Shannon Burns
In Defence of the Bad, White Working Class
'For many of the white adults, like my parents, "Asians" had turned their neighbourhood into a frightening and uninhabitable place. It appeared no more dangerous to me than it had ever been, but I enjoyed a comparatively privileged perspective. I grew up in a multicultural world, so its "alien" aspects barely troubled me. My parents, however, did not grow up in such a world. They had never been wealthy enough to travel or to experience other cultures on their own terms. As a consequence, the creeping advance of a multicultural society – a reality-shift that they had no control over – frightened them.'
(Note: I found it interesting to read this essay alongside this short 2012 piece, 'Racist Violence and Social Class in Australia', by blogger Eurasian Sensation, a.k.a. Chris Mitchell, for Peril: 'the racism of the more wealthy and middle classes is often not as obvious and visceral as that of the less privileged. But what about its overall impact?')