Racism hurts. Ironically, many young people start out subscribing to the belief that Australia is committed to ideals of justice and equality. When their everyday experience contradicts this belief, they feel betrayed. A handful react by hitting out. More often they turn their anger inwards. For some, interactions with Anglo Australians are confined to the drug market and the criminal justice system

tu, 22 year-old vietnamese-australian
when i got lock up in jail
that's the only time i speak to the white people
or different colour or country people
if i don't want to speak to them, who can i talk to?

tram, 19 year-old vietnamese-australian
i think australia is a racist society
but i have learnt to live with that
it's a normal thing to me,
you can't always see it
sometimes you don't even notice it
but it's there
i guess we just get used to it

tu, 22 year-old vietnamese-australian
everytime we go to movie up the city
we always see the white people
swearing on us, chuck bottle at us
and we end up fighting
even when we sit on the train
some come and swear all nasty stuff
"asian this and that",
spit on the floor
and we end up fighting
everytime we go somewhere away from cabra
we always see that happen
say "fuck the asian, go back your country"
you get very angry when they saying that

tu, 22 year-old vietnamese-australian
stopping racism is stopping people
don't tell by the look
and speak from the heart  

karen, 18 year-old chinese-australian
like one time i was at this coffee shop
we were just sitting down eating
and an aussie guy came with his kids
and he goes to them "oh, see those people,
you don't hang around with those people"
"they're asian, they're bad"
and like the kids are going "yeah"
they were so little , about 5 and 6
going "yeah, they're bad"
it's like a new generation for racism
i was thinking this is so bad
that a parent would teach their kid
to be racist   [top]

kim, 22 year-old vietnamese-australian
i don't think australia is a racist society at all
it's just that pauline hanson thing going around

katty, 21 year-old laotian-australian
australia is very racist
aussies think because asians study hard and work hard
that we leave no vacancies for them
the reason why we work so hard is because our parents suffered to come here
and want us to have a good future

tien, 19 year-old vietnamese-australian
all the law
they don't make the right way for me
they make my choice
to the end you a bad boy
when i get out of jail
all of them look at this guy and say
"you in jail, that makes you bad boy"
"you in jail that means you got reason"
they don't know your background,
how your hard life, if you got any family
they very racist, they do not give
one asian boy one chance
to make a new life

wendy, 21 year-old vietnamese-australian
racism is a real worries in cabramatta
it seems like 90 per cent of us is asian
even though we are different to each other
and do not come from the same country
people group us all together
another racism is caused by the police
to the people on the streets here
i just don't like the way they treat people here
especially young asian peoples

andy, 17 year-old vietnamese-australian
just cause we got black hair or something
not blonde or something
they think we're bad and that
but every race is just the same
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