Racism and its Impact on the Health of Indigenous Australians

Running head: RACISM
RACISM
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RACISM
Racism can be explained as the behaviours, beliefs, practices and prejudices that
underlie unfair and avoidable inequalities across the various groups in the society depending
on race, culture, religion and ethnicity (Kamp et al., 2018). The health gap present between
the indigenous and non-indigenous people had often raised concerns among the government
and racism faced by the indigenous people can be one of the contributors. This assignment
would thereby discuss how racism had affected the health condition among aboriginal people
in the nation in details.
The history of the indigenous people in the nation of Australia extends back to the last
two hundred years from the time of the arrival of the European colonisations and remarks one
of the most dreadful period for the Aboriginal communities (Hall, 2018). Since the time,
genocide, subjugation as well as segregation, dispossession and many other actions of the
colonisers had resulted in the reduction of the indigenous population between the time of
1788 and that of 1900 by almost 90%. One of the historical data collected and analysed
showed that before the advent of the European colonisers and their contact to the land of the
Aboriginals, there was indeed an approximate number of about 15000 residents of the
indigenous community even only in the state of the Victoria (Clark et al., 2015). The very
same number had been found to reduce by the year to such an extent that the number of living
heads from the indigenous community was approximately 850 only.
In the present generation, the indigenous communities of people had continued to face
both interpersonal as well as institutional racism. This had actually resulted in the creation as
well as the sustenance of their lower socio-economic status by the procedures of exclusion of
such communities of people from various types of economic opportunities and even from
land ownerships. The health gap present between the native people and the non-native people
had always been a concern of debate between different Australian people where indigenous
females are seen to be living for 10.6 less whereas indigenous females are seen to be living

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RACISM
9.5 years lesser than the non-indigenous men and women respectively (Temple et al., 2019).
Huge number of evidences from research journals, historical researches and statistical data
has shown that racism indeed had been one of the most important determinants of health of
the Indigenous Australians.
Racism that affects the health of the indigenous communities can be classified into
two broad types. The first one is the individual level where racism is mainly seen to refer to
the attitudes as well as beliefs harboured by certain groups who consider themselves superior
in relation to the other group who are regarded to be the inferior based on the race, cultural
background as well as on the ethnicity (Young et al., 2018). Those who are considered
inferior by the superior group are treated not only in the unfavourable manner but also
differently. Another broad category is mainly seen to occur at the social level where racism is
mainly explained as the particular aspect, which participates as well as exacerbates the
inequality of various types of scopes and opportunities among the different ethno-racial
group. This means that the aboriginal people remain exposed to racial discrimination where
the racist practices and the behaviours mainly result in the inequality of the opportunities
among the different ethno-racial groups (Bodkin et al., 2016). One of the most persistent
aspects that remain associated with the today’s discourse regarding the concept of racism in
the nation is the very existence of denial in the nation. Different studies and researches on the
various linguistic and discursive patterns of contemporary speech in both informal and formal
settings in the nation had been found to conclude that the social taboo against the expression
of the racist beliefs had resulted in the development of particular initiatives that needs to be
discussed (Nelson et al., 2018). These are seen to exhibit negative views on the minority
group to be justified and reasonable while at the same time exonerating the speaker from that
of the charges of racisms. This had contributed in constraining the political efforts in
addressing racism thus reinforcing racism.