Indigenous actor Jack Charles again refused taxi in Melbourne in 'act of racism'

[kickazz]

I'd assume Jack would have a pretty good idea given his experiences. FWIW he's probably right on this occasion. But even he wouldn't know, unless the cabbie was overtly racist. Attributing the poor service to racism requires some degree of mind reading.

And that, to me, is the worst aspect of racism - the subtle stuff, like being excluded from groups, jobs, etc for no apparent reason - but never being able to be sure it was from racism.

Has the cab driver been interviewed?

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

I'd assume Jack would have a pretty good idea given his experiences. FWIW he's probably right on this occasion. But even he wouldn't know, unless the cabbie was overtly racist.

Exactly. And you'd think he wouldn't go to the media with it unless he knew. i.e. The cabbie might've been happy enough until Jack popped his head in to ask him if he knew a destination, and he sees something in the Cabbie's reaction. Or maybe they hadn't even said their destination yet and he drives off despite having waited in the rank. Jack's 75 years old and knows perfectly well what life is like. Why would people assume he doesn't know what he's talking about?

 

[FPPF]

So do we know he was refused based on race? Or is that just an assumption?

Hard to prove. The driver obviously wouldn't admit he didn't stop because he was Aboriginal unless he was stupid.

I've seen plenty of buses in Adelaide that just drive right past stops where a group of Aboriginals are waiting, even families with kids.
Happens all the time. Not saying it's racist, but it's based on race. People have a bad experience with Aboriginals, or the general negative stigma/stereotypes about Aboriginals, then they see a bunch of Aboriginals..and the negatives are the first things they think of. Bus drivers quite often don't stop for them because of the trouble that some of them cause, especially when they've been drinking or huffing paint fumes.
It's also not that uncommon to see a bus stopped with a police car behind them, and the police removing a group of Aboriginals.

How many Aboriginals do you see driving a bus or taxi? or even a freight truck or van/courier?
How many do you see as police officers or fire fighters or paramedics?
Doctors?
Nurses?
Council workers?
How many Aboriginal kids do you see working in KFC or McDonalds?
How many pizzas have you had delivered by an Aboriginal?

There's no positive "image" of them.
Except as football players.
But then when the Aboriginal players get into trouble, everyone's thinking "typical Abo" ..when a white player gets in trouble he's just a dick head or whatever.

Sad fact of life unfortunately, but because most people don't see Aboriginal people in regular situations/scenarios working, and only hear/see the negatives, that's what they associate with them.
And that's where as a society we fail. And they, Aboriginals have their share of the blame for that too of course. It's not just us white devils fault.

 

[Max zero]

Hard to prove. The driver obviously wouldn't admit he didn't stop because he was Aboriginal unless he was stupid.

I've seen plenty of buses in Adelaide that just drive right past stops where a group of Aboriginals are waiting, even families with kids.
Happens all the time. Not saying it's racist, but it's based on race. People have a bad experience with Aboriginals, or the general negative stigma/stereotypes about Aboriginals, then they see a bunch of Aboriginals..and the negatives are the first things they think of. Bus drivers quite often don't stop for them because of the trouble that some of them cause, especially when they've been drinking or huffing paint fumes.
It's also not that uncommon to see a bus stopped with a police car behind them, and the police removing a group of Aboriginals.

How many Aboriginals do you see driving a bus or taxi? or even a freight truck or van/courier?
How many do you see as police officers or fire fighters or paramedics?
Doctors?
Nurses?
Council workers?
How many Aboriginal kids do you see working in KFC or McDonalds?
How many pizzas have you had delivered by an Aboriginal?

There's no positive "image" of them.
Except as football players.
But then when the Aboriginal players get into trouble, everyone's thinking "typical Abo" ..when a white player gets in trouble he's just a dick head or whatever.

Sad fact of life unfortunately, but because most people don't see Aboriginal people in regular situations/scenarios working, and only hear/see the negatives, that's what they associate with them.
And that's where as a society we fail. And they, Aboriginals have their share of the blame for that too of course. It's not just us white devils fault.

Not saying it's racist, but it's based on race.

The word racist has such a stigma nowadays. Yet everyone does it. Anyone who says that race has absolutely no bearing on how they view a person (either positive or negative) is a liar.

If a person has a significant number of negative experiences with a group of people is it racist for them to view those people through that lens? Of course. But is it unjustified?

Are you ever justified in using previous experiences or shared experiences in influencing how you react to certain groups of people?

 

[CM86]

The word racist has such a stigma nowadays. Yet everyone does it. Anyone who says that race has absolutely no bearing on how they view a person (either positive or negative) is a liar.

