News

Warren Mundine blasts ‘pathetic’ cries of racism from Millennials

Warren Mundine has told young indigenous people and white people to stop complaining about racism. Source: Getty

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has had a gutful of young people complaining about racism in Australia.

The former Labor politician was so enraged by online reactions to a recent cover of literary magazine Meanjin Quarterly (named after the Turrbal language word for Brisbane) that he’s written a scathing open editorial in Thursday’s edition of The Daily Telegraph.

In his blistering takedown of Australia’s “pathetic young petals”, Mundine referred to the Meanjin Quarterly’s latest cover story, which focussed on the global campaign against sexual harassment of women and changed the magazine’s masthead to read #MeToo. While reactions were originally positive when editor Jonathan Green shared the cover on Twitter, Mundine noticed that things were quickly taking a racially-outraged turn for the worst.

People thought replacing an indigenous word was racism at its best. He noted anger by indigenous activist Amy McQuire, who implied the cover was the destruction of an Aboriginal word.

“Given the destruction of land, cultures and language is fundamentally tied to violence against Aboriginal women … it feels weird to see Meanjin crossed out this way,” McQuire tweeted.

Her outrage was echoed by another indigenous woman, Karyn Wyld, who said: “This white-out of an Aboriginal word is so symbolic of white feminism on black country … it hurts”.

https://twitter.com/1KarenWyld/status/1003466181284511744

Soon after, Green apologised for the cover, while author of the article Clementine Ford acknowledged the “ongoing trauma caused by whiteness in this country”. Soon after, other non-indigenous people began apologising, even though they had nothing to do with the magazine or the cover.

Mundine said this was the tipping point for him. 

He noted how much Australia had changed since his own childhood in New South Wales, where he lived under segregation and his own father needed to carry a certificate of exemption in order to travel home from work after 5pm.

Mundine argued most indigenous Australians who complain of racism are “well-educated, benefited from special programs, live in nice homes, have good jobs and salaries”. He went on to accuse them of being constantly offended, despite never suffering through the cruel racism the previous generation endured. Then there are the “non-Aboriginal people tripping over themselves with apologies for their white privilege” — something Mundine described as “pathetic”.

“It’s one of the most pathetic things I’ve seen,” Mundine vented. “I’m sick and tired of hearing precious petals complaining about racism.”

Read more: Calls for capital cities to be renamed with Aboriginal titles

Read more: Jacinta Prince says the Indigenous community needs to confront some hard truths 

It’s not the first time Mundine has vented his frustration on the issue. Earlier this year, he told politicians and government agencies to focus on real issues plaguing Australia instead on focusing on how offensive it is to use words such as “Aborigine, Aboriginal and Indigenous”. He said the focus from “thought police” should be on combating issues such as electricity prices and child safety instead of telling people how to talk.

It seems to be a growing issue in Australia today where people are too offended and political correctness has gone mad.

What do you think? Do you agree with Warren Mundine’s comments? Are people these days too offended by everything?

NewsThe latest newsOpinion
Share:
Share via emailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Pinterest
Stories that matter
Emails delivered daily
Sign up