"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?

presumably he's seen similar to when I was there and there was a significant amount of drunk / drugged up Aboriginal people in the towns causing damage / being violent.
Obviously the reasons behind that are many, however it was quite clearly an ongoing problem for a lot of people.

So OPs talking about her (presumably British) DP and son making racist comments about Australia's First Nations people, but the take home message is that all Australians are racist. Interesting.

I would and I do. Despite being a regular myself.

Making judgements about groups is an intrinsic part of being human. It takes effort to unpick that and act against that snap judgment. Most of us are taught to do that. Most of us need reminding occasionally.

I would say if you think you don’t have any biases, you probably haven’t spotted them yet.

@pickledandpuzzled "I would and I do. Despite being a regular myself. "

You'd make racist assumptions about people in Wetherspoons? Really?-

Ah, are you being silly now, Curlew? As I don’t understand your point.

Mine is that when we see certain patterns we make certain judgments. It takes more information to change those judgments.

If the only time I see indigenous people they are drunk and aggressive, I’ll inevitably make assumptions UNLESS I know the history of disadvantage and oppression they have experienced and am able to challenge myself.

In a not unrelated situation, I made judgements about a dog breed that was always walked by thugs in my area. As time went on I learned I was wrong about staffies. At the same time, a breed I wasn’t particularly wary of bit me, and tore the throat out of my dog (separate dogs and incidents). I am now extremely wary of that breed.

The brain observes patterns the conscious mind has to actively manage. OP’s family need a bit of a nudge to make them think more deeply.

Agree @pickledandpuzzled when I first moved to Aus and witnessed so many examples of public intoxication, fighting, poverty etc affecting the Indigenous community, and read in the paper about the levels of child abuse, domestic abuse I tended to make judgements based on my observations.
However, once I spent more time thinking “why is one community so much more affected by these issues than any other?” and talking to people who understand the issues more, I could change how I felt and understand the reasons a bit more, and be less judgemental.

Are you an aboriginal, if not why do you care??
Have you met many to know if his comment is true?

I'd hazard a guess not all of them.

That's what racism is, taking the actions of one/some and judging all people of the same ethnicity by their actions when their ethnicity is the only thing they all share.

Because of the racist Brits who emigrate and visit. If your OP is anything to go by.

I think racism is more discri.inating against a particular race. Recognising and applying patterns whether to things or people is what the brain has to do to make sense of the world.

Recognising and applying patterns whether to things or people is what the brain has to do to make sense of the world

Yes, that can be a first stage of knowledge, but we should not be so primitive as to stick at that level. Experience tells us that that is a very limited way to judge any group of people.

And yes, it is racist.

Are you an aboriginal, if not why do you care??

Whao!