Racial Discrimination

What is Racial Discrimination?

Racial discrimination is when a person is treated less favourably than another person in a similar situation because of their race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status.

For example, it would be ‘direct discrimination’ if a real estate agent refuses to rent a house to a person because they are of a particular racial background or skin colour.

It is also racial discrimination when there is a rule or policy that is the same for everyone but has an unfair effect on people of a particular race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status.

This is called ‘indirect discrimination’.

For example, it may be indirect racial discrimination if a company says that employees must not wear hats or other headwear at work, as this is likely to have an unfair effect on people from some racial/ethnic backgrounds.

What is racial hatred or racial vilification?

Racial hatred (sometimes referred to as vilification) is doing something in public based on the race, colour, national or ethnic origin of a person or group of people which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate.

Examples of racial hatred may include:

• racially offensive material on the internet, including eforums, blogs, social networking sites and video sharing sites
• racially offensive comments or images in a newspaper, magazine or other publication such as a leaflet or flyer
• racially offensive speeches at a public rally
• racially abusive comments in a public place, such as a shop, workplace, park, on public transport or at school
• racially abusive comments at sporting events by players, spectators, coaches or officials.

What about discrimination and harassment at work?

The Racial Discrimination Act covers situations where you feel that, because of your race, you have been:

• refused employment
• dismissed
• denied a promotion, transfer or other employment-related benefits
• given less favourable terms or conditions of employment
• denied equal access to training opportunities
• selected for redundancy
• harassed.

It doesn’t matter if you are applying for a job, are an apprentice or trainee, on probation, work part-time or full-time, or if you are a casual or permanent employee – you are protected by the Act.

The law covers all types of employers, including: the Commonwealth and state governments; the private sector; as well as contract and commission-based work; and recruitment and employment agencies.

Employers have a legal responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent racial discrimination and should have policies and programs in place to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace.

When is racial hatred not against the law?

he Racial Discrimination Act aims to strike a balance between the right to communicate freely (‘freedom of speech’) and the right to live free from racial hatred or vilification.

To strike this balance, the Act outlines some things that are not against the law, provided they are ‘done reasonably and in good faith’ - even if they are done in public.
Under the Act, the things that are not against the law if they are “done reasonably and in good faith” are:

• an artistic work or performance – for example, a play in which racially offensive attitudes are expressed by a character.
• a statement, publication, discussion or debate made for genuine academic or scientific purposes – for example, discussing and debating public policy such as immigration, multiculturalism or special measures for particular groups.
• making a fair and accurate report on a matter of public interest – for example, a fair report in a newspaper about racially offensive conduct.
• making a fair comment, if the comment is an expression of a person’s genuine belief.

Source: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/publications/know-your-rights-racial-discrimination-and-vilification

MY OPINION:

To be honest, I really hate racial discrimination because I see this as an act of immaturity. Why would you even implicate a person's race when it doesn't even relate to anything. If you see through the situation, race is a very beautiful creation of God because through this you can see the physical beauty and creativity of both the creator and the one that is created. Not just because a person is different from you through skin color, or with any physical appearance is that you can already judge him/her. Attitude should be what's based on the person not the skin color it's because it's okay to have a different color than a man judging  other races who thinks he's far more superior than those people. So we should stop basing everything through colour but we should base it on what's inside the person's heart because we see there the true beauty of one individual.