"Asian" identity in Australia

5. "Asian" identity in Australia

In May 2013, a woman got away from being convicted after racially abusing an Asian student on a public bus in Sydney. This is not the first time for such incident in Australia, but why? How does the Asian identity impact their daily lives, education, and career in Australia? Asian is the primary source of immigration. From the perspective of an ordinary Australian, Asian people's primary goal in Austria is to earn money, and therefore taking job opportunities away, and Asians have also inflated house prices, therefore Australian have disgruntled feeling about Asian. On the other hand, In an Asian’s perspective, they provide lots of money to the Australian government and society, they pay double or even triple tuitions to be educated and they deserve respect from the society. 

In our society, differences in identities will result in various judgments of people, and therefore leading to discrimination. Asian is a distinct identity and the Asian identity impacts everyone who carries the identity in society. Like the student that was abused on the bus, I have faced some similar situations in the past. Once I was on my way to go back home and then I heard someone in the back shouting out “Why do Asian people come to Australia, what do they know about Australia? they should go back to their own country.” Then a guy agreed by saying “yes! Exactly! They came to Australia to get our jobs and earn our money, what the...” I was aware that they were aware of my presence, at that moment I felt embarrassed, angry, helpless and innocent. I believe most Asian students have come across similar situations like the ones I have experienced in Australia. Our identities have become a burden for us in the Australian society, but it's just what we are, and we were born with it. Lewis (2000) demonstrated that “The intersection of ‘race’, gender and class is subjectively lived, that it is part of social structure and involves differential treatment.”(Brah.A, 2004). As Lewis mentioned “race”, gender and class is an intersection in social, but how to we face the “race” in social or school is people subjectively decision. A large proportion of racial judgments are negative, it raises discrimination problems in our society, and it's also against the equality of human rights. Discrimination even extends to education. When I was studying in high school, local students and teachers would automatically put an “Asian” label on me; and as a result of that, very few local students would talk with me or become friends with me, because they thought Asian student are not good at English, they are “not at the same level with us”, and the teachers doesn't offer us equal chances to express our opinions.

In my opinion, the Asian identity brings racial discrimination to Asians outside of their homeland. Some Australians deny that they are racism, but at the same time, still use offensive language against Asians; Australians also think Chinese are rich, loud and impolite. The “rich” identity label also causes Chinese people to become targets of robbery or theft. To come to my conclusion, Asian identity has caused much trouble and has brought disadvantages for Asians in the Australian society. Discriminations against people of different ethnicity in Australia are not an insubstantial problem. Discriminations leads to unfairness in both workplace and educational institutions, and therefore it will be a potential security problem for Australia. 

Reference: 

1.    Casben.L (2013), Sydney woman escapes conviction over racist bus rant against Asian student, ABC News, review from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-06/woman-escapes-conviction-over-racist-bus-rant/4868340 22/09/2013

2.    Brah, Avtar and Phoenix, Ann (2004). Ain’t I A Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality. Journal of International Women's Studies, 5(3), 75-86. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol5/iss3/8