When it came to traditional clothing, I thought, “why would I wear that when I can wear a ‘normal’ dress just like everyone else?” Those occasions where I had to wear traditional clothing were rare for me, but I never enjoyed it. It was just something I had to do. It would mostly be at Indian weddings, and all I could think about how uncomfortable it was.
When I was eight, I was getting ready to show my friends a new computer game, when my mum stopped us at the front door.
"Go home, wash your feet, and come back with shoes on."
This wasn't directed at me, but my friends who lived down the road from us in Eastwood, NSW. The problem? They had been playing barefoot outside.
It is well-known that diverse workplaces strengthen organisations, enhance opportunities, improve productivity, and financial performance. So how does Australia stack up when it comes to the arts?
Growing up in a big family, the three words I longed to hear when needing comfort or reassurance were a rarity. In fact, I could count on one hand the very few times these very words were uttered in my adult life from my parents.
Most people would imagine that being a talking dog would be more fun than regular life, but Becky Kuek can speak from experience. As the writer, director and showrunner of Tales of Nai Nai, Becky wears many hats, including voicing Baobao, the talking chow. She’s also had to navigate many paths and identities in her life as a screen performer of mixed race heritage - Australian, Kiwi, too Asian, not Asian enough. She sat down with contributor Fern Seto to talk about the importance of accents, feeling disposable, and explaining her face.
I pull up to our holiday house and one of the guys comes out to tell us where we can park. He’s tall, hazel eyes and brown hair, and isn’t wearing any shoes. He’s very white. I walk into the house and see another eight or so white guys sitting around, and a very slight nervousness comes over me.
Am I the only non-white guy here?
When you hear a racist comment or remark, it can be quick and almost automatic to want to call it out. But in these situations, using the dreaded “R” word can often turn the conversation sour, so here’s why I’m no longer calling people racist, even when they say racist things.
There’s been a bit of talk about recent Masterchef evictee Sarah Tiong’s interview on Triple M Sunraysia when they greeted her with, “ni hao ma“. Was it racist? Why did she react so strongly? And why didn’t she do anything in the moment to educate them?
From just a couple of tea shops in Taiwan to a multi billion dollar industry, bubble tea has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon, and one that many Asians around the world have an affinity with. In Australia, we’ve seen a boom in the past few years, with more international chains popping up, as well as many smaller businesses trying to carve out their own niche market within the industry.
We sometimes use the words culture, ethnicity and race interchangeably, and whilst there is some overlap between the terms, it’s important to know the differences between them, and to use them correctly.
Australia has a long history of racism, particularly against the Chinese, and the race based attacks we’ve seen as a result of COVID-19 show us we haven’t moved on from our past just yet.
“I don’t see colour,” or, “I don’t see race.” They’re phrases that often come from good intentions, but it unfortunately carries some other messages with it. Here’s why I don’t think it’s a good thing to say.
“It’s just a preference.” It’s what many gay men use to justify their attraction to a specific type - height, build, age, and of course, race. And when it comes to race, it’s used in a way of saying, “my sexual preference for or against a particular race isn’t racist, and it’s just my preference - it’s not hurting anyone.”
My first week of university went like a blur. I turned up to the lectures and tutorials I had enrolled in, I talked to people who spoke to me, and I went home. More than dealing with a whole new system and location, it felt like a whole different world, despite being in the very city I had spent my whole life.
It’s a question that almost all of us visible minorities in Australia have gotten, and while it seems rather innocent on the surface, it carries a lot of baggage and often presumptions.
‘Jan’. This was what I was called a lot growing up in Australia. See, my parents gave me a beautiful Chinese name, ‘堅隆’ (pronounced more like ‘Chien Long’), but when it’s written and pronounced as ‘Jian Long’, it just never had the same ring and meaning.
We’re almost in the golden age of political correctness where it feels like we have to tread lightly in the language we use – any form of generalisation seems dangerous at first. But I think that generalisations are not something to be afraid of, but are in fact incredibly useful.
