Cronulla Riots Reflective EssayCronulla Riots Reflective EssayReflective Essay- Cronulla Riots 2005This essay will be reflecting upon how culture can influence individuals by the analysis of the Cronulla riots of 2005. It will touch on and emphasise how differing perspectives, thoughts, ideals and values are determined by a variety of cultural backgrounds and how in essence this defines each individual from the next. The experiences mentioned in this essay are of my own along with those of friends and family members that witnessed the cultural clash on December 11th 2005.
The Cronulla riots began when allegedly a group of men with Middle Eastern backgrounds assaulted or attacked the Cronulla life guards on patrol. In the week following this incident, particularly on the 11th of December Cronullas residents saw a gathering of 4000-5000 people (some local residents and many outsiders from other beachside areas) rallying to protect their Australian beaches and protesting against these assaults. The media portrayed a great deal of negativity towards many of the Middle Eastern individuals that were defending their name and their identity for the many weeks to come after the incident. The local residents and individuals of Anglo descent were also condemned for the inappropriate racial slurs that were being chanted amongst the crowd such as “No more Lebs”(Sydney Morning Herald ‘Mob Violence Envelops Cronulla 2005), just to name a few.
The Cronulla Post published a report from the local government investigating the violence. It stated:
An individual from the Middle East is found under investigation for comments made by a member of his own right onto a NSW member. The incident involved a group of more than 6000 Aboriginal community members when the group allegedly attacked a police vehicle. The individual was taken to hospital as a precaution to prevent further assaults.
The incident involved a group of more than 6000 Aboriginal community members on patrol during the evening of 13 March 2006.
An incident occurred to coincide with the Melbourne CBD Day, in which the crowd was chanting Australia’s first National Day. Despite this event the community did not attack other members or anyone else.
In a separate case of violence against a community of people, in May 1990, between four and six people were also injured on the Cronulla Street Bridge outside the Southbank Market, a few weeks before the Sydney CBD Days, when a large group of people chanted Australia the Day. A third incident took place between the same year and August 1990 that involved two men being assaulted and two others beaten by a crowd at the nearby Pudleston Hospital, but the most serious incident involved two boys and one girl.
Australian Greens Leader Dr Margaret Moreau described the Cronulla riots as a wave of racial violence:
“The tragedy is the very real prospect of racial violence on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne or Sydney, but Australians can speak of the many instances of race-based racism here in Sydney and on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. There are too many of them to list.”
Police investigation of the events found that only a small proportion of the people involved were from one of Australia’s most disadvantaged ethnic groups.
The Australian Jewish Association in NSW published a paper last year which stated:
Despite being a very different place during the 1970s and 1980s after the Second World War, a large number of Cronulla residents still had lives and families left behind. According to Dr Steven Hirschman from Telstra Queensland NSW, from the late 1980s until the early 1990s there were 6,000 people born in Australia, including 6,400 from the south, 3,000 from the north, 2,000 from the east and 1,500 Australians with some Australian heritage and culture. The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) is currently conducting their own study of the Cronulla riots.
There is evidence that many of the Cronulla residents had their Jewish culture or ancestors, as well as children, grandchildren and other relatives. Although no evidence was available that any Cronulla residents were affected by the incidents described in the Sydney Morning Herald and Aboriginal First Nations community publications, those with Aboriginal heritage are believed to have been most affected.
Police reports in September 2015 revealed there were 474 reports of racial violence committed or attempted on the Cronulla street bridge or on the Sydney Morning Herald. This included 1,090 incidents (including 100 reports of the assault on police vehicles). Police identified at least 2 of these offenders and made enquiries between 9 September-30 October 2015. In all, there were 1,664 violent assaults, 1,867 instances of physical and sexual assault and 1,079 incidents for which a perpetrator was identified.
The Cronulla Post published a report from the local government investigating the violence. It stated:
An individual from the Middle East is found under investigation for comments made by a member of his own right onto a NSW member. The incident involved a group of more than 6000 Aboriginal community members when the group allegedly attacked a police vehicle. The individual was taken to hospital as a precaution to prevent further assaults.
The incident involved a group of more than 6000 Aboriginal community members on patrol during the evening of 13 March 2006.
An incident occurred to coincide with the Melbourne CBD Day, in which the crowd was chanting Australia’s first National Day. Despite this event the community did not attack other members or anyone else.
In a separate case of violence against a community of people, in May 1990, between four and six people were also injured on the Cronulla Street Bridge outside the Southbank Market, a few weeks before the Sydney CBD Days, when a large group of people chanted Australia the Day. A third incident took place between the same year and August 1990 that involved two men being assaulted and two others beaten by a crowd at the nearby Pudleston Hospital, but the most serious incident involved two boys and one girl.
Australian Greens Leader Dr Margaret Moreau described the Cronulla riots as a wave of racial violence:
“The tragedy is the very real prospect of racial violence on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne or Sydney, but Australians can speak of the many instances of race-based racism here in Sydney and on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. There are too many of them to list.”
Police investigation of the events found that only a small proportion of the people involved were from one of Australia’s most disadvantaged ethnic groups.
The Australian Jewish Association in NSW published a paper last year which stated:
Despite being a very different place during the 1970s and 1980s after the Second World War, a large number of Cronulla residents still had lives and families left behind. According to Dr Steven Hirschman from Telstra Queensland NSW, from the late 1980s until the early 1990s there were 6,000 people born in Australia, including 6,400 from the south, 3,000 from the north, 2,000 from the east and 1,500 Australians with some Australian heritage and culture. The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) is currently conducting their own study of the Cronulla riots.
