FIGHTING racism takes action, not just talk, says actor Diana Nguyen.
“What would you do?” she challenged audience members at a Racism. Get Up. Speak Out marquee launch in Dandenong.
In front of the audience, she set the scene – a young man racially abuses and ignites a train passenger’s hair with a lighter.
It was acted out by Noble Park English Language School students, based on a student’s experience in which not one commuter stuck up for the victim.
Nguyen challenged the audience to act, to walk into the scene and “make a change”. Many did, overcoming the ‘bystander effect’ that often paralyses witnesses.
Some of the solutions were to verbally confront the bully – “How would you feel if that happened to you?” – to team up with others to outnumber the bully, to call the police or to press the red emergency button.
Nguyen urges the audience: “There’s no ‘should’. It’s what can we do now?”
The students had taken part in an eight-week drama workshop led by Nguyen.
They are newly-arrived students, who had been studying at the school for up to 12 months learning English and survival skills.
During the workshop they talked about racism, what it looks like and what they could do.
“It allows people to think about the situation and act in a very safe situation,” she said. “When you act in real life in public we don’t know what the consequences are.
“It’s hard being the only voice in these situations. It’s best to act not just as an individual but in a group of people.
“What if the whole bus or train of passengers stand up and say ‘No’?”
The project was supported by Greater Dandenong Council and Southern Ethnic Advisory and Advocacy Council.
– Cameron Lucadou-Wells
