Disservice to paint race relations with labels - February 1, 2006 - NSW is the only state to persist with official stereotypes such as "Middle Eastern appearance", writes Joseph Wakim.
The Premier, Morris Iemma, and the Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, should see the wisdom in bringing their race labels policy into line with the rest of Australia. By removing the simplistic labels they also remove the masking tape that has shielded us from understanding a more complex package within. This forces us to refer to "them" as Australians. But if NSW police statements persist in labelling crime suspects by these racial categories, we should expect the public will persist in wearing race-tinted glasses.
Joseph Wakim, a former multicultural affairs commissioner, is founder of the Australian Arabic Council.
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