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Generation Next 2014: The Impact of Racism on Young People’s Well-Being

Children's Rights


Megan Mitchell
National Children’s Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

 

Bond University
Friday 25 July 2014


Introduction:

I would like to begin by thanking Generation Next, and Dr Ramesh Monacha, for inviting me to speak today. Thank you also to Andrew for the kind introduction.

I also acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this conference takes place, and I pay my respects to elders both past and present.

Although there have been Children’s Commissioners and Guardians in the states and territories for a few years, my appointment last year was as the first National Children’s Commissioner in Australia. This was a long awaited recognition that children need a strong advocate at the national level to ensure that the interests and rights of Australian children are being protected.

And as National Children’s Commissioner, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides the main impetus for my work.

The Convention provides a comprehensive framework, covering a wide spectrum of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights to be enjoyed by children. The Convention makes it clear that children have the same human rights as adults but that they are also entitled to special protection because of their unique vulnerabilities as children.

Australia ratified the Convention in 1990 and in so doing agreed to uphold the rights of all children in Australia. This year the Convention celebrates 25 years as part of the international system of human rights law.

The Convention requires Australia to ensure every child’s survival and development and recognises that this right must be achieved across the full spectrum of physical, emotional and social well-being.

A number of the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are of particular importance to the issue of racism and how it affects young people’s wellbeing. The Convention’s four guiding principles are especially instructive on this score:

They are:

  • The right to non-discrimination (Article 2)

  • The child’s best interests as a primary consideration (Article 3)

  • The right to life, survival and development (Article 6)

  • Respect for the views of the child (Article 12).

Article 2 is intended to protect the child from discrimination of any kind “irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.” In this context, the message being directed at children through the Government’s proposed changes to the RCA is that it is perfectly okay to vilify, offend, humiliate or insult another person in just about every circumstance, and there are no protections available if it happens to you.

Today I will talk about the basic harms of discrimination and racism and what we know about the impacts on young people’s lives. I will discuss in particular the growing problem of cyber-racism and bullying and the role that culture and leadership in schools and in the community can play in fostering inclusion.

I will also outline some of the practical steps that the Australian Human Rights Commission has been taking to combat racism – including our work in leading the “Racism. It Stops with Me” Campaign.


What is Racism?

One of the problems with tackling racism, particularly amongst young people, is that it can mean different things to different people. Racism should not be narrowly defined and mean only the most extreme expressions of racial superiority. Racism refers to anything that has the effect of unfairly disadvantaging someone on the basis of their racial background. This can be expressed not only through doctrinal belief and unjust discrimination, but also through stereotypes, prejudice, jokes and casual comments.

Racism can be overt or covert, it can also be intentional or unintentional.
Very often the racist bullying and behaviour experienced by children and young people, particularly from their peers, is not overt and intentional.

Typically we think about racism coming from hatred or fear, but it can also emerge from other sources and have other motivations and sources such as envy or ignorance. It can manifest itself as harassment or intimidation, and it can result in acts of physical abuse and violence. It can also take the form of jokes or comments that wound others without someone necessarily meaning to do so. Racism need not always be accompanied by malice. Racism is as much about impact as it is about intention.

Racism can both directly and indirectly exclude people from participating in society, whether at work, school or in social activities and can occur in all sorts of situations. Racism can be as subtle as the use of the word “them” to describe someone from a different background.

This type of ‘othering’ was highlighted in 2009 research done by the Foundation for Young Australians, and featured in the language of a majority of students who did not identify themselves as having racist beliefs or actions. The same study revealed that this kind of language was also identified as a source of many young people’s feelings of being excluded outsiders.[1]

What this shows us is exactly how pervasive and unseen some attitudes can be. We may not set out to hurt or exclude or differentiate but the effect can be the same. Harm can be done regardless of our intention. This is why it is so vital to build a culture, particularly within the school community, where children learn and experience so many of the social interactions that will inform their lives in adulthood, where tolerance and acceptance is core and where we think about the effect of what we say and do, as much as we consider our intentions.

