Red street signs with the simple message, ‘Racism Not Welcome’, are part of a wider #RacismNotWelcome community campaign devised by the Inner West Multicultural Network.
Recently on the receiving end of a vitriolic letter targeting him on the basis of his race, Councillor Kun Huang will ask Cumberland Council at tomorrow night’s meeting to join the campaign “to send a clear message to the public that racism is not welcome in our local community”.
“Over the past 12 months, there has been an alarming increase in reports of racial abuse and violence against Asian Australians. I know it all too well from personal experience,” he said.
“Australia is a great multicultural country but it will never reach its full potential if discrimination and racism are part of our daily lives.”
One of the prominent voices behind the #RacismNotWelcome campaign is former Socceroos captain and human rights campaigner Craig Foster, who said that while racism was still something of a taboo subject it needed to be confronted “local government area by local government area”.
He said a rising number of Australians in all communities were experiencing racism today everyone needed to act to confront the issue.
“We need to stand together as communities to say that’s not on,” he said.
“We talk at length about harmony and multiculturalism and our pride in diversity, but that multiculturalism is only authentic to the degree that we call out the racism that a percentage of our community receives.
“That means having these important conversations at a local community level, where all of our interactions make a difference to Australian lives every day.”
