‘The Talk’ – a whitefella realises (again) how lucky he is

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=31516

I get a daily newsletter of Eureka Street with a couple of articles each day. Often they open my eyes to a side of Australia I’m completely unaware of. This is one of those.

In only a few hundred words, it outlines “The Talk” that African-American and Aboriginal parents give their kids when they are old enough to go out in public. “Never leave a shop without a shopping bag”, “never get in a lift alone with a white woman”, “never put your hands in your pockets when talking to the police”.

The Civil Rights movement may have been in the 60s, but there’s still a long way to go.