Racism in the Community and Schools:

According to the University of Western Sydney’s Challenging Racism Project, about 20 per cent of Australians say that they have been on the receiving end of racist hate talk. About 11 per cent have been excluded from the workplace and social settings because of their race. And about 5 per cent of Australians say they have experienced physical assault because of their race.[2]

There are indications that racism is also on the rise. Last year, the Australian Human Rights Commission received a 59 per cent increase in complaints about racial hatred and vilification compared to the previous year.

A 2013 report on a survey by the Lowitja Institute found almost every Aboriginal Victorian interviewed had experienced racism in the previous 12 months.[3] The majority personally experienced, witnessed or worried about racism multiple times a month.

When it comes to children and young people, the problem of racism may be even more acute. A recent survey of secondary students across four states found 80% of students from non-Anglo backgrounds reported experiencing racial discrimination. These students, many of whom were from migrant or refugee backgrounds, also reported that over two-thirds of these experiences of racism occurred at school.’[4]

Racism, wherever it occurs, has damaging effects.
Prejudice and discrimination are barriers to fair treatment and equal opportunity, it can curtail a person’s participation as a free citizen and it can impair social cohesion. Racism can also affect physical health and life expectancy. A growing body of evidence suggests that discrimination and racism are linked to a range of adverse health conditions, including poor mental health and wellbeing.

In 2009 the Foundation for Young Australians investigated the impact of racism upon the health and wellbeing of young Australians.

One of the clearest messages to come from their research was that the experience of racism has a wide range of negative effects on the mental, physical and social well-being of young people. Not surprisingly, they also found that schools play a critical role in the development of our young people[5] and in influencing their views, attitudes and behaviour.

In Australian schools racism can manifest itself in many ways - from racist abuse, harassment and discrimination to jokes or comments that cause unintentional offence or hurt, or even to a lack of recognition of cultural diversity and culturally biased practices.

And both the Challenge Racism Project and the Foundation for Young Australians research discovered that schools were the main setting in which the overwhelming majority of participants experienced racist behaviour.

When students reported their experiences of racism over half went to their teachers with a further 31% going to a school counsellor. Importantly this occurred regardless of whether or not the racist experience being reported occurred within a school setting.[6]

What this shows is how pivotal the school setting is not only to the experience of racism but to where students go to seek help and where we can start to educate children about racism, how to prevent it and how to help those who have experienced it.
As the Foundation for Young Australians notes one of the core responsibilities of a school is to “instil values and behaviours that that contribute more directly to building a diverse and dynamic nation”.[7]

While the majority of students who reported racism went to someone from their school community the vast majority of students who experienced racism did not report their experiences at all. One key reason for not reporting was a fear that the issue will not be dealt with properly and may lead to further bullying or abuse.

Many children admitted that experiences of racism led to feelings of exclusion and not belonging. These feelings and a fear of further bullying often led to anti-social behaviour, withdrawing from social activities, not participating in sporting events and avoiding attending school, all of which have roll-on effects the impact of which can be carried on long past school days into adulthood.[8]

The Big Banter

One of my first tasks as the National Commissioner was to conduct the Big Banter listening tour in order to directly engage and hear from children and their advocates about what issues are most important for children, to inform my priorities for action, and to hear about how I could best engage in my future work.

Through the Big Banter I met face to face with well over 1000 children and heard from another 1400 kids from my online survey and reply-paid postcards. I also heard from hundreds of children’s advocates. The views of children expressed to me during the Big Banter featured in my first Children’s Rights Report which was released last year.

In general children told me that the most important things to them are being able to be with family and friends and to be safe. On the Big Banter Tour I spoke with many children who raised issues of racism, bullying and mental health concerns with me, they told me that they wanted people to show more respect for one another and that they want to be respected and listened to.

