look…” signalling my face as he looks at me, expecting me to give up the joke, Aka my identity.

Aussie

What does it mean to be Australian?

Google defines it as ‘a native or inhabitant of Australia, or a person of Australian descent.’
Well I guess most of us living here are Australian by definition then. Well how about an Australian Citizen then?
‘Being born in Australia or having gained Australian Citizenship‘
So I fit this category, right? Yet why do I find myself feeling like an outsider at times? Let’s explore.

The White Australia Policy

In 1901, the Australian Federal Government passed the Immigration Restriction Act 
, aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders from immigrating to the country.
The idea was to stop ‘outsiders‘ from coming into the country during the Gold Rush so that they couldn’t take precious items, sound familiar, no? This caused a ton of discrimination from the anglo saxons towards other ethnic groups, one of the worst cases being documented in 1861 when a few thousand Caucasian miners carrying anti-Chinese banners attacked and set fire to a nearby Chinese camp. The result of acts such as these resulted to thousands of Chinese being injured, assaulted and in danger for their lives. Propaganda posters where drawn, negatively depicting Chinese as vile and buck toothed creatures, ready to take over the country. What happened to mateship?

It was only 74 years later when the Whitlam Government passed the Racial Discrimination Act. This was a right step forwarding, making racially-based selection criteria unlawful but the damage had already been done. Australia was now a white and proud nation.

The “Standard Australian” in our media

Going back to my encounter with the uber driver during my US visit, I couldn’t believe his ignorance but at the same time I understood why he said that.
Having worked as a filmmaker and actor for the past five years now, it’s easy to see how our Australian content carefully crafted for the global audience. Our biggest films: Crocodile Dundee, Australia, Wolf Creek, Red Dog all feature Caucasian actors as the leads. Our biggest stars: Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, the Hemsworth brothers, Cate Blanchett and Paul Hogan all have a very similar ‘Aussie’ vibe to them. Further driving the point is in 2008 when our country globally released one of it’s biggest films ‘AUSTRALIA’ featuring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman galloping through the outback.
It’s clear that media and particularly the medium of film is a powerful enforcer of people’s perceptions. The blond hair and blue eye narrative has been pushed ever since the countries conception but what about the rest of us ethnic Australians’ with our dark hair and dark eyes? Where do we fit in?

‘ Go Back to Your Own Country ‘

Two years ago my girlfriend tagged me in a Facebook video which showed a Caucasian woman yelling at an Asian man on a train. ‘Go back to ya ownn country’ ‘I wos born and bred heree, what about you huh?‘ I’m sure if your ethnic you or you’ve known someone who’s had this ignorant line slung on.

In 2015 I was also involved in one of those incidents. I was on my way home from work and a young Caucasian lad had been impatiently tailgating me during traffic hour. Suddenly halted my brakes and soon we got into a wordy argument until he finally pulled out the golden line.

 ‘Go back to your own country’

Which I replied angrily ‘What do you mean? I was born here‘.

Dissatisfied, He flicked his hand and zoomed off. I knew exactly what he meant but still this line has always been to be frank – extremely stupid. Almost all of our ancestors came here from other countries, I assume his came from somewhere in the UK. I feel like only the indigenous Australians (the true custodians of the land) have any right to say anything about this matter but even then would they use such a line?
Racism doesn’t always present itself so upfront here in this country. Growing up with Australian culture, I noticed we seem to enjoy ‘taking the piss’ out of almost every situation. It’s almost like our humour is built of this, This leads to a lot of casual racism in their daily lives. I remember I was listening to 96.1FM with Mike-E and Emma and they were talking with an Indian woman about her life. Without any consideration goes ‘She masala be very happy‘ . The other hosts, a person of colour, gasp but said nothing.
More recently I was watching a trailer for an indie film which I won’t name. However the story was a ‘hearty’ coming of age about a group of young Caucasian guys. During one part of the trailer they are shown in a taxi with a stereotypically looking Asian guy being the driver. With his thick rimmed glasses and broken accent, he awkwardly states ‘ So.. what-is-goal-of-party?‘
Harmless fun, right?

Going around the twist

” There are a lot of other people who live in this neighborhood but they purposely picked — two individuals purposely picked on an Asian woman, Asian senior to commit this heinous crime. There’s no other reason other than it’s a hate crime.”
– Community leader, Don Lee

Picture this: the year is 2020 and most of us has been notified of a new virus, specifically coming out of China. Something about someone eating a bat or some shit. No one bats an eye until a few months later when the entire world is panic. Millions of people start dying, millions more are infected and who is to blame for this? the collective Chinese of course.
Suddenly, global Asian hate crimes went through the roof. I scrolled through media sites daily only to see Asian grandma’s being set on fire on their way home, girls being spat at on the street, restaurants prohibiting ‘Chinese’ from entering their shops, countries even banning ‘Chinese’. It was clear that we were also seen as a ‘virus’. People would side step me in pathways, friends told me about their family members receiving abuse from strangers. One of my dad’s friends even remarked ‘I’m now sick all because you guys ate the bat!’.

The New Generation

There are many things which I curse our new generation for: our obsession with social media, new aged music and $15 smashed avocado toasts. However one thing I can commend is the inclusiveness when it comes to diversity in our everyday lives.
The new generation are a very progressive bunch. I’ve met so many younger people who are very accepting of all cultures, sexualities, religions and faiths. They’re passionate on calling out mistakes of the past while fighting for a better future. It’ the same ‘s very similar with our current shows and films which are pushing forward diverse stories and characters. If you have an account on any Australian streaming platform then you’ll see a plethora of shows with diverse characters, especially leads. Where starting to see more of the ‘reality’ of our richly multicultural nation. It’s like how I always say, it only takes a few generations change the perception of something and so far it’s looking very hopeful.

In high school we learnt about Australia’s 21st prime minister, Gough Whitlam. One thing that stuck with me was his 1972 political campaign with the iconic slogan ”It’s Time’. The slogan represented a evolving era  ‘a new vision for Australian society: a multiculturalism that sought to celebrate ethnic and racial difference rather than suppress it‘.

I that now think ‘it’s time‘ we did the same again.

Australia is one of the most richly multicultural countries in the world. Just take a walk around any CBD and you’ll see people from all nationalities sharing stories and cultures. It’s a bloody great place at times, it’s my home and to finish off by quoting infamous Australian song:

” We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian. “

Written by Marshall-Weishuai Yuan