I agree with what some of the others said. Racism I think will always be there. Where I work I get ppl in all the time that can't speak english.. but I always manage, whether they are new australians or tourists. I get a lot of asian and french speaking ppl and usually we get our points across. Broken english doesn't bother me, I have trouble understanding my own grandfather sometimes!! :) So you kinda get used to the thick italian or european accents. When my parents came here, it was aimed at them as at the time there was an influx of new australians from europe. Now it's aimed at asians in general. Sad really as I really like the asian cultures. My parents faced the racism head on, they knew the hurt and pain it caused so they raised us kids not to be like that. I don't see myself as a racist. If I don't like anyone it because of them, how they act, their attitude etc... colour, race, religion.. it doesn't bother me. If you're a good person, that's all I look for.
Here, ppl still tend to band together, there are suburbs (communities) here, like in the states where it's either by country origins or religion... good thing, makes it easier to find a decent place to eat (always look for the places that are packed by the locals, usually you can't go wrong)... but seriously, it doesn't bother me. I like it multicultural and I wouldn't like to see it any other way. It's pretty spread out here [where I live], there's a bit of everyone which I really like. I must admit though, I really didn't come across any negativity while I've been in the states.. though a lot of ppl did think I was english as my aussie accent isn't typical (my dad still has a very strong italian accent, so that's why I have a slight italian accent). That didn't bother me, only the english knew I was aussie which surprised me. I used to let ppl guess. You'd be surprised at some of the guesses though LOL - all in good fun and no harm done. I'm sure racism was there (like here) but I didn't see it. That's it for me I guess. ~Bee