As one 14 year old girl commented:
“What makes me most happy is when I am surrounded by people that do not judge others on skin colour, race or religion and are happy to be around other happy people. Racism is something that makes my blood boil and I do not think there is a single reason to be racist. Everyone has the right to live in a world where they are not labelled”.

And this from a 15 year old boy:
“Why do people have to be so offensive to other people just cause they’re from another part of the world or their religion is different, or they’re black or white. It should not matter where you come from but what does matter is you have a good heart.”

Growing respect is fundamental to combatting racism, whether it is intentional racism or not, and it is essential that we listen to the voices of children to help them address racist experiences and any associated mental health concerns that they have.

The effects racism can have on the lives and mental health of children and young people can severely diminish their ability to enjoy their freedoms, to have fun and to live fulfilled and socially engaged lives.

Racism can also significantly increase their stress levels and negative emotions.[9] Children and young people commonly reported that feelings of anger, frustration, hurt, of not belonging and low feelings of self-worth were the common result of experiencing racism.[10] On a positive note, alongside this there was a growing reportage that those who reported racism and were able to take action against it, often with the support of others whether peers or teachers, experienced more pronounced levels of resilience and feelings of becoming a “stronger person”.[11]

Cyber-Bullying and Racism:

There is a new concerning dimension to contemporary racism, and that is online racism and cyber-bullying. Much of this is focused on social media and video-sharing websites such as Youtube which are now part of children and young people’s DNA.

Cyberbullying is similar to other forms of bullying in that there is a power imbalance between the ‘bully’ and ‘target’; the behaviour is repeated; and the intent is to humiliate, embarrass, ostracise, or isolate. People often engage in cyberbullying for the same reasons they engage in bullying.

However, cyberbullying is distinctive and different – because it is incredibly invasive and can be difficult to escape. It is more likely to occur outside of school, including at home. It can happen at any time. It can also involve upsetting material being widely and rapidly shared to a large audience. And it can also be perpetrated under the cover of anonymity.[12]

The prevalence of cyberbullying is very concerning – with studies showing at least one in ten young people experiencing cyberbullying.[13] One Australian study, which canvassed the views of 24,500 girls 10 to 14 years of age, found that one fifth of these young women had experienced cyberbullying.[14]


So how can we best tackle cyber-bullying? The research indicates that when a peer intervenes, the bullying is likely to stop and it often stops quickly. Students are particularly likely to act positively as bystanders when the victim is their friend. They are also likely to act when they feel they have peer group support to take action – and when taking action is likely to yield an appropriate response from adults.[15]

In 2012, in response to this research, the Human Rights Commission launched a national anti-cyberbullying campaign. The BackMeUp campaign aimed to empower young people, aged 13-17 years, to take positive, safe and effective action as bystanders to cyberbullying. BackMeUp was developed in partnership with over 19 organisations across the youth, mental health, social media, and government sectors. Importantly, the campaign was also developed directly in partnership with young people.

BackMeUp was largely driven through social media. The campaign centred on an online film-making competition showcased on Facebook and Youtube, and the BackMeUp website provided tools and factsheets about cyberbullying. Many of the films were created using video functions on mobile phones and in-built editing software on home and school computers.

The response to BackMeUp was beyond the Commission’s expectations. In its first year, 2012, 100 films were entered by young people from across Australia, and the videos had over 55,000 views on YouTube during the main campaign period. One of the winning films was also made into a television Community Service Announcement, which aired on ABC TV and on Foxtel.

One young person said: “BackMeUp has made me more confident as to what I can do as a bystander - it is hard to watch something so horrible happen to someone and feel useless, but it is an amazing feeling to actually be able to help someone out.”

Another young person said: “I’m ready to take action if I can see any signs of cyberbullying.”

