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The death of Cassius Turvey may or may not have been racially motivated but, either way, it is a great tragedy. As is the death of any child.
There are no doubt racist elements in this country, by why which I mean a few morons who believe that people of a different race are morally inferior. There would be even fewer who would be prepared to take this to the next level and visit violence and even death upon 
someone because of their race.
Yet Hannah McGlade (left), writing in The Australian, has no doubt about the extent of racism in this country. Take this extract:
The Noongar children told me about the racism they experienced, even being followed in shops buying a loaf of bread for mum. We know this is real and can speak from lived experience. I remember my son walking home from primary school with his cousin when they were stopped by police, just for throwing grass seeds in the air. And on Australia Day when I warned him not to go out, knowing we are especially at risk, the bottle thrown at his face for no reason. I’ve even seen children angrily shouted at for no reason as they played in dirt outside an exclusive tennis club.
There is no way of knowing the truth or otherwise of these claimed incidents – kids being stopped by police on the way home from school for throwing grass seeds calls for a great deal 
of imagination on the part of the objective reader. And what exclusive tennis club has dirt outside it, rather than manicured lawns and car parks?
But what does beggar belief is the claim that Aborigines are especially vulnerable on Australia Day. Do we have bands of white-robed vigilantes patrolling Australia Day rallies, picnics and events to ensure they are not sullied by the presence of Aboriginal Australians? I’ve heard some Aborigines claim Australia Day is ‘culturally unsafe’ – an absurd notion – but physically unsafe? Give me a break. It is hyperbole like this that demands a healthy scepticism of McGlade’s other claims.
Gary Johns, in his brilliant new book The Burden of Culture, nails this question of ‘racism’:
It is important to separate racism – the disdain for those of another race – from the experience of individuals and perhaps families where behaviour by individuals has been so bad as to make others steer clear. It is not all right to judge people by association, but it is reasonable to take care around those who have been badly behaved [I am not suggesting Cassius Turvey falls into this category]. Blatant racism [very rare] and mere wariness are thus thrown together under one rubric, a net to attack all who do not accept the Aboriginal way. It is a weapon used by advocates against their opponents and it is a fear promoted so widely that it is herding Aborigines towards the industry and away from open society.
A perfect example of what Johns is talking about here (and other themes in his book) was aired on NITV the other night in an Insight program (atop this page) in which vari-coloured Aboriginal identifiers, including the pink (both cosmetically and politically) Professor Uncle Bruce Pascoe, lamented the rush of imposters (labelled box-tickers or race-shifters) to the gravy train that one participant, unarguably Aboriginal, Dr Stephen Hagan, described as ‘their’ $40 billion industry. And, of course, he used the term ‘industry’ with no sense of irony or embarrassment.
Order The Burden of Culture here
Uncle Bruce was his usual evasive self, still failing to name the influential uncle who took him under his wing and revealed the dark family secret – their Aboriginal connection. He did tell us that his children had been very hurt by claims he was not Aboriginal but he had advised them to cop it on the chin if the ‘government rejected them’ because they were ‘not getting anything from 
the government anyway’. Presumably none of that government funded largesse showered on Bruce has trickled down to the offspring. Shame on him!
But I was particularly struck by the story of red-haired, freckle-faced Linda Augusto (left). Her great-grandmother was a half-caste Aboriginal woman who lived in the Dubbo/Wellington area. Her grandmother, who lived in Yagoona and with whom she was very close, apparently hid her aboriginality. It was ‘safe for her’ to do so, since she had white skin. It was a dark secret within the family. Linda got quite emotional about the trauma of people questioning her aboriginality because of her complexion. You can read her story here.
You will note that Linda says nothing whatsoever about her parents and what their reaction was to their aboriginality or anything about her childhood other than her relationship with her grandmother. Perhaps Linda’s grandmother and her parents were simply part of the 80 per cent of Aboriginal families, identified in Burden of Culture, who have adapted to modern life and for whom their aboriginality was incidental to their being. Perhaps they were identifying as white because that is how they saw themselves, rather than denying their aboriginality. Linda is perfectly free to identify as Aborigine and to try to learn such aspects of the Wiradjuri culture as remain, but she is not free to cast herself as a victim of racism.
