Whilst many have focused on the existence of racism in Australia, and whether Australia may or may not be a racist country, one cannot forget that racism is also recognised as a significant stressor for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. According to research investigating attitudes and culture, one in eight Australians admit to adopting racist attitudes (Forrest & Dunn, 2006), and expressions of such attitudes can threaten the wellbeing of those targeted by them. A large body of research has emerged attesting to the negative impact of racism on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and youth, with racism being associated with:
- Lower levels of mental and physical health (Larson, Gillies, Howard, & Coffin, 2007)
- Increased risk of clinically significant emotional and behavioural problems, ill-health behaviours (e.g., alcoholism, drug use), and suicidal thoughts (Zubrick et al., 2006)
- Increased stress and depression (Paradies & Cunninham, 2010)
- Increased risk of poorer health for children whose parents had experienced racism (Priest, Paradies, Stevens & Baile, 2010)
- Greater perceived barriers to life expectations and goals (Parente, Craven & Munns, 2003), lower school grades, and higher school disengagement (Bodkin-Andrews, O’Rourke, Grant, Denson & Craven, 2010).
One of the first researchers into the psychology of racism, Gordon Allport (1954), highlighted a wide range of responses individuals may utilise when faced with the continual bombardment of society’s negative stereotypes and racism. Many of these responses held distinctly negative connotations, such as withdrawal (e.g., school disengagement), denial of one’s own identity (e.g., self-hate), self-fulfilling prophecies (internalisation of racism), and possible neuroticism, to name but a few. Allport acknowledged that it is near impossible to act with indifference against the negative expectations and discriminative abuse associated with racism. What is critical though is that adaptive psychological strategies be identified, for as stated by Watts-Jones (2002, p. 593), from a psychological perspective, the wound of racism is shame or “the shame of being shamed… Transforming the pain and shame…requires us to look deeply and be present with it… witnessing our pain with the eyes of compassion is healing… it is an act that takes us further into strength and healing” (Watts-Jones, 2002).
Identifying agents of resiliency against the stress of racism is considered essential for the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Kelly et al., 2009). While researchers have identified a number of positive intervention strategies to counter racism in Australia (Pedersen, Walker, Paradies & Guerin, 2011), much could also be learnt from the personal experiences of high achieving Aboriginal Australians who have encountered racism in their own lives. A recent research project funded through an ARC Indigenous Researchers Development Grant, Bubalamai Bawa Gumada (‘Healing the Wounds of the Heart’), was dedicated to identifying agents of resiliency against racism in Aboriginal Australians.
Combating racism: Bubalamai Bawa Gumada
The Bubalamai Bawa Gumada project explored how high achieving Aboriginal Australian representatives experienced and countered racism. A series of interviews were conducted with high achieving Indigenous Australians from numerous Aboriginal nations (e.g., D’harawal, Cadigal, Thungutti, Ngunnawal) about their experiences of racism and how they overcame this. Interviews were conducted with 22 participants (10 male; 12 female), including Elders, artists, academics, business owners and CEOs. A number of diverse yet reciprocally strengthening strategies arose within the project.
Acknowledging racism
One of the strongest themes was the need to acknowledge racism within Australia, and its continuing impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. One participant captured this need when she explained how not acknowledging racism negatively influenced her perceptions of herself and her life.
|
"As a victim of racism, I had automatically assumed that every non-indigenous person was automatically better than me. So they automatically had better houses, better cars, better moral values... I'm coming in at that victim level… I'm expecting that they will be superior to me in some way."
University lecturer and unit coordinator
|
Emotional distancing
All participants evidenced the need to emotionally distance oneself from racism. The key strategy for this was through the process of externalising racism to be the fault of the racist.
|
"I've been dealing with it for so long I just think you've got to just assume that the person is sick. Do you know what I mean? The person that makes that comment is a sick person. They are generally – they may be highly educated – but they're uneducated..."
Centre director
|
That racism was a sickness was raised by numerous participants, and served the purpose of not only externalising the negativity of racism, but also raised hope for decreasing racism in the future.
|
"Out of understanding will come a respect for the difference… it is respect for difference, in my mind, that is the aspro to cure the headache of racism…"
Government manager
|
Staying positive
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to keep a positive outlook despite the adversity of racism, and this was recognised throughout the interviews, although the tension of maintaining such positivity was evident in some.
|
"Don't let the bastards grind you down. That was the one thing I would tell myself time after time… I would just say that and try and just get a bit more resilient…"
University tutor and lecturer
|
Sense of identity
Aligned to staying positive was also the need to maintain and promote Aboriginal identity. Whilst most participants framed this theme as being proud of one’s Aboriginality, an Elder explained that such pride is comprised of many sources.
|
"You have the ability to walk into anything that you would like to do, because there are people before you who had fought for your rights.... Whether it was the Charlie Perkins of the world, whether it was your Nan, it is somebody who has stood up and said, we are who we are. We’re Aboriginal and we will stand up and be counted…"
Dhungutti Aboriginal Elder
|
Seeking support
A prominent theme was the necessity of having people who you can trust, and who you can turn to. The theme of seeking social support was often framed to help avoid internal tensions and responding to racism in a detrimental manner.
|
"Offload that incident immediately to your best friends. Do not hold it and let it fester. Have a joke with another Koori who will laugh with you and get rid of it. Do you know what I mean? Just disburse it from your system, disburse it from your being..."
Chief Executive Officer
|
Staying calm
As alluded to within the theme of seeking support, the immediate emotional impact of racism was recognised by participants, and none supported responding in a violent manner. Although empathy for anger was expressed by the participants, they argued that violent responses would merely perpetuate and reinforce racism. Instead, participants spoke of waiting until they were in control, as was clearly explained.
|
"The best advice I can give is count to 10 and take a big breath before you respond, because your response is going to be important to you for the rest of your life… acting in anger is not always the best way to conduct yourself, although sometimes you can't help that."
Member of Parliament
|
Challenging racism
The final theme to emerge was arguably the most powerful and also drew on the strengths promoted by the previous strategies. With recognising the need to acknowledge racism comes the responsibility for action, and with aggression being refuted by all participants, the theme emerged to engage racism through personal empowerment.
|
"…of course you're going to get taunts and racism along the way from that… And that makes you a better person. Like, if you take it all aboard, then you can come right and deal with it in different ways. You can deal with it then..."
Aboriginal artist and business owner
|
In nearly every instance, such empowerment was attained through challenging racism by not meeting its negative expectations, as an Elder explained from her own life experience.
|
"I had a headmistress at school who hated me – she hated my mum. After my mum died, she sent a letter home to my father saying that I may as well leave school...That upset me… I planned and I waited and waited and when I got my first degree… I took it back to her and showed her... The revenge is there. You don’t have to be physical about it and you don’t have to be nasty about it. You can just prove they’re wrong."
D’harawal Aboriginal Elder
|
Conclusion
The voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people provide vital insights into buffering the impact of racism for both adults and youth. Whilst numerous strategies were identified within the interviews conducted for the Bubalamai Bawa Gumada project, there was no simple one-stop solution for mediating the negative effects of racism. Reminiscent of the diversity of anti-racism strategies identified by Pedersen et al. (2011), supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders requires psychologists hearing the wisdom within Aboriginal voices to develop multiple strategies towards promoting resiliency.
A number of the Aboriginal participants agreed to be re-interviewed for the Healing the Wounds of the Heart documentary, which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0RosRz_HtQ
The first author can be contacted at [email protected]