Culture and the importance of leadership:

The most common place young people witness or experience racism is at school. Social media research by the Commission in 2013 which surveyed over 2000 young people aged 13-17 about their experiences and knowledge of racism. The research found that nearly 9 out of 10 young people had experienced some kind of racism, and nearly half (43%) had experienced it at school and a third (33%) on the internet.[16]

A smaller online survey of 475 young people aged 14-17 found that the most common examples of racist words heard or experienced by young people were anti-black and anti-Indian slurs. Aside from racial slurs – terms such as ‘go back to where you came from’ were prominent.[17]

Racism can make young people feel unwelcome or unsafe at school. A 2014 study shows the high levels of racism experienced by many people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Anglo backgrounds impacts on school attendance, and where parents or carers felt they were discriminated against, their children were less likely to be attending preschool.[18]

School leaders carry tremendous responsibility for influencing school culture, being role models, and setting expectations for behaviour. School leaders must take up the challenge of building a strong institutional response to racism, and establish anti-racism as an ethical and moral imperative within their schools.

Studies shows that derogatory remarks do not fall on deaf ears, and people who overhear someone condone racism subsequently make more racist responses of their own. A ‘hostile social climate can open the door to devaluation and disparagement.’[19] Those who overhear someone condemn racism, respond in a less racist manner.[20]

The messages we send as educators and people of authority for young people, sets the tone of your school or workplace, and signal what is appropriate and acceptable. This immediate social context has a powerful effect on expressions of prejudice.[21]

“Racism. It Stops With Me” – and what do you do when someone says something racist?

In 2012, the Federal Government, in partnership with several organisations including the Australian Human Rights Commission, launched the National Anti-Racism Strategy, an initiative of its multicultural policy, The People of Australia.[22]

The Strategy calls on all members of the Australian community to respond to racism. It is based on the belief that racism requires individual and collective action. Its aims are to create awareness of racism and its effects on individuals and communities, to promote good practice in combating racism, and to empower people to take action against racial prejudice and discrimination when it occurs.

To support the Strategy the Human Rights Commission has been leading The Racism: It stops with Me Campaign since 2012. The Campaign recognises the importance of bystander anti-racism and encourages both individuals and organisations not only take a stand against racism generally but to also consider the role they can play in responding to racism when they witness it. This is similar to the Back Me Up campaign which encouraged young people to support their friends and peers when they were experiencing cyber-bullying.

While the data remains limited, studies have shown that bystander intervention in situations of racism may not be as forthcoming as what we might hope. One study found that in 44 per cent of incidents of race-based bullying at school, some or all of the bystanders did nothing, with one quarter in fact encouraging the bullying.[23]

This research has informed the messaging of “Racism. It Stops with Me”. The very message of “It Stops with Me” can be regarded as a direct response to bystander complacency. The idea is that we can and should do something when we see a racist incident. Bystanders do, of course, evaluate the costs and benefits of an intervention: many can quickly conclude that the potential price of speaking out against racism outweighs the benefits of doing so. But when bystanders speak out against racism, it can have profound effects. Hearing or seeing a bystander intervene can foster increased expressions of anti-racism. It can also help to combat some of the pre-conditions of racial prejudice, as those who racially abuse others tend to believe that their attitudes are shared by those around them. That is, bystander action stops someone committing an act of abuse from thinking that the community accepts their behaviour. Bystander intervention can also help reduce the feelings of isolation and exclusion felt by the child victim and show them that they aren’t alone.

Fostering bystander action does require attention to the skills needed to intervene effectively. People will only stand up when they believe they are well equipped to act. This may involve knowing, for instance, just what it is that you can say or do when confronted by racist behaviour.

A consistent theme of the “Racism. It Stops with Me” campaign is the need to consider the impact of action taken, including the reporting of racist behaviour, or offering support and comfort to a victim of racism. We are also mindful not to encourage people to take action if they do not believe it is safe to do so.

Working with schools on bystander behaviour and anti-racism remains a critical of the National Anti-Racism Strategy.

Another arm of the campaign included the development of “What you say matters”, a hip hop video resource created by students which I helped launch at James Meehan School in Macquarie Fields, in June last year.

