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The thing that I hear a lot from people that (wilfully or not) don’t understand the impact racism can have on people, is things like ‘it’s just words’ or ‘their overreacting’ or ‘it’s just a joke’. I still see comments on social media or hear people that I work with that say these excuses. At times I’ve been called a ‘white maggot’ by indigenous people. This has absolutely no effect on me as it is just a name and just words. There’s no history of my whiteness being genocided because of being white, no history of my parents/grandparents being taken away from their families because they were white, refused jobs because of being white, being viewed suspiciously, enslaved because of being white, my culture and language being purposefully erased by the state because for being white etc. etc. etc. There is no inter-generational trauma I face because of my skin colour. The same is very different for indigenous people. For indigenous people, being called a racial slur is hundreds of years of trauma, vilification, genocide and being assumed to be ‘sub human’ which is solely based on skin colour/culture. It’s not a joke, it’s not just words, indigenous people aren’t being too ‘sensitive’, these slurs are bringing up all of that history of being thought of as sub-human which is massively alienating and hurtful. It is something white guys like me will, never, ever understand or actually be made to feel like this. It’s alien to us as in racial terms, we have always been ‘normal’ (I.e. white) Australians. Once you realise the weight of this, there is no possible way you could dismiss this as being anything other than an incredibly hurtful, cruel and hateful thing to do. In my younger days I was too scared to speak up about casual racist remarks. But now I think it’s the very least that I can do to not accept racism in any form. It’s not funny, they aren’t jokes and they aren’t ‘just words’.

sigh of relief..........just had az #2 this morning

Absolutely love this. Adam Tomlinson Back Running

The rise of Trump emboldened supremacists and racists over the globe. We never dealt with that properly and we condoned it through that silence and now it is a fire out of control. Some on here think ‘wokeness’ and PC rhetoric are shoved down their throat, well then what is the solution to this? If we can’t preach, how will the masses change their behaviour? Because the olden days of ignoring it and saying to the Eddie Betts of yesteryear “don’t make a thing of it” are over - they are done. They are as mad as hell and not taking it anymore - so what do you want to see happen - if not more ‘woke’ preaching, education in schools, clubs, workplaces, and pushing of the agenda of respect and reconciliation?

We have not won this many games since 1958. We have been this high at the end of the season since 1964. This is our best season I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. This is our time

You live in a very binary world, fd: anyone who disagrees with you is a 'Leftist'. Is there any room in your head for the idea that it's a bit more complicated than that.

Why is it that when good people call out racism for what is it is - a blight on our society - people bereft of reasonable debate, use epithets such as "leftists"? The use of such tags is just lazy and neglects to address the core of endemic racism. This is not about politics, rather it is about simply doing what is right. The number of times I have heard people say; 'I'm not racist, but.....'. The 'but' shows that such 'emperors' certainly have no clothes. I remember being at the 'G back in the 90's. The Cockatoo-Collins boys were playing for us then. 2 female MFC supporters made comments about how they were like the rest of "them" and go 'walkabout'. I was livid and let them know in no uncertain terms. It would seem not much has improved since then. As the old saying goes; the standard you walk by, is the standard you accept. This issue has nothing to do with 'politics', but is has everything to do with doing what is intrinsically the right thing to do.

Not gonna lie, he had me in tears. Had he been angry or aggressive (which btw would’ve been totally justified) it might have been easier to watch. But to watch a man who is clearly spent is so sad. The attrition has him at a point of exhaustion. That this scourge hasn’t entirely killed his resolve is unbelievable, and testament to the man he is.

@binman @george_on_the_outer

Right, but this is beside the point. People don’t oppose things for the sole purpose of making them 100% stop… you oppose them if they are morally wrong to minimise them from happening which causes harm to people. Also, this isn’t solely an issue of anonymity as Tex Walker has just been outed for racially vilifying an indigenous person. Was he anonymous when he did it? Is ALL racism in Australia committed anonymously online? No it’s not. So presenting the issue of racism as though it’s just about anonymous people online is dodging the obviously reality issue of ingrained racism in the society. I could name quite a few Australian columnists/commentators both political and sporting that are known for racism and are even known for spreading it in under their own names… which again, isn’t a case of anonymity. It’s a case of racism.

