Despite citizenship, migrants like Charnamat struggle for recognition: ‘You don’t look like an Aussie’

“I still remember an encounter with a man who asked me where I was from and when I (had) moved to Australia. He then told me that if I am a citizen here, then I should look like an Aussie,” the turban-clad Singh told SBS Punjabi.

Charnamat Singh, an Australian citizen who has Indian roots and practices Sikhism. Credit: Supplied by Charnamat Singh

In Australia, many migrants from culturally diverse backgrounds experience “feeling unwelcome, looked down upon or excluded”, according to a.

The report, which gathers the views of more than 700 Victorians from culturally and racially marginalised communities, revealed experiences of racism are particularly prevalent among those who identified as being of an African background (91.1 per cent), followed by those of Indian or Sri Lankan (81.2 per cent) or other South Asian backgrounds (81.8 per cent).

Having lived in Australia for decades now, Singh said he has learned to deal with such comments tactfully. He recalled his reply to the man who confronted him as: “You do not look Aussie to me either.”

“Sitting in a public place with someone who has a lighter skin colour than me, obviously it would be easier for anyone to pick me out as a migrant. Even though I am a citizen, I do not ‘look’ Australian to most people here,” Kaur said.

A representative image of multicultural communities living in Australia. Credit: JDawnInk/Getty Images

“When I moved here, I had a bit of pressure to learn a certain accent and pronunciation to fit in better. Now, at a corporate level, I do see more people from different ethnicities at different levels.

“I believe that things are getting better and if you work hard, you will get opportunities.”

Nearly 50 per cent Australians have foreign roots

Barry Judd, Professor and Director, Indigenous Studies, and Deputy Vice Chancellor Indigenous, the University of Melbourne, Australia. Credit: Drew Echberg/Supplied by the University of Melbourne

Barry Judd, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Indigenous) and Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, said Australia had historically been multicultural.

“People’s right to chose how they live, the languages they speak, was the norm in Australia for 50-60,000 years.”

Who is an Australian?

According to Judd, anyone who lives in Australia and contributes here should be considered an Australian.

Sheetal Deo, a lawyer and founder of several social groups including Ethnic+, also questioned the definitions commonly used.

Sheetal Deo is a member of the Management Committee of the LGBTI Legal Service and serves as the State Director (QLD) for Out for Australia. Credit: Supplied by Sheetal Deo

“Who has created our understanding of who is an Australian and whose right is it to define who is an Australian?” she asked.

“In fact, people have higher chances of getting through if they tweak their names a bit to sound more Western which depicts an inherent bias against people from diverse ethnic backgrounds,” she said.

The findings indicate that decision makers with lower levels of exposure to diversity tend to be more concerned about people of “Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese” ethnicity being able to fit into roles and organisations.

“If one person can be defined by multiple roles, then how can a country be defined by one word or characteristic?”

‘Australia does not want to talk about race’

“Government preference over the past decade for the use of ‘social cohesion’ has weakened approaches to anti-racism work,” it added.

Despite living in the country for decades and obtaining citizenship, people from diverse ethnic backgrounds find it hard to be recognised as an Australian. (Image by Getty)

The report suggested that there is a current lack of a systemic government-led, strengths-based, inter-sectional and coordinated approach to addressing racism in Australian society.

The professor, who is also part of the University of Melbourne’s anti-racism action plan, said according to his research, the most common form of racism was micro-aggression, which is very nuanced and often unreported.

Deo said the concept of race was created to “make some people superior to others” and urged more conversations so people can question their involuntary biases.

“If we are avoiding conversation on the topic altogether, it becomes very difficult for us to draw awareness to it and then address the racism problem … It also makes people talking about racism sound ‘disharmonous’.”