How do you judge people?

By they way they look, or by what they say? A unique short film addresses racism in Parramatta

in Event Cinemas at Parramatta and most of the advertising for it has been free. “In that sense, this has truly been a community project,” concludes Ms BriceWeller.

How comfortable do people feel talking about the thorny subject of racism?

BY PRIYADARSHINI CHIDAMBARANATHAN

Hwalked down the street? Have you ever been denied an opportunity because of the colour of your skin, or the way you speak? Have you ever experienced racial abuse?

Would you like to see something done about it?

‘One Parramatta’ is a short film project targeting racial abuse in the Parramatta area. Partially funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, this project is run by All Together Now, the first Australian nonprofit organisation dedicated to erasing racism. The project is envisioned as a series of seven films, interviewing passers-by on the street, to be released over the next one year.

The first film, What are Your Values? was released on July 19 at Event Cinemas Parramatta. In this episode filmed over the course of two days, the crew spoke to 60 people of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds in the Parramatta area about their values. “The idea was to highlight the fact that the people of Parramatta have shared values,” says Priscilla BriceWeller, Managing Director of All Together Now.

As respondents list what is important to them, you realise that these people, who may look or dress differently from you, hold pretty much the same broad values as you do. (So do you judge people by how they look, or what they say, the film asks pointedly).

What emerged as the most important value across the board, was family, followed by community, and then education. If this is true, why is there such a high incidence of racism in this area?

“There is something very wrong here; we had to highlight the discrepancy between values and actual behaviour,” says Ms Brice-Weller.

The short film has already generated more than 500 views on YouTube. Watch it online at http://youtu.be/uVR_ dTMAeQM.

Parramatta is one of the most multicultural cities in Sydney, with over half of its residents being born overseas and about 8% in India. However a recent study by the University of Western Sydney, titled ‘Challenging Racism’, found that this area has a much higher incidence of racial abuse than the national and NSW average. About 35% of the respondents felt they were treated with less respect due to their race and cultural background. Also, the number of self-identified racists seems to be unusually large, at 23%. Compare this with the national average of 23% and 12% respectively, and we understand why Parramatta was chosen for this project.

“We wanted to use the results of the study in a positive manner and address the issue in a way that would get people involved,” says Brice-Weller. “We wanted to involve more mainstream people in this project too”.

This led them to approach the issue in a manner that would be “fun and different from the usual community projects”, appealing to ‘young adults’ in the 18-34 age group who “are the most likely perpetrators and victims of racism in Parramatta”. All Together Now uses social media and films effectively to reach this audience, and is one of the first non-profit organisations to do so.

There has been considerable community support for the project, with most of the 19-member film crew coming on board as volunteers. It was directed by Remi Luxford (of Shoot To Kill fame) and produced by Lex Luxford (UFO Films). The film has been aired free of charge

“Although about one-third of the residents of this area were supposed to have experienced racial abuse, we found that the number of people who actually admitted to being abused was much less,” replies Ms BriceWeller. “We think this may be because some people were too embarrassed or hurt to publicly admit to being racially abused. Racism is hurtful, and some people don’t want to re-live that hurt by telling their story”.

All Together Now was founded by Priscilla Brice-Weller two years ago. “When I lived overseas, people used to ask me questions about Australia and racism, about asylum seekers, refugees and Indigenous people. This gave me some insight into how Australia is viewed from overseas. When I returned to live in Australia I decided to do something about it,” she reveals.

The organisation has run two successful campaigns so far, Talk About Racism which encouraged people to have conversations about racism and Give Racism The Finger which saw over 50,000 people sign up to speak up against racism.

One Parramatta is a genuine attempt to introduce rational discussion about an issue that is usually subject to emotional responses, which will hopefully make a difference in the Parramatta region.