Are Australians racist? I’ve been trying to bait them for years

That Australian Jews are concerned, even scared, by events locally and globally since October 7 is no surprise. “See, they hate us,” is a common lament, a confirmation of what Jews have felt for millennia, for good reason, but has rarely previously been felt in Australia. 

Over the past few months, we have seen a synagogue burned and two others attacked, antisemitic graffiti, cars set on fire and even two nurses boasting about killing Israelis. Such cases reignite a latent pervasive fear. 

But are these cases a reflection of a broader antisemitic feelings among Australians or limited to a relatively small number of disgruntled individuals. Is Australia a racist country? 

In hundreds of focus groups and interviews over 25 years I have asked this question of a representative sample of Australians. In each case their common response was a resounding “yes, we are racist”. Then I tried to break down the generalist opinion by asking for examples. I asked those with an obvious minority appearance, to share anecdotes and experiences. Most had experienced some kind of racism, their answers, however, were mostly unremarkable. Things like, ‘Someone shouted at our family at a picnic’ or ‘We were walking along and a car stopped, and someone screamed some racist things at us’.  

While ugly and intimidating, these cases merely signify that we are a society with some horrible people in it, and not that we are necessarily a racist country. 

In these discussions, I tried to create an atmosphere that would enable people to express controversial views, to see if I could uncover racism. With rare exceptions, I couldn’t bait people to be racist. There is just not significant deep racist sentiment out there. The anonymity of on-line communities allows for the flourishing of racist commentary, which is disturbing and hurtful but unrepresentative.