If a person has a significant number of negative experiences with a group of people is it racist for them to view those people through that lens? Of course. But is it unjustified?

Are you ever justified in using previous experiences or shared experiences in influencing how you react to certain groups of people?

What the * are you talking about...

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

The word racist has such a stigma nowadays. Yet everyone does it. Anyone who says that race has absolutely no bearing on how they view a person (either positive or negative) is a liar.

If a person has a significant number of negative experiences with a group of people is it racist for them to view those people through that lens? Of course. But is it unjustified?

Are you ever justified in using previous experiences or shared experiences in influencing how you react to certain groups of people?

Hang on...I thought it was because Waleed is a tosser, Adam Goodes is a sniper and taxi drivers are campaigners.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Just another reason to get on board with Uber. Their drivers conduct themselves like they're providing a service - most cabbies act like they're doing you a favour.

 

[WA ROO]

How many Aboriginals do you see driving a bus or taxi? or even a freight truck or van/courier?
How many do you see as police officers or fire fighters or paramedics?
Doctors?
Nurses?
Council workers?
How many Aboriginal kids do you see working in KFC or McDonalds?
How many pizzas have you had delivered by an Aboriginal?

There's no positive "image" of them.

Where I live I see Aboriginals doing normal everyday stuff everyday
Living,working,shopping,going to school etc
Positive role models all over town
Unfortunately there are still those "give me money,a house you racist white campaigner" types trying to drag the others down

 

[Lester Burnham]

Hard to prove. The driver obviously wouldn't admit he didn't stop because he was Aboriginal unless he was stupid.

I've seen plenty of buses in Adelaide that just drive right past stops where a group of Aboriginals are waiting, even families with kids.
Happens all the time. Not saying it's racist, but it's based on race. People have a bad experience with Aboriginals, or the general negative stigma/stereotypes about Aboriginals, then they see a bunch of Aboriginals..and the negatives are the first things they think of. Bus drivers quite often don't stop for them because of the trouble that some of them cause, especially when they've been drinking or huffing paint fumes.
It's also not that uncommon to see a bus stopped with a police car behind them, and the police removing a group of Aboriginals.

How many Aboriginals do you see driving a bus or taxi? or even a freight truck or van/courier?
How many do you see as police officers or fire fighters or paramedics?
Doctors?
Nurses?
Council workers?
How many Aboriginal kids do you see working in KFC or McDonalds?
How many pizzas have you had delivered by an Aboriginal?

There's no positive "image" of them.
Except as football players.
But then when the Aboriginal players get into trouble, everyone's thinking "typical Abo" ..when a white player gets in trouble he's just a dick head or whatever.

Sad fact of life unfortunately, but because most people don't see Aboriginal people in regular situations/scenarios working, and only hear/see the negatives, that's what they associate with them.
And that's where as a society we fail. And they, Aboriginals have their share of the blame for that too of course. It's not just us white devils fault.

Mate of mine used to drive a cab in Darwin. He learnt the hard way about the ways of some of the Aborigine locals. They would get in his car then stop off at the bottle shop for a slab. He would insist on the slab being placed in the boot. When they got to their destination and he asked for the fare they would say "we ain't got no money". At which point he would refuse to open the boot and tell them "then you ain't got no beer". They would have to scrounge together the fare before he would let them have their grog. The way he told the story, it was like a game. He treated them this way not because he was racist but how they had previously behaved.

 

[Sydney Bloods]

s**t like this is why Uber is taking off (oh wait its illegal in melbourne)

due to working nights i see people refused cabs all the time, illegal or not it's a common occurrence. the reasons are varied, from too small of a fare, to a person having tatts, i even had a co-worker knocked back from getting a cab because and i quote "i don't pick up women when the cameras not working, you bitches are too much trouble" i would not be surprised if race was another reason people were refused service.

the Taxi industry is s**t house and its s**t house due the restrictions on how many people can access the industry giving rise to monopolies and ensuring there's no need to deliver a good service.

 

[Fire]

s**t like this is why Uber is taking off (oh wait its illegal in melbourne)

It doest stop you getting it.

The taxi system in Melbourne is a cartel, and even the cabbies don't male anything off it. Once it is properly legal you'll see parking lots full of yellow cars which no one wants to drive because ex cabbies can actually make a living off switching to Uber.

It's what's happened here in NYC anyway.