Exactly the opposite. He got a great lesson that cost nothing. Getting a lesson when you win is the best lesson you can get I’m thrilled it happened.

I disagree with this. It's the paradox of tolerance. If we want to live in a tolerant society, then we absolutely cannot tolerate the intolerant. This thread is an example of people not tolerating the intolerant. Demonlanders are standing up to say "I want to be anti-racist, and that means holding people to account when their actions enable racism in society, even if their actions aren't actively racist." I'm proud of this community.

Disrespectful post. The point here is addressing the challenge of racism, not politics. please be better.

There is no ignoring though. You either make yourself visible and live your actual life to the values that you espouse or you condone racism by being silent. If trolls want condemnation online for their sick behaviour then I’m happy to give them want they want. But I will also back up my words in real life and not tolerate this kind of hate in person too. I am mindful of people who go through racism reading forums like this and I want to show in the small way I can that I don’t accept this, be it online or in real life. If other people just say the things they mean to say online and act in real life in another way, then that’s a shameful thing to do. I mean it when I say that I call people out on their racist remarks, however small or ‘jokey’ they think they are.

"... he will be retiring following this Sunday’s Round 22 match between Fremantle and the West Coast Eagles to be played at Optus Stadium in Perth" Words that must strike terror into the collective heart of the Freo footy club.

Had both my jabs, have a GF guarantee membership and happy to turn up to watch wherever it’s played. im not missing out on our best shot in ages for anything. it’s about time the authorities consider those fully vaccinated being allowed entry into these events.

Looking at this Clio you would think he's a 100 game veteran. Ridiculously clean and his awareness is quite impressive as well.

He mentioned a politician who has acted in a racist manner historically (fact). The poster, me or anyone else is not bringing up whether we are pro, or against Trump......leftist or conservative. It is completely irrelevant to the topic of this discussion - Racism. but you are trying to deflect the topic of racism and bring in “leftist” claims and the like. you have yourself a good day matey.

You are literally the one that brought politics into this. OP referred to an individual, not a political party. Further, you regularly politicise discussions around here. Talk about projecting ...

I'd much prefer the GF be played in an empty MCG...

They won't let you in either...and don't touch the footy.

If you think those conversations can't happen with someone being offended, it seems possible that you think you should be able to hold views that are intolerant or offensive or discriminatory against some people. There is no reason a debate about those topics should offend anyone. For example, if your position about religion is "my religion says same sex couples can't get married so I choose not to", then no one is offended. If your position is "my religion says same sex couples can't get married so I think the law should prevent that" then you are intolerant of others. And as such "the paradox of tolerance" still stands: in a free and tolerant society, we can be tolerant of everything, except for those views which are intolerant, because if we tolerate them in society they will cause society to become more intolerant. With your constant politicking, response to comments about Trump, references to supposed communist countries etc. you really seem to confuse "left vs right" with "authoritarian vs anarchism/libertarianism". Clearing up that left does not equal authoritarian might help you understand the positions of other people more easily.

Gunston has a bulging disc in his back. Hasn't played since May when he injured it in his only game this year. Now going in for more surgery: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/more-back-surgery-for-gunston-amid-uncertainty-20210810-p58hld.html Definitely not what we ( or any other club for that matter) would want.

I'm not all that keen on recruiting Gunston. He's about to turn 30 and has only managed one game this year due to ongoing issues with this back. There's also the problem with him cutting himself shaving so often.

I tried to stick to facts in my apparent one line ‘ran’ but if you can’t agree on the fact Trump and Trumpism is built around racist rhetoric then we can’t agree on facts - you need to address that. Not here. But there are always established facts that don’t align with our worldview - and we need to have an answer to them - not ignore them.

I wholeheartedly agree with all above and I am eternally grateful that I live in A country where the majority of people are fair and decent. My heart goes out to all our indigenous peoples and new arrivals that are racially vilified, we have come a long way since I was a kid in the country in the 50’s and 60’s. But we still have a long long way to go. It is very hard to fully understand the hurt and anguish that racial slurs cause as we have never had to endure them but if you watched 360 last night and watched the pain and anguish that the Blues super star Eddie Betts showed it was heart wrenching. We have the power to make significant change if we are all just a bit braver and coach our children, grand children, friends snd colleagues to be more tolerant, caring and inclusive in this great society that we have all helped build.

