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Australian Freedom Ride confronts racism
seen in Green Left Weekly - 20.02.2005 13:14
A Freedom Ride bus trip by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students of Sydney University has found crass racism in northern and north-western New South Wales.
The trip began in Sydney on February 12 to retrace the steps of a 1965 Freedom Ride for Aboriginal rights. A participant said the experience so far had been “incredible” and that they had encountered “racism and segregation, as well as community programs and organising”.
A report in the “Green Left Weekly” describes how
- an Aboriginal man was not allowed on a long-distance bus despite a valid ticket and a vacant seat;
- an Aboriginal woman was told not to take her pillow on the bus as it ‘might carry head lice’;
- Aboriginal mothers are not allowed to take prams into a supermarket, while non-Indigenous woman can;
- some people still live in makeshift tin houses, not too different to what the original Freedom Riders saw in 1965.
Aboriginal leader Michael Anderson* said, “conditions are worse than what they were in the ‘60s. The only difference is the style of homes and we’ve got running water. But there are no jobs and no education.”
For the full story go to  http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/616/616p3.htm.
* http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Michael+Anderson+Aboriginal&btnG=Google+Search
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