 

[Max zero]

s**t like this is why Uber is taking off (oh wait its illegal in melbourne)

due to working nights i see people refused cabs all the time, illegal or not it's a common occurrence. the reasons are varied, from too small of a fare, to a person having tatts, i even had a co-worker knocked back from getting a cab because and i quote "i don't pick up women when the cameras not working, you bitches are too much trouble" i would not be surprised if race was another reason people were refused service.

the Taxi industry is s**t house and its s**t house due the restrictions on how many people can access the industry giving rise to monopolies and ensuring there's no need to deliver a good service.

Can uber drivers refuse certain fares? If so on what grounds.

If a driver does not pick up certain people when in a taxi why would they change when they drive a private vehicle? If anything they might be even more picky.

 

[SwampCreature]

Off all the pretty racist threads on BF in 2016, this one is pretty racist

 

[coerced]

Can uber drivers refuse certain fares? If so on what grounds.

If a driver does not pick up certain people when in a taxi why would they change when they drive a private vehicle? If anything they might be even more picky.

No, they can't. Not if they want to keep driving with Uber.

 

[Max zero]

No, they can't. Not if they want to keep driving with Uber.

You sure about that? Apparently they can refuse if they are not comfortable with the ride. Of course they cannot refuse for descriminatory reasons (neither can taxis) but 'not comfortable' is not really defined.

Source: uber drivers.

 

[coerced]

You sure about that? Apparently they can refuse if they are not comfortable with the ride. Of course they cannot refuse for descriminatory reasons (neither can taxis) but 'not comfortable' is not really defined.

Source: uber drivers.

Which Uber drivers are you talking to?

The difference between taxis and Uber is that every refusal by Uber drivers is logged, and even one refusal will be met with a 'please explain' from Uber.

 

[ShanDog]

Off all the pretty racist threads on BF in 2016, this one is pretty racist

Why? How are people discussing a race-related issue (or lack thereof) in a racist manner? Are you saying the thread is inherently racist?

 

[SwampCreature]

Because I said so

 

[Max zero]

Which Uber drivers are you talking to?

The difference between taxis and Uber is that every refusal by Uber drivers is logged, and even one refusal will be met with a 'please explain' from Uber.

Ones that are driving in Perth today.

The please explrar requests are rare and there are plenty of legitimate reasons you can give (distance, fatigue, inexperience, etc).

 

[kickazz]

Passengers get rated on Uber too.

So if you drive and have 100s of good ratings, then you can probably quite confidently refuse a fare to a drunken yobbo without affecting your business too much.

 

[Noobz0r]

Just 2 weeks ago I was refused a taxi from the city to my house 20 minutes away. The conversation went as follows:

"Where to?"
"*suburb*"

*taxi driver shakes his head and drives off*

 

[Power Raid]

Regardless of whether it happened on this occasion or not we all know racism happens and we know drivers do reject customers based on appearance (drunk, rough, race, dirty).

It's a tough one for cabbies who are vulnerable by the nature of their occupation. They work alone, lead to all sorts of destinations making them easy targets for fare evasion, assault, robbery or worse. So who blames them for being "careful" or even being guilty of judgement calls based solely on appearance. The cost of their defensive decisions though can be extremely hurtful to those they reject.


On this particular occasion we are referring to a possible rejection of a customer due to a persons aboriginal appearance. It is widely known aborigines are more likely to have a criminal conviction, over represented in our jails, they seem to catch your eye a lot drunk in parks etc (no need to debate why or how just dealing with stats and perceptions). Combining the risk of a cabbie and these stats it is not unreasonable to think that it was possible the customer was rejected on race.

The practical solution is working out ways for protecting drivers. How hard is it to have a personal account which has the customers ID and automatic settlement process for the fare like uber. That way there is no debate about settlement or the need for drivers to carry cash.

The other issue, the social issue, is far more difficult but it reinforces the need to have a properly funded mental health system, invest in those most at risk of being denied a right to participate in society (work for the dole and better still real jobs), invest in drug programs (health) and a strong judicial system that isn't frightened to remove dangerous elements from society. Otherwise you have innocent victims like taxi drivers and the recipients of discrimination.

 

[Power Raid]

Just 2 weeks ago I was refused a taxi from the city to my house 20 minutes away. The conversation went as follows:

"Where to?"
"*suburb*"

*taxi driver shakes his head and drives off*

what suburb?

are you sure it wasn't because your a port supporter?

 

[Noobz0r]

what suburb?

are you sure it wasn't because your a port supporter?

High Wycombe, and I wasn't wearing teal at the time haha

 

[Power Raid]

High Wycombe, and I wasn't wearing teal at the time haha

perhaps it was your 2016 premiers tattoo, rather than teal, that gave it away