Wow, @Colin B. Flaubert! That’s insane! My family used to watch Hey Hey It’s Saturday so it’s highly likely I watched that when it was aired. If not, then similar since that instance is obvs not isolated. I don’t remember ever giving it a second thought at the time. I may’ve even found it funny. I don’t know, I can’t remember. I was in my teens at the time and I wondered how today’s teens would react. Then I remembered I have my 16yo son home (remote schooling) so I conducted a little experiment of sorts. Without prefacing it in any way, I showed him that clip. He was utterly shocked and disgusted and stopped watching it before it even finished. This is a really positive thing IMO. It shows that while we’re probs still a long way off, there has been significant changes in attitude, at the very least, in the past 30-40 years.

This almost makes me cry. I am Australian born of Italian parents who grew up in an anglo part of Melbourne. I can't talk to their 'copping it of course' (your words) but I never, ever heard parents or family denigrate any other group, anglo or otherwise. There was a great deal of mutual respect in the community. Most of the racism came from school and the schoolyard which sadly is when the damage is inflicted on the very young and the wounds and scars reside to be triggered in the years to come. Not sure where you get your information from. Best not to generalise.

I'm willing to go back-to-back, win wherever this year and then have the full smorgasbord as you describe above in 2022.

Eddie made I believe the most salient point, "it's up to you guys, the ones watching this the ones sitting on the couch" Never has this been so simply put. We must all learn about the richness of difference and value and celebrate it not denigrate and ignore it. i also enjoyed Christians contribution, it comes from living and working with Kosi and Tony. It will provide him with a deeper understanding. We can all do better we must all do better

Seeing Eddie last night confirms just how damaging this is to the victims and its not for them to carry the burden of fighting racism, its for all of us to do so. I would like to see both our club and Adelaide wear their indigenous jumpers this weekend.

None of that is deserved.

BoBo’s summary of contextualised racism nails the distinction terrifically, particularly for those dinosaurs and brainwashed haters who hang onto their ‘white man’ grievances for grim death, and distinctions between overt undisguised racism such as Tex Walker’s, and online anonymity are equally true. The fact remains though that we ARE in a new and completely unfettered era of anonymity. What used to be graffitied on walls or stuck on posters is now online - unaccountable and pathologically designed to provoke. Despite the poison they spill and the pain it inflicts, I’m not sure that who they are is important, particularly given that what they say makes them valueless. What is certain is that if they were identifiable in the ‘real world’, 99% of them would stop. What bothers so many of us is there appears to be no way, ever, of creating or enforcing that identification or accountability. And as others have mentioned, it’s insidious in its ability to foster hatred and misinformation. But it may also be the single remaining protection for those given to antipathetic, prejudiced and bigoted behaviours, the last place they can hide. So much progress has been made, particularly in the last 3 generations, in understanding, fostering and promoting humane equity to nullify those behaviours that I believe, perhaps hope, it simply can’t be stopped. But whilst gender, sexual preference, religion and race bigotries are all becoming less practised as societally justifiable reasons for prejudice, it’s hardly odd that the pointy, grimly resistant vestiges are the noisiest and most aggressive. The softer, more influencable hearts have already shifted. If only we could bring those remainders to personal, real world account.

Still waiting for West Coast’s statement denouncing it. I’m tired of people using the excuse as “it’s too PC these days.” While I agree to an extent, this isn’t the case. It’s racism. I remember the old “stop the mosques, go the pies” banner. I hope it encouraged more people to hate Collingwood. I know it’s a unpopular opinion, but I don’t agree with all the abuse Goodes copped. Yes I don’t agree with what he did, but let’s not forget the father ALLOWED his daughter to say those racist things without stopping her. I think he was the real villain of that saga. Any of my nieces/nephews calling a person of colour an “ape” would likely be swiftly reprimanded by their parents.