When you read her story, it becomes apparent that the people questioning her aboriginality are not insensitive white bigots, but Aboriginal people. They call her a JCL (johnny come lately). Perhaps it’s not just her complexion, but also her upbringing and lifestyle that mark her as just another ordinary Australian, not really deserving a berth on the gravy train. Part of Gary Johns’ 80 per cent of successful Aboriginal people, in other words.
This Insight program was a deeply self-indulgent waste of taxpayer’s money. There was a tension between the pale-skinned, on-a-journey-of-discovery participants (Uncle Bruce, Mikaela Jade, Linda Augusto and Aaron Sainsbury) and the real-mccoy variants such as Hagan, Yvonne Weldon and Kamarah Kelly, all of whom criticised, to some extent or other, unnamed JCLs who were taking jobs that should have gone to their ilk. None of the first group evinced any embarrassment at this, and to be fair, I don’t know to what extent, if any, they are in receipt of government largesse, apart from Uncle Bruce, of course. (Was that a sneer I saw on the face of Dr Hagan when the camera panned to him during one of Uncle Bruce’s explanations, or just a supporting grin?)
‘Stolen generations’ survivor Ian Hamm stole the show with his one-liner “You don’t get much for being a blackfella”. News to Dr Hagan, I imagine.
The central premise of Burden of Culture is that shows like Insight, which encourage otherwise perfectly capable people to wallow in virtue-signalling me-tooism and grievance, and Dr Hagan’s $40 billion ‘industry’ are exactly the factors that are keeping the 20 per cent of disadvantaged Aborigines (and their children) right where they are.
Burden of Culture is a must read for anyone with a genuine concern for that 20 per cent.
Peter O’Brien’s latest book, Villian or Victim? A defence of Sir John Kerr and the Reserve Powers, can be ordered here
I interpreted Hagan’s expression about Uncle Professor as dubious with polite restraint.
I followed your link to read Linda Augusto’s story. So she is about one sixteenth aboriginal, she says. It seems to mean more to her than the other 15/16ths. That’s fine for her, but please don’t go anywhere near any claim of disadvantage.
Refusal to acknowledge 15 of one’s 16 great-great-grandparents seems disrespectful.
As a young boy in 1950/60s England, I was frequently ‘bullied’. I recall being surrounded at school by six or seven boys who then kicked me around before stealing my bag. I recall being pushed into a canal. I recall lots of taunts and name calling.
My parents’ genetics stretch back countless generations of English and other European generations yet, somehow, those kids knew I was an aboriginal Australian.
Bullies are invariably cowards who only ever pick on someone who is younger, smaller, weaker and/or outnumbered.
Try questioning the colour of such people in the main newspapers of Oz, and you won’t get your comment published.
The once had a comment published by accident at The Australian about Professor Uncle, but after it attracted a lot of likes in the subsequent hour or so after it went up, it was suddenly unpublished. Their other trick is to leave comments “pending” until the story has died down.
I think we can thank Judge “Mordy” for that one, despite his claims that his judgement should “in no way” be taken to mean we can’t discuss these things, it’s exactly what he’s done. Certainly no newspaper is going to take the risk after the Bolt case.
Perhaps Mansell and Hagan had better watch themselves!
“There is a funeral procession coming and we have been sent ahead to check that there are no white people around. You had better leave now or things might get dangerous.” Arnhem Land, 2015.
Yeah, I know where racism is rife in Australia, and who the perpetrators and victims are.
Ill melanesian-descent woman gets turned away from seeing a doctor at a clinic because she is not of the prescribed race, i.e. she is not aboriginal. Try seeing a doctor in some remote NT communities. Whether or not you will be seen to will depend on whether or not you are aboriginal.
It is the Aboriginal industry that drives racial discrimination and outright racism in Australia. And yet these pathological hypocrites have the nerve to denigrate the rest of society with charges of what they systematically promote!
Quote: “who have been badly behaved [I am not suggesting Cassius Turvey falls into this category]
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David Penberthy, from outback SA, wrote in News Corp’s The Advertiser of Turvey “.. well-behaved kid..”.
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I commented simply: “How have you determined that”?
6 people quickly liked it, while others erupted “So you blame the victim”, “What possible difference does it make”?, “Why do you assume he wasn’t”? and so on, to which I replied:
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“If it does not matter, if it’s of no relevance, why did the author write it? By doing so suggests to me that the author thinks it matters, so I asked him the basis”.
