My day at school probably pretty much started out like yours
Had English in the morning, a Maths test Then played soccer with some mates
I scored a goal!
Only ... one of the guys on the other team screamed at me
called me really nasty names
like, he called me a black monkey it had nothing to do with soccer and everything
to do with the colour of my skin That's not on!
And it's not even legal You can't go around trashing people because
of their race A teacher was watching
and pulled him up over it We're all going to have a lesson on racism
and what to do about it Oh and that guy - he's busted
Two weeks detention, and he's out of the team That's a Red Card for racism
* I probably use my computer pretty much like you do
check the news catch up on what friends are doing
waste some time on Facebook Only this one time
I went on this website and there was all this stuff written about how bad Aboriginal
people were horrible, racist stuff
and then there were comments from other people on the site
saying nasty things about Aboriginal people too
It got worse and worse the more I read
and it really hurt cause, you know - I'm Aboriginal
it's personal So I stopped reading, and I started writing
I googled what to do, and who can help I asked around
And most people had the same advice Make a complaint with the Human Rights Commission
So I did.
Turns out I wasn't the only one complaining about the site
They were told they had to remove all the offensive material
And it's gone So no one else had to read what I had to.
'Cause it's just not OK to discriminate And thanks to the Racial Discrimination Act
We can all do something about it * My day probably started out
pretty much like yours got up, brushed my teeth
ate breakfast and headed off to do the shopping
only, when I got to the bus-stop the bus driver wouldn't let me on!
She said "We've had troubles with your sort before"
and then she just drove off!
I was totally confused "My sort?"
what was she talking about?
"My sort" is middle-aged, mother of three, who likes spicy food.
Oh, and I'm from China.
She didn't like where I'm from, so she wouldn't let me on the bus?
That's just wrong.
And - it's against the law.
It's called the Racial Discrimination Act She might not know that.
But I do.
So I contacted the Human Rights Commission and made a complaint.
They spoke to the bus company.
And listened to both sides of the story.
The driver agreed to call me and apologise for what had happened.
Plus their company is going to run some training, to make sure their drivers understand about
the law.
So it won't happen again.
And if it does, I know who to call.
Speaking up is better than being silent.