Oliver Clearance.mp4 cc: @jnrmac

It's a double edged sword. We obviously need to stamp this out. As someone that works in corporate comms and risk mitigation, social media is a very tough cookie for businesses. There is now legal precedent that a business has a duty of care not only to its employees but also to the general public (ie. if someone says something defamatory about a player on a club's Facebook page, the club itself has a weight of legal responsible, should the player ever hold their own club to account). So there's both a PR benefit but also legal benefit and of course anti-racism benefit in all of this. HOWEVER... These are anonymous trolls. They are digital arsonists. They post these comments expecting and WANTING this sort of response. We are effectively tisk tisk'ing and shaking our head at ghosts: they will never be found. And it will never stop unless there is legislation banning anonymity online, which opens a whole new can of worms. So we either ignore and ban the trolls and move on, but open ourselves up to PR, legal, cultural criticism. Or, we call out the troll, tick those boxes, but give the troll what they want. This is not a battle that will be won. And I feel like we are all shaking our heads and saying "rAciSm iS nEvEr oKaY" but we're not actually fighting any real battle here to stop it. And stuck in the middle are poor kids like Kosi who cop it. Meanwhile we post a nice little statement condemning it and move on. The real issue here isn't even racism. It's the platform itself. We asked and we received.

You can see how deeply it affects indigenous people from this clip.

Really? Really!!!!!!

"It [vaccination] clearly works, so just go and get it." From a man whose son caught Covid-19 at the MCG but didn't pass it on to his vaccinated parents. See here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-11/melbourne-covid-delta-outbreak-vaccination-message/100366434?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf248432453&utm_campaign=abc_melbourne&utm_source=t.co&sf248432453=1

On the bus back from the game, there were quite a few Melbourne supporters and we all sang the team song. Of course we were loud but good natured. I was sitting near the front when two older WC women supporters got off. They said to the bus driver “ just to let you know, there are aggressive people back there, keep an eye on them”.

While talking of AFL360. They asked Petracca (who was on via zoom with Eddie) for comments. Just loved how he spoke so warmly of sharing house with Kozzie and Bedford and condemned the perpetrators of racism. Showed real empathy. While nothing compares to what our indigenous people have to endure, with his name and background I would think Petracca has experienced a bit of racism in his time as well.

I just wanted to touch on the education side of this issue - and in particular Tex Walker's apology video (sorry if this has been discussed previously). Tex Walker has a lot of work to do - his apology video makes that abundantly clear. I know he was emotional but it's unacceptable for a perpetrator to 'lean' on the victim for support and education. Hasn't the victim been through enough without having to go through the emotional labour (and potential re-traumatization) of supporting and educating the perpetrator? There are a lot of resources out there - so rather than make the victim or victimised community do the heavy lifting, take ownership and educate yourself Tex (and anyone else in his position).

I was thinking about this too. Salem is so important to how we transition the ball that most clubs are now putting time into him. All season they have been training bowser as a Salem style quarter back (though, unlike salem, he does the kick out at Casey). Smart move to bring him in now. Coz as you say shut down Salem and we have the option of playing through bowser. Apart from his kicking skills, the other thing he brings is some toe, meaning we have rivers, hunt and him for some strong overlap run and spread. This is important because that sort of overlap is critical to how we generate scores. And in finals speed is super important.

Interestingly, Eddie mentioned in that interview that Kossie was singled out during this episode. I’m sure the club is giving him every support he needs, especially from the players who respect and love him as not only one of the best players on the list, but also one of the most popular, mirroring his indigenous Demon predecessors in Davey, Farmer, Wonna and Whelan. We all need to close ranks on this disgusting behaviour. We cannot let these morons further inflame the relations with the most treasured section of our community - our indigenous brethren. It must be stopped, starting with the AFL.

it's really interesting to note that - following the aflpa press statement - that ALL indigenous players, the adelaide football club, and most of the media, are no longer referring to him as 'tex' walker methinks taylor's career might be done

Kennedy goaled from two frees that were ridiculous 1. A bump from May when he was running with the flight of the ball - front on contact - you're kidding - whats May supposed to do? Let him have a free run at it? 2. The mark by Rivers that wasn't paid and adjudged a push was wrong and pathetic. The deliberate against Brayshaw who was kicking a slippery ball on his left foot The deliberate against Lever that bounced backwards(!!) and then across the line The Spargo Play on. Petty was bumped out of a contest in the goal square when the ball was 15m away There were dozens. Nicholls is a disgrace to the game and should never umpire again.

Humans are trash and social media has just made the rubbish dump bigger. How in 2021 are we still not “woke” enough to be over this crap?

It’s so disheartening that every time we lift the lid on racism, scumbags start coming out of the woodwork. We have such a long way to go.