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Shortly after my comment was retrospectively REJECTED, I suspect at Penberthy’s behest.
Racism is a malignant and destructive force in society and the killing of young Cassius is to be condemned even if he was not “well behaved”.
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The question for Penberthy however is why did he need to make that claim in the first place? Could it be that Penberthy thought (in a racist way) that most young aboriginal boys are not “well behaved” and he saw a need to distinguish Cassius from the majority?. Maybe Penberthy should be condemned for racism. That goes for all media that feel the need to emphasise that Cassius was “well behaved”.
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One thing is surely true though and that is for so long as young aboriginal boys are labelled as bad and treated as such, they will find it harder to integrate into society as good citizens. Those that do are to be admired but not to be privileged.
Pretty much my point – I imagine Penberthy ensconced on Eyre Peninsula, looking at a photo of Cassius and writing “A lovely and well-behaved kid…”, without any more idea than I of his character, but thereby elevating it to an issue.
In typical manner the details of the motivation are vague and undoubtedly biased.
There was some mention of windows being smashed and “racist slurs” being yelled before the attack.
The boys mother was splashed across the media declaring that her boy was a good kid, as you would expect any mother to do.
The issue of whether or not any glass had been broken and in what circumstances was not detailed.
As usual the media has provided just enough information to inflame racial divides.
Implying racist motives as the determining factor rather than plain old fashioned vigilante justice.
Vigilantes don’t supply a sufficient sense of self righteous virtue signalling indignation.
For whatever reason, I heard the withering contempt of an Aborigine, who in less enlightened times would have been described as a “full blood”, towards those with an Aboriginal great grandmother, taking pride in their”Aboriginal heritage.” It was an experience, best described as educational.
Yes Geoff, the outrage of the “industry” towards the ticka boxes or JCLs taking the jobs.
I fail to understand why someone who does NOT look Aboriginal would be targeted as an Aboriginal. Do they were a badge or send out flyers letting people know, or is it because some are know to be associated with trouble-makers and judged on that count? Are they ‘recognised’ as potential trouble-makers or as having Aboriginal ancestry? Probably the former.
rosross. Re Linda Augusto. As an old pilot who has flown the lingth, length and longth of Australia, I have to say that I have never seen an aborigine with freckles.
There are blue-eyed blondes calling themselves Aborigines. Why stop at freckles?
Need a correction facility.
I fail to understand why someone who does NOT look Aboriginal would be targeted as an Aboriginal. Do they wear a badge or send out flyers letting people know, or is it because some are known to be associated with trouble-makers and judged on that count? Are they ‘recognised’ as potential trouble-makers or as having Aboriginal ancestry? Probably the former.
Calling non-relatives Auntie or Uncle is a British tradition which fell out of favour in the Seventies. There is little or nothing today which is called Aboriginal culture which is not a hybrid of Anglo-European.
In a half-day 1:1 talk with a 21 y o girl on a north Queensland mission, I heard this depressing comment – “I could stay here to teach my people a better way, but they would talk me into their worse ways. It is everywhere, people like me cannot escape it.”
I had pointed out that I was 4 y o, living in a 3 room fibro shack in north Qld when my dad came back from WWII in New Guinea, the first meeting I can recall. We were broke, food was scarce, but by age 14 my parents were able to get me into Grammar School. My question was, if we could pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, could she not also do that?
A couple of years later, no longer involved, I asked others how she was progressing. The evasive responses suggested suicide.
IMO, it is beyond the skill of well meaning people to devise a solution. Many have tried. All have failed, except those majority who have quietly transitioned into what might be called ordinary Australians. The remedies become more outlandish every cycle, attempting novelty, showing ignorance. The remedy has to come from the minds and wills of those who decline to learn from kin who transitioned. Geoff S
Humans have assimilated throughout history whether they wanted to do so or not. That is our human condition. If you do not assimilate into the world around you then you die.
I stayed a few days at an outback station with the teacher at the small school located on the station grounds – Aborigines who lived in a “camp” except the children of the station leaseholder/owner.
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I shot a couple of ducks with my 12 gauge and the kids waded into the pond and retrieved them, split their stomachs open with a couple of stones and roasted them on an open fire, gutted but unplucked, and shared some with me.
