Some very pathetic posters in this thread suggesting that he should have remained silent.
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AFLW 2024 - Round 9 - Indigenous Round - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Let get this straight Goodes was not alive in 67, i was not around for the stolen generation. I never whip or ran anyone of a cliff. So don't give me this shit, it's in the pass. Goodes was grand standing and he made a fool out of him self.
My Grandmother landed here and was treated like a dog and called names, you know what my family did? Got jobs work like dogs day and night and now the same people who called them names work for them. They didn't carry on like a 2 bob watch over someone else's stupidity.
All this is, is a child did something stupid and a grown man wanted to make a point and make a big deal out of something stupid. If this little girl harms her self i hope Goodes takes a look in the mirror and says to him self this is on me all coz i wanted to be the big **** on the day.
If you are brought up by parents who say that calling a black person who an ape is okay, then you're going to get into a lot of trouble in life. Some people definitely do look like apes (not just blacks) but you cannot go calling a black person an ape with the history of the slur.Yep. I suspected as much. Race probably didn't even enter her mind when she made the comment.
Or well brought up not to make such racist associations.
What is 13yo these days? Year 7?
And yet I don't believe he was racially vilified. He took offense on the basis of race. Completely different.
Could not be more impressed with Goodes and his reaction - especially today.
Too many people want to be offended and engage in hysteria as a result, yet you've got a guy who has genuine cause, yet his reaction is to try and embrace and support the girl, and help her learn from it.
Class act.
There is not a nation on this planet which does not have a history of racist behaviour/attitudes-most far more vicious than Australia's. That includes African and Asian countries which to this day persecute people based upon their race. The genocide in Rwanda was only a few years ago and entirely based on racism. We need some perspective. Too many write as if white anglo saxons are responsible for all racism on this planet. The indigenous people call others of a white and black parentage "coconuts". A derogatory term which says they may be brown on the outside but they are white on the inside- a slur many have had hurled at them.
As for Goodes being a hero-what patronising nonsense. There was nothing remotely heroic about what he did. He didn't risk anything. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain, he was in no danger-he knew he already had the support of almost every person in the stadium as well as the entire AFL community. Hero? Please. When he stands up at a KKK meeting in the deep south of the USA and condemns their attitudes I'll call him a hero.
Outstanding post.I've never held a particular liking toward Adam Goodes. The man has an unfortunate habit of conducting football lessons against Hawthorn and I will be the first to admit to calling him every swear word under the sun after the Gibson incident. Yet, there is an immeasurable difference between the regular use of vulgar language at the football we have all heard or used at some point in our lives, and the use of vulgar language which carries with it severe racial connotations.
'White Australia', the "Stolen Generation', our horrendous treatment of 1968 200m Olympic silver medal winner Peter Norman for his support of American runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Such events are instant reminders of Australia's long and disgraceful history of racial vilification the majority of us would like to forget .
Have we come a long way since these times? Yes, that is undisputed.
In 2008, then PM Kevin Rudd spoke of the "unfinished business of the nation" when apologizing to the Aborigine 'stolen generation', and a hope of achieving reconciliation and equality between the Aborigine people and the rest of Australia. 5 years later how close our nation is to concluding the "unfinished business of the nation" is truly remarkable, but last night simply showed how much work there is to still be done.
In a round intended for a celebration of Indigenous superstars, one of the greatest to ever play our game was called an 'ape' by a 13 year old girl. He stopped, singled her out with no hesitation and ensured her removal from the ground. We should all well and truly in an age where anyone of any age or gender should be educated in regard to the significant offense connotations of such a term carries for those of colored descent.
But as a statement provided by Goodes himself rightly states, this is simply not the case
"She's 13, she's still so innocent. I don't put any blame on her. Unfortunately, it's what she hears, in the environment she's grown up in that has made her think that it's ok to call people names."
Youth represent the future of any nation, and the particular case of the 13 year old in question is just one example of how far we still have to go to achieve reconciliation and equality. An innocent and impressionable young girl who should have been raised by the moral guidelines of a nation that prides itself on championing equality has been taught to believe the use of such a derogatory racial slur is acceptable.
If Goodes did not choose to take a stand right then and there, perhaps she becomes just one of many representing Australia's future who have not been taught that such behavior can NEVER be ok, not even in the most heated or passionate of moments that many a sporting arena can represent.
This is not about the girl, and this is not about Adam Goodes. What this is about is not losing sight of how far we've come in the fight for racial equality in Australia, and most importantly it's about not losing sight of how far we still have to go in the moral education of our nation and it's future.
In this day and age, racial vilification cannot ever be allowed societal position, and for all those who claim Goodes has ruined the young woman in questions life,
I dare say his actions will be a defining moment in the improved woman she will grow up to become.
I've long held a particular dislike toward Goodes for reasons motivated by little more than the joyful prejudices of the opposition football fan, yet after last night I can't help thinking the man a hero.
Adam Goodes you are a champion in every sense of the word,
I hope one day I can grow up to be even half the man you've shown yourself to be
was it really worth making a troll account just to post that?
Overreacted? Whether she understood the cultural implications of what she said or not, it doesn't matter. It's an incredibly offensive term, tantamount with calling him the unthinkable n-word.
If you are brought up by parents who say that calling a black person who an ape is okay, then you're going to get into a lot of trouble in life.
Rubbish. The "n-word", as you put it, has one clear and unmistakable meaning and it's use establishes the clear and unmistakable intent of making a racially based comment. The words APE has none of this. It's offense is taken at solely at the level of interpretation.
Not true. Coloured people have been negatively culturally framed by association with simians for centuries. The term is amazingly offensive, just look at Goodes' reaction last night. It represents a long, long history of oppression, the inference of being biologically inferior and sub-human. I'm not debating her intention, but the term for many blacks, and I have my wife a black South African to bounce that off, is as offensive as it gets.
Overreacted? Whether she understood the cultural implications of what she said or not, it doesn't matter. It's an incredibly offensive term, tantamount with calling him the unthinkable n-word.
Maybe in other countries, I never knew the word 'ape' was a racial slur until yesterday. Heard countless comments against aboriginals but never ape. Only heard it used as an insult against say a large hairy person.Not true. Coloured people have been negatively culturally framed by association with simians for centuries. The term is amazingly offensive, just look at Goodes' reaction last night. It represents a long, long history of oppression, the inference of being biologically inferior and sub-human. I'm not debating her intention, but the term for many blacks, and I have my wife a black South African to bounce that off, is as offensive as it gets.
Where to start, hmmm.
Your parents might have been called names and had their feelings hurt but aborigines have had much worse done to them, like attempted genocide. They still face significant inequalities.
If you want to believe that the persecution your parents have lived through is equal to what aborigines have endured, and your parents have prospered where the aborigines haven't due to some perceived fundamental superiority then go for it but it's flawed logic. You think like that because you're not aware how deluded you are.
Ok, so the comparison between aborigines and greeks, italians, chinese etc are ridiculous. Not to mention blaming Goodes for this incident is outrageous. People blaming him are seriously unbalanced. It defies belief.
Goodes has been a class act in this shitty situation.
All you're demonstrating is that what I've said is indeed true. The offense of the term comes from a point of interpretation. If I'm at a conference and am overheard using the term ape you will not find cause for disturbance until you can interpret the context. If I use the "n-word" however, you can be much surer of my meaning.
Good comment, great comment, very intelligent. It's in the past so any repercussions clearly don't reach forward to today.