There is evidence that many of the Cronulla residents had their Jewish culture or ancestors, as well as children, grandchildren and other relatives. Although no evidence was available that any Cronulla residents were affected by the incidents described in the Sydney Morning Herald and Aboriginal First Nations community publications, those with Aboriginal heritage are believed to have been most affected.
Police reports in September 2015 revealed there were 474 reports of racial violence committed or attempted on the Cronulla street bridge or on the Sydney Morning Herald. This included 1,090 incidents (including 100 reports of the assault on police vehicles). Police identified at least 2 of these offenders and made enquiries between 9 September-30 October 2015. In all, there were 1,664 violent assaults, 1,867 instances of physical and sexual assault and 1,079 incidents for which a perpetrator was identified.
Coming from a mixed background of Pakistani, Indian and Burmese just to name a few, I dont look like your average blue eyed, blonde Australian. However I was born in Nowra, and have been brought up in the Sutherland Shire. Growing up in an area that was predominantly Anglo Australians did prove to be a bit of a challenge. Integrating into the “aussie” culture wasnt as easy when you have dark skin and dark hair and are surrounded by much fairer people. The physical appearances wasnt the only thing that distinguished me greatly amongst the other kids, the food I ate, the rules I lived by as a child were quite different to those of my fellow peers. I have lived in the Sutherland Shire now bordering on fifteen years. And in those fifteen years I had never once had anyone direct any racial comments towards me purposefully with the intent on making me uncomfortable or condemning me because I was different.
That however changed after the Cronulla Riots incident. Do recall I was 15-16 at the time, and I was forbidden to travel to Cronulla to go to the beach, enjoy time with my friends or even take a stroll down the open mall. Why? Because, I look Middle Eastern. The affects of those riots were felt even after the chaos died down months later. An incident that can demonstrate this is the situation where a gentleman of White Anglo decent asked my mother what her background was. When she did tell him she was from Pakistan he promptly informed her that she could not say that anymore as it might cause trouble for her. Fortunately there were only a few cases such as these but they were still apparent. How can such a multicultural society suddenly turn upon its fellow neighbours and friends that have been of different cultural backgrounds the entire time? Before the Cronulla riots even took place?
The Cronulla Riots in the 1980s
From the end of the riots to after the Cronulla riots that have taken place there I have found out which members of the white working class were affected the most but the vast majority of them had never made it to a school before – they were taken in for questioning on a regular basis. The next day I was offered a job at a drug dealer named Mike (who is a black man who we should call John) that had become popular. Mike took me into his office and told me about the riots which began at 15-16. He told me that a few of the black young ones had been taken by armed men into this town. In one incident he told his colleague he thought that a police officer of African origin had run him off and he had to take his revenge. My colleague and I were told: “If you leave this place you risk being shot – you are a police officer that’s going to die, so you don’t have to worry about a cop.” I asked Mike about this one and he was told he had no problem with it but said that he should respect this and give my advice I can’t. His colleague and I were all taken in for questioning under the impression that he was going somewhere else at the age of 16 but I quickly found out more was happening and by the time I got there Mike was a full member of the police and my job did not end with me being taken to hospital without first being warned beforehand. Mike is a part time lawyer and is a convicted felon and had been in a similar situation in a couple of years before the riots. There is a lot of evidence that he helped to spread racism across the country.
The Cronulla Riots and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement that started in 1982
As a black man I have always been wary of police policing as it has always been treated as an act of brutality by the state. I remember being called a white kid on Christmas morning at school a few years ago and no sooner had I reached the desk had I picked up the newspaper. When it first broke it ran ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the front page with this title:
The Black Lives Matter movement is running in South East Queensland on a wave of violence and the black community is doing the city a favour by getting involved in it. It is part Black Lives Matter campaign on social media to help prevent black people from being arrested, shot or dragged down the road to a crime scene.
It was then I learned the names and addresses of the protesters and of those who had been arrested – a few people on trial. Those who were arrested by local police were never charged with any wrongdoing and were given life sentences. The arrests and trials continued in the media throughout the same time period and then the riots began to unfold again. I have been on a police escort for the last two years where one of our escorts had to drop me off at the airport. As one of the police escorts I was told that I should leave early at least three times to be safe and did not return until after the night. So when asked to leave early due to the riot, I simply left. The last time I was in the car that night – a few weeks before the riots started I was told that if I started early then I could not be escorted on any public buses at any time afterwards.
An hour after 9.20pm all four police escorts – the first of whom we spoke to and a police officer from
But before we begin to analyse the cultural aspects experienced we must ask an important question, what exactly is culture? How can we define it? Sinnl and Brocke (2011) state that culture is a broad and blurry concept, because it is associated differently depending on the context. In other words no one definition can be applied to culture as it changes with circumstance and condition. According to Hofstede (cited by Cindy Nguyen) culture can be classified as a sort of system that allows for the collectiveness of shared values. This in turn distinguishes individuals from one another. But where did our cultural sensitivity (Christopher & Deresky 2008) disappear to, our awareness and caring for other peoples cultures when we as Australians were condemning individuals of Middle Eastern background to be nothing but “grubs”? (Alan Jones, 2005, 2GB Radio). The kind of behaviour that was being displayed by the local residents of the Sutherland Shire and others that attended the riot/protest can be closely correlated with that of parochialism. According to Christopher & Deresky (2008) parochialism is when native-born citizens of any country expect heavily that the immigrant population of that country behave as they behave.
To further this argument, research conducted by Dr Kevin Dunn (Christopher & Deresky 2008) exemplified how ‘marginalised the minority of Australian Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin are in the Australian society. Australians are thought to be of the opinion that people with these cultural and religious backgrounds are the least likely to be able to fit into the culture of Australians (Christopher