"Aboriginals are mentalists"- how would you approach this comment?

[piddocktrumperiness]

My DP is in Oz on holiday to visit family who moved there. I was on the phone and his son, who is 12 was on the call too and he was describing his day and made mention that an "aboriginal squared up his mum, for no reason because that's how they are" -I was shocked and could not say anything

Later in the week I'm on a call with DP and asked if he liked the place and the weather and he said "yeah everything is so laid back here but the aboriginals are mentalists" Here we go again. I was shocked again. If he was in front of me I would have nipped that in the bud and called out the racism and prejudice and thrown the history books at him- I am of mixed race myself (ME/NA) but because he is on holiday, visiting family he'd not seen for ages and was looking forward to the trip I didn't want to cause tension or anything. But now I feel like when he does come back in a month too much time has gone by that I can't bring it up again.

How would you have approached this? What could I do now?

Here here for PPs saying to educate him on the meaning of « mentalist » first, to make him feel small, then go into all the wrongs of racism.

"I wonder what the aboriginals say to each other about members of the European-heritage or any other non-aboriginal community"

Maybe stuff like "You know, there were around a million of us in 1788- gee, I wonder what happened the other 80%"

@Ohnoooooooo “mentalist” absolutely does not mean “mind reader” in the U.K., and the context and tone of each would be entirely different and really not easy to mix up!

I would open a conversation with them both and make sure they understand the challenges that Australia’s indigenous population has faced over the last few hundred years. Try to generate some empathy.

I would have said

I hadn't realised you'd met so may Aboriginal people to make such a huge sweeping statement.

Silence

I’m not condoning racism at all and I would be having a very surprised convo with my DH if he suddenly started spouting racist things - but - for British people or other visitors, sometimes the first association they have with Indigenous Australians can be confronting. The first time I saw a group of IAs I was in Coober Pedy, and as we approached the bottle shop, our camper van was surrounded by a group of highly intoxicated young men demanding that we bought them alcohol. I had never experienced anything like it, and throughout our stay in CP, Alice Springs and other NT areas, the level of poverty, addiction, fighting seen in the IA community was truly something I had never experienced before.
I hope I didn’t make racist comments about it at all, but I can imagine saying to a person back in the U.K. “the Aboriginal people that I’ve seen are a total mess” because at the time I didn’t understand much about the history. I’ve taken the time to educate myself, but to a new visitor, it can be confronting.

Where in Australia did this occur?

My white father spent our childhood 1970/80s helping the Aboriginal community - as one of five kids we had very little but he helped as much as possible financially as well as helping with (successfully) lobbying government for land rights.
The Aboriginal issue is complex in Australia, and while alcohol and drugs can bring on agression, they are a very gentle family-oriented culture. They would share everything with their family and others in need without a second thought for their own needs.
To me labelling your hubby a racist without exploring his beliefs and encouraging him to rethink these in the context of how the Aborginal people have been prosecuted for generations would not be the right approach if you genuinely want change.

I lived in Australia for 3 years and was surprised how overtly racist a lot of the people/press were compared to the UK. Sounds like your DP has picked up on that, which probably means he was that way inclined in the first place sadly.

Thanks everyone; I'd appreciate any links to videos or resources I could show them when they're back

why don't you do a bit of research whilst waiting on them.getting back ?

Tell him that Aborigines were there first , way before them .

I've lived in Australia for nearly a year now and it's the most racist place I've ever been.

DP and I agreed that in terms of racism and sexism it's like stepping back in time 50 years.

People think absolutely nothing of it, it is really really shocking.

In my youth I got a summer job as a waitress on Vancouver Island. One of the other waitresses was from England and another from Holland and they had already been there for a couple of weeks before I arrived and they had already fallen in with the local racism.

The local indigenous people were understandably very antagonistic to white people and had suffered hugely since the first arrival of people from outside. So it all ended up being a vicious circle.

I grew up in a similar environment though in a family that didn't just accept that stuff, but most people automatically fall in with the prevailing dynamic.

I’ve been to Australia and I think the sad thing is I rarely saw indigenous people just living their lives, working, shopping, studying, socialising etc. 90% of the day to day interaction in urban areas was indigenous people causing trouble, being anti-social, shouting, drunk, in trouble with the police, etc. It’s actually really sad. I think if you haven’t been to Australia you may not realise this. I’m not saying the comment is OK but just some context.

Whys is (casual) racism so high in Australia? In this day and age?

@piddocktrumperiness "Whys is (casual) racism so high in Australia? In this day and age?"

The country that had a "White Australia" policy?

Can't imagine.

The White Australia policy that ended 60 years ago?
I have no doubt there is are some racist people in Australia. Also some racist people in Britain - the family referred to in the OP are British after all!
There is no acceptance of casual racism in Aus any more than there is over here.
Some people will comment on their interactions with Indigenous Australians, which, for some people will be negative. The poor outcomes for rural IA people are caused by numerous complex factors which sadly don’t fit neatly into the “it’s racism” box.

There is no acceptance of casual racism in Aus any more than there is over here."

Sadly not my experience. Incidentally, there is plenty of casual racism in the UK as well.

Your experience is different to mine then.

I think you have to have been exposed to critical thinking to resist the superficial impressions you get in these situations. @Ozgirl75 and @Wanttobefree2 describe seeing groups of people at their worst. You have to actively choose to consider what’s behind that to resist a racist interpretation.

😂😂😂

I think you'll be wasting your time. Just leave people to their own beliefs, however wrong you think they are.

@pickledandpuzzled " describe seeing groups of people at their worst. You have to actively choose to consider what’s behind that to resist a racist interpretation"

Would you have to do the same at Wetherspoons chucking out time?

Incidentally, my mother, who was born in 1920, grew up among people who genuinely didn't realise that "hunting abos" was illegal.

Google Coniston Massacre. The perpetrators were not punished. One lived until (I think) the 1970s.