BLM protests were more violent than Capitol riot

In smearing “Australians of colour” as being opposed to, or offended by, the principle of universal human rights espoused in Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s statement that “all lives matter”, Labor MP Chris Bowen appears to be guilty of the crime of racial vilification (“‘All lives matter’ for Acting PM Michael McCormack”, 12/2).

As an Australian of colour myself (to use Bowen’s segregationist rhetoric), I take offence at the notion that skin colour is determinative of anyone’s rights or views.

What is even more disgusting about Bowen’s rhetoric is his apparent belief that racial minorities must condone the arson of cities, burning of churches, looting of small businesses and the assault and murder of police officers and others simply because the label of Black Lives Matter is wrapped around the distorted media coverage. This is what allows so-called journalists to stand in front of city scenes resembling a Somali war zone proclaiming “it’s a mostly peaceful protest”.

Perhaps it is time for all Australians of colour to band together and sue Bowen to send a clear message that opposition to political violence transcends the crass distinction of skin colour and is to be consistently applied irrespective of the political affiliations of those guilty of the violent acts.

Nicholas Tam, Traralgon East, Vic

Politicians need to be reminded that governments are more often voted out than voted in (to wit, Joe Biden’s win) and are elected from the centre rather than by those with rusted-on ideology. Chris Bowen’s feigned outrage at Michael McCormack’s remark that “all lives matter” is a classic example of an Opposition spokesperson having to say something, anything, different. Whether he is following Bill Shorten’s advice on how to lose an election or Michael O’Brien’s fatuous attacks on Daniel Andrews during the COVID lockdown is debatable. Is this much ado about nothing or a thinly veiled attempt to court the Indigenous vote?

Opposition spokespeople should perhaps consider the seemingly unpalatable choice of bipartisanship, or at least commonsense, before blindly adhering to identity politics/personal attacks as exemplified by Donald Trump and the extremes of the left or the right.

Anthony J. Cass, Canterbury, Vic

Chris Bowen should be ashamed of falsely claiming the Deputy Prime Minister was comparing the “peaceful protests in the Black Lives Matter movement” to the riotous actions of the protestors who invaded the US Capitol. What McCormack was comparing the Capitol riot to were the actions of thousands in many US cities who took advantage of BLM protests to burn, loot, assault and kill. It shows just how out of touch Labor has become.

I am certain the vast majority of Australians would agree with the US Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” as well as with Martin Luther King’s statement that people should “not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character”. White lives do not matter more than black lives, or vice versa.

Alan Baker, Mansfield, Qld

If everyone could be balanced in the assessment of racially sensitive matters we could approach these problems more usefully. Condemning someone for stating the obvious in saying “all lives matter” only fuels controversy.

David Morrison, Springwood, NSW

Donald Trump is not an aberration but a product of growing pressures in the US. Lucy Cane (“Capitol mob sees itself as fighting for democracy”, 12/1) puts her finger on a major issue, pointing out that racialised aspects of “Trumpism” revolve around concerns about large-scale demographic change due to immigration. The proportion of the US population that is non-Hispanic white is now about 60 per cent and falling.

It is a pity that liberal elites in Western democracies seem to celebrate the demographic decline of their majority white populations. However, declining racial majorities do not seem to be ushering in an era of multicultural nirvana but contributing to tribalising and conflict. Perhaps when US whites are less than 50 per cent of the population, they will lose the pejorative white “supremacist” label reserved for them alone and become another fractious minority.

Evonne Moore, Maylands, SA