Communities across the country are being called on to challenge racism in a new campaign from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
Launching the Racism. It Stops With Me campaign, Race Discrimination Commissioner at AHRC, Chin Tan said the new national anti-racism campaign called on Australians who did not have lived experience of racism to reflect on its impacts and do more to address it.
Commissioner Tan said the national campaign acknowledged that First Nations peoples and others with lived experience of racism had been leading anti-racism in Australia for centuries, and encouraged more Australians to reflect on their responsibility and take action.
“Racism continues to undermine justice and fairness in Australia,” Commissioner Tan said.
“We see it in the lack of recognition of First Nations communities, in ongoing discrimination and power imbalances that create inequitable outcomes,” he said.
“We see it in continued antisemitism and Islamophobia, in the surge of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, and in the rise of far-right extremism.”
Commissioner Tan said the multiplatform advertising campaign would build awareness of how racism operated at both a structural and interpersonal level and give people tools to recognise and address it.
He said the campaign also responded to recent events and addressed major challenges to realising racial equity in Australia.
“The #BlackLivesMatter movement has demonstrated leadership from First Nations communities and others with lived experience of racism,” the Commissioner said.
“Now is the time for all Australians to act in support.”
The Racism. It Stops With Me campaign can be accessed at this PS News link.