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They were such lovely kids, but when I was talking to the teacher she said they were indeed so lovely until they get older, look around them and see no future. Some may remember Rupert Maxwell Stuart – he lived in the camp and his alcohol-free time in jail had resulted in him being a very strong man who ruled the camp with an iron fist that he was quick to use on anyone, kids included.
The students were Aborigines…
Maybe the solution is a strategic “stolen generation” or two or three. A real induction of the young into an alternate life style. Later in life we can humour their rediscovery of one of their grandparents when they assume a pretend Aboriginal identity and write theses about the cruel colonial past from the comfort of their ordinary suburban home and family.
Yes, give the young a voluntary way out of the zoos they are currently trapped in.
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Of course the “industry” would not like that but the suicide rate would likely fall when the youth realized there was a future for them in the real world.
I just remember two nice young aborigines whom I met at a resort called Home Valley on the Gibb River Road in the Kimberleys. The young lady was the manager and her brother was learning the ropes. They were impressive regardless of skin colour. I could not help but admire them and said so. I suppose that sounds paternalistic.but I had to say it. They told me that whatever they had achieved was down to their parents at Wyndham who made them go to school every day because their future lay with white people and the rest of Australia. It is a pity Albo does not speak to these wonderful young people and get a different perspective. I am convinced that many, including Labor and the Greens, want to keep the Aborigines as living museums and to also keep them separated.
…and under control.
Was I the only one who noticed? While Ian Hamm was expounding his one-liner, “You don’t get much for being a blackfella”, the camera panned to Pascoe, who was smirking and wriggling around in his seat, almost as if fully appreciative of the joke. This must have been more than coincidence, so I reckon the producers were onto him — although no follow-up questions were asked. Overall, it was a pretty bland, non-insightful program. There’s so much to be gained from being a blakfella these days; how else to explain all the box-tickas?
There are too many with a vested interest in the “racism” narrative and the imprisonment of whole communities into aboriginal tribal homelands with no economic future, to ever hope that things will change.
The ALP is heavily invested in the aboriginal disadvantage story and is, indeed, a principal architect of the reality. Vote harvesting is rife in tribal homelands.
City dwelling people claiming some aboriginal ancestry like Uncle Bruce have made careers out of the deprivation of their tribal “brothers”.
There is a vast bureaucracy in Canberra, and all the states, established with the object of ending aboriginal disadvantage but which, as is natural with bureaucracies, only makes the problem worse.
The designers of policy responses to aboriginal disadvantage are the JCLs, whose policies are inevitably designed to favour them, not the real aboriginal people.
Now, the Federal Government is proposing to entrench aboriginal
disadvantage and ensure continuing despair in aboriginal communities by giving the Voice to Parliament, a voice that will, of course, be the voice of the JCLs, who dominate the aboriginal industry.
There are too many with a vested interest in the “racism” narrative and the imprisonment of whole communities into aboriginal tribal homelands with no economic future, to ever hope that things will change.
The ALP is heavily invested in the aboriginal disadvantage story and is, indeed, a principal architect of the reality. Vote harvesting is rife in tribal homelands.
City dwelling people claiming some aboriginal ancestry like Uncle Bruce have made careers out of the deprivation of their tribal “brothers”.
There is a vast bureaucracy in Canberra, and all the states, established with the object of ending aboriginal disadvantage but which, as is natural with bureaucracies, only makes the problem worse.
The designers of policy responses to aboriginal disadvantage are the JCLs, whose policies are inevitably designed to favour them, not the real aboriginal people.
Now, the Federal Government is proposing to entrench aboriginal
disadvantage and ensure continuing despair in aboriginal communities by giving the Voice to Parliament, a voice that will, of course, be the voice of the JCLs, who dominate the aboriginal industry.
Gary Johns in his book “The Burden of Culture” gives the sound advice. Don’t ever tick a box or answer a question that asks if you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Once you deprive the bureaucrats of their statistics they cannot create new divisions and we csan treat all children equally, treat all bad parents like bad parents and all criminals like criminals.
Or, alternatively, you could ALWAYS tick that box, especially on census forms — that would really gum up the works (I know of several people who did just that, in the last census). But then again, it could provide ammunition for those seeking to enlarge their empires . . .