A new survey by Sherlock & Dutta Consulting, funded by a Tasmanian government Social Cohesion grant, seeks to build a clearer picture of how Tasmania is faring.

Is the extent of racism in our state problematic? If so, where did it come from?

Tasmania was invaded and colonised by the British, who displaced or killed the First Nations inhabitants, leaving a colonial society that avoided considering the matter further – it became ‘history’ and the actual intergenerational impacts would largely be ignored for many decades.

 The racism that underpinned what was done to our First Nations people was largely unspoken in public forums; it was implicit, and leaves a gap in which we mostly Anglo-British descendants can airily debate its continuing existence today.

First Nations people continue fighting to be acknowledged, and to salvage the rich warp and weft of their many cultures. Meanwhile, the world moves on, and diasporas from many nations spread across the country as a whole and the state of Tasmania.

1 in 5 Tasmanians were born outside Australia.

1 in 10 speak a language other than English at home – Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish, Urdu, Dutch, Nepali and the languages of the Pacific Islands are just a few.

As Anglo Tasmanians like myself become more aware that our post-colonial world is changing – becoming ‘diverse’ – some of us are uneasy about difference. Eating the Armenian or Nepali takeaways is fine, but does our uncertainty about cultures that differ from our own, drift into curiosity and understanding – or rejection and racism?

CEO of Sherlock & Dutta Consulting, Zelinda Sherlock, like her namesake, has been investigating, hearing stories, providing information sessions and running a #letstalkaboutracism roadtrip across the length and breadth of Tasmania.

The roadtrip included pop-ups in our towns, walk-arounds to engage street conversations, sharing sessions and letter-boxing.

Sherlock, a Tassie local, born in Fiji with Girimitya (Indian indentured labourers) cultural heritage, studied here before leaving to work in Japan for almost 14 years. Culture shock only really kicks in when we return home, and Zelinda was dismayed to find resentment toward ‘migrants’ still exists in her community.

There are stories of horrific bullying, targeted vandalism, and daily racist abuse that are taking a huge toll on individuals and communities.

Migrant kids are being isolated, bullied and traumatised at our schools; those adults working hard to belong here are meeting a wall of indifference and distrust.  Sherlock also sees the outcomes of racism include economic loss as hardworking migrants give up and leave Tasmania for safer and more tolerant mainland locations.

Launching a ‘Racism Hurts Me’ campaign became a precursor to the current survey, as it became clear that hard data was needed to address the issues.

It’s not enough to suggest we tell our kids ‘racism is bad’ when our society is culturally based on it. We need to step up, collect data, assess the impacts of racism, develop outcomes and the strategies needed to accomplish them.

If the government is fair dinkum about ‘social cohesion’, this survey’s qualitative and quantitative data will assist. So, we need readers to spread the word about it, participate in it and encourage pragmatic acknowledgement of the realities of racism.

We need to provide tools for teachers and other leaders – anti-racism strategies to understand and deal with it.  We need to understand that not all our migrant communities feel safe, and that’s on us – all of us.

We need to hear their stories and feel what they feel – every damn day.

This survey is for all Tasmanians, so please share with your networks.  When we understand the issues and impacts, we’ll care and we’ll act.

Survey here: https://sherlockdutta.com.au/?page_id=579

B.P. Marshall is a scriptwriter and author of Anglo-Irish descent, who grew up in a multicultural public housing estate, and only discovered racism in his teens when he worked around Australia, and found some of the nicest people can also be racist.

Tasmanian Times (TT) is a community-based news and current affairs service covering the island state of Tasmania. It exists to provide a diverse view of Tasmanian issues. TT creates and supports independent media content utilising the best of modern technologies and tried-and-true practices of public-interest journalism.

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