I will tell you a story to help you better understand where I am coming from.
My office is located in North Richmond – we have been here for just over a year, and as far as offices go, this one is really nice, but the location really, really sucks.
When I go out for lunch to the same places, I greet the proprietors and I expect them to greet me, it’s all about developing a relationship with your customer, it took me about 2-3 months before the proprietors would look me in the eye and say hello to me… no matter how many times I was ignored, I still would say hello every day.
You want to know why this is. It’s because I work in North Richmond, and as an Anglo Saxon male, I am the minority in this little part of town, and it’s a scary thought.
All is good now, I get a smile out of most the store owners and clerks, but the fact that it took me three months with my personable attitude and demeanour, I am totally uncomfortable with that fact.
I tell you this story, because it’s a big issue for me, and I believe it requires a lot of work, but immigration policies need to be looked at because separate and intentionally isolationist communities are all over the cities of Australia, and I imagine it would be the same all over the western world.
Whose responsibility is it to get the immigrants to assimilate with our culture?
Melbourne is one of the most ethnically rich and diverse cities in the world, and I would not change that for anything. Predominantly we have Greeks, Italians, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Polish and Slavs, and I love them all. To defuse any racist allegations, I have no qualms with any of these people – I have been surrounded by different ethnicities since I was in pre-school – the colour of ones skin is not something that troubles me. It is though when I am the one being judged because of my skin colour in my own country.
I can walk down Victoria St any time of the day, and quite easily the odds will be that I am one of only a handful of Anglo-Saxons. I will walk down the street, and it’s my way to smile and say hello to people on the street, just spread a little happiness… Usually I will get a smile back or a hello from the other Anglo Saxons, but the Vietnamese look at you as if you are a stranger, and you should not be there.
They will also banter on in their language, if feels like they are talking about you directly amongst themselves sometimes – I may be paranoid, but I think it’s safe to assume at least 5 times when this has happened.
Australia has a problem with urbanisation. 90% of our population live in 20% of the land. Australia has a capacity for 10,000 immigrants a year at the moment, and I believe it should be more, but policy needs to be looked at. I think if people are coming to our country, it should be their responsibility to assimilate. Ignorance can not be an excuse. They are the ones who should go to English Language schools, and culture classes to some extent. Their should be initiatives where a local family sponsors an immigrant family, and they show each other the best of both worlds - and enjoy it together.
At the moment it is too easy for these little communities to develop and ostracise themselves from mainstream Melbourne. When the immigrants get here, they are all ushered to the same commission flats in the cities, and of course, are generally surrounded with people of their own ethnicity – I don’t necessarily disagree with this, but it just makes it easy for them to deal with people who only speak their language, and they are not forced to learn our language, way of life, and how to respect our culture.
At the end of the day, Australia is a democracy, and it is up to the people to allow the immigrants to come in – and I have to say, from what I see on a day to day basis, I am not impressed with these people coming to Australia and generally mooching of our welfare system without putting anything back into the community.
I can’t comment on the situation in the USA – but we have a big problem with thuggery amongst the ethnic youths. I wont say it is all the Vietnamese, but I will use them as an example because it’s what I see everyday.
On a corner near my work there are always the same young Vietnamese drug pushers… selling heroin and what not… and they have absolutely no fear because it is their home. Police are literally too afraid to do anything around that area, because they are simply outnumbered tremendously. It also seems there is a very strong gang mentality, and there have been countless incidents of stabbing and violence amongst young Vietnamese in Melbourne… When I go to a house party, and a car load of Vietnamese youth’s rock up, I am genuinely afraid that violence will occur on some level, and this is a warranted fear – let me tell you.
If this keeps happening, I am personally going to become quite vocal on the issue, and do my part to raise the questions that need to be answered – If the Ethnics aren’t going to make an effort to assimilate and become part of the diverse Melbourne community rather than a separate entity, then they can’t come anymore – it’s as simple as that.
They can have their own little communities, but I think they should be shuffled of to central Australia or something, where they can do as they please, and spit on the sidewalk as often as they desire.
Of course that’s not what I want, but unless these immigrants don’t make the effort and contribute something back to our society, that’s exactly what will happen. The Immigrants need to take the initiative to learn English, to mingle with Anglo Saxons and to appreciate the fact that we do want to help them, but it’s very hard when they don’t want our help.
All I want is to feel like a local in my own country, this isn’t deciphered by the colour of your skin, it’s deciphered by your environment, where you feel safe, and people say hello to you because you are a compatriot.
BAM!!!