Goodes' comments regarding Australia Day being 'Invasion Day' I think hasn't gone well with most Australians. Seems almost contradictory that he would accept the Australian of the Year award given his own vitriolic stance on Australia Day. Although I think the booing should stop since it has personally affected Goodes to the point that he is considering retirement, I wouldn't be surprised if it continued simply out of frustration at how the media and the AFL have handled it including the generalisation that all booers are somehow evil white redneck raycists.
Despite working with the Aboriginal community, etc... I think the way he handled the 'ape' incident was wrong and counter-productive. Up until this point he was respected by the wider AFL community and since then his actions have caused more division than anything.
I don't think the booing is racist. Ballantyne gets booed. So did Buckley and Carey. Given Goodes' inflammatory comments regarding Australia Day, the way he handled the 'ape' incident, the war dance incident, it is unsurprising that sections of the broader AFL community have reacted the way they have. Goodes shouldn't have to tolerate any form of racism in the same way that AFL supporters should have to tolerate his on and off-field behaviour -- the progress he has made with the Aboroginal community is an entirely separate issue. And yes, I've seen kids around the ages of 10-13 use racial slurs against other races without knowing the significance of them plenty of times.
In attempting to show pride in his race and culture he has only caused more division, has politicised the AFL, and have wrongly created and pushed a generalisation that AFL supporters are a bunch of evil inbred low-IQ white raycist KKK rednecks.
And no, this saga hasn't brought up any uncomfortable facts about race relations in this country. If anything, it has demonstrated how incredibly weak the AFL is in handling this entire situation. They think that they can put a lid on the situation by unashamedly using shaming tactics to rewire people's opinion towards their own in a cheap effort move on. And the fact that the AFL have caved into Goodes' victimology is astounding. It's a shame since Goodes' AFL legacy has been unquestionably tarnished by these recent incidents.