This sends a powerful message to students that words are powerful. When we use them well, they can bring people together. When we use them carelessly, they can tear people apart. I hope to play you this video at the end of my presentation today.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is also developing new curriculum resources for teaching anti-racism. These digital materials are designed to support teachers in the Australian Curriculum areas of Health and Physical Education, and History, to incorporate anti-racism understandings and strategies in teaching programs for Primary and Secondary students.

These materials bring together concepts of understanding, empathy and action, with a rich selection of activities, authentic texts and real life scenarios, to encourage engagement and in depth learning.

The Curriculum Resources will be launched in July. There is more information on the Australian Human Rights Commission website (http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, responding to racism requires us acknowledging the existence of racism, what it involves, and how people experience it. This is not about hurt feelings. We know from experience and evidence that being on the receiving end of racism profoundly affects a person’s sense of well-being and sense of belonging and worth. It is up to us to respond with an emphatic message at all levels of society and to all ages, in the classroom, schoolyard, on the sporting field or in the workplace, that racism is not acceptable. That is the message of “Racism. It Stops with Me” - that we all have to be prepared to do something and that what you say and that what you do matters.

Thank you.


[1] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 54.
[2] K Dunn, Challenging Racism: The Anti-Racism Research Project. At http://www.uws.edu.au/social_sciences/soss/research/challenging_racism/findings_by_region (viewed 1 May 2014).
[3] A Ferdinand, Y Paradies & M Kelaher, Mental Health Impacts of Racial Discrimination in Victorian Aboriginal Communities, The Lowitja Institute (2013). At https://www.lowitja.org.au/lowitja-publishing/L023 (viewed 20 March 2014).
[4] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 44.

[5] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 1.
[6] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 3.
[7] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 1.
[8] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 106-107.
[9] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 17.
[10] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 4.
[11] Foundation for Young Australians, The Impact of racism upon the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians (2009) p 4.
[12] From Victorian Department of Education and Childhood Development, Cyberbullying, at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/cyberbullying.aspx (viewed 29 April 2014).
[13] D Cross, T Shaw, I Hearn, M Epstein, H Monks, L Lester, L Thomas, Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Edith Cowan University (2009).
[14] Guides Australia, Girl Guides Say Survey Reveals Alarming Concerns for young Australian girls (2010). At http://www.girlguides.org.au/news-events/media-releases/guides-say-surv… (viewed 1 May 2014).
[15] Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Edith Cowan University, for the Australian Human Rights Commission, Cyber-bullying and the Bystander Research Findings and Insights Report, at p 2.
[16] Research conducted by Zuni on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission to inform the ‘What you Say Matters’ project.


[17] Research conducted by Zuni on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission to inform the ‘What you Say Matters’ project.
[18] Dr N Biddle, ‘Experiences and effects of racism in school: The Indigenous context’. AIFS Seminar Series, 9 April 2014, p 6.
[19] Goodman et al, The Impact of a Derogatory Remark on Prejudice Toward a Gay Male Leader, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008, 38, 2, p 552.
[20] Goodman et al, The Impact of a Derogatory Remark on Prejudice Toward a Gay Male Leader, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008, 38, 2, p 544.
[21] Goodman et al, The Impact of a Derogatory Remark on Prejudice Toward a Gay Male Leader, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008, 38, 2, p 542.
[22] Department of Social Services, The People of Australia – Australia's Multicultural Policy, at http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/settlement-and-multicultural-affairs/publications/the-people-of-australia-australias-multicultural-policy.
[23] F Aboud and A Joong, ‘Intergroup name-calling and conditions for creating assertive bystanders’, in S Levy & M Killen (Eds.), Intergroup attitudes and relations in childhood through adulthood, New York: Oxford University Press, pp 249-260, as cited in VicHealth, Review of bystander approaches in support of preventing race-based discrimination, November 2010, p 9.

Megan Mitchell, Children's Commissioner