First steps on long road to recognition

AN online anti-racism campaign featuring video of Adam Goodes was forced to shut down its public comments after it was bombarded with racist abuse.

THE journey to recognise Aboriginal people in the Constitution has begun in the shadow of racism, with an online anti-racism campaign featuring video of Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes forced to shut down its public comments after it was bombarded with racist abuse.

Goodes has received overwhelming support for pointing the finger at racism, in the form of a 13-year-old girl who called him an ape during the Swans v Collingwood game on Friday night.

But The Australian has learned that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission had to close down a comments link to its YouTube video "Racism - It Stops With Me", featuring Goodes and other sports stars, after "white supremacists and trolls" attacked the site.

By last night, the video had received 75,000 hits after it was referred to by Goodes and Julia Gillard on social media.

But of 200 comments that were received between Friday night and 10am yesterday, half were so racist - making references to "coons" and "niggers" - that, after attempting to moderate the site, Human Rights Commission staff pulled the plug. A separate video of the game incident, "Adam Goodes calls out racist spectators", had received more than one million hits by last night.

The race row, and Goodes's defiant gesture 20 years after St Kilda champion Nicky Winmar pointed to the colour of his skin to proclaim his pride in being black after being abused by the same club's supporters, was the raw backdrop to the beginning of the Journey to Recognition.

The journey, a national relay inspired by another former AFL champion, Michael Long's walk to Canberra nine years ago, aims to build support for a yes vote to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution at a referendum within two years. Tony Abbott walked the first short leg of the route, along the Yarra River in Melbourne, and said it was the beginning of an important journey.

"Our forefathers have created one of the most magnificent countries on earth, perhaps the most magnificent country on earth, except in one respect - we have never properly acknowledged the first Australians," the Opposition Leader told a crowd of up to 1000 people at Melbourne's Federation Square.

"Aboriginal people were here in 1788, they are here 225 years later - 225 often difficult years later. Then, it was them and us. Today, it should be us and us.

"The Aboriginal dimension is as much a part of Australia as our law, our language and our democracy. That is why it must finally be acknowledged in our national Constitution. I see acknowledging Aboriginal people in our Constitution not as changing it, but as completing it.

"I don't for a second underestimate the length of the journey, or the distractions there may be along the way, but it must be done if we are to be whole as a people and as a nation."

With the bells of St Paul's Cathedral peeling, he said: "May the bells peel for a new Australia."

In a message, Julia Gillard said she was looked forward "with all my heart" to the day when Aboriginal people were recognised in the Constitution. She said the Journey to Recognition was an important grassroots campaign that would help build momentum for constitutional reform and would bring communities "the message that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history hold a unique and special place in our nation".

Long said the campaign to recognise Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders would be "a longer journey" than his Long Walk to Canberra to see John Howard nine years ago. "It is about respect, it is about acknowledgement, it is about my people and it is about all Australians," he said.

'I think the time is right for Australians to recognise one of the oldest cultures in the world. We want that in the hearts and minds of all Australians."

While the 13-year-old girl who abused Goodes said her comments were not intended to be racist and her mother has said the girl did not understand the concept of racism, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the incident was "a reminder that there is no place for racism in Australian society and where it does occur, people need to speak out."

Aboriginal social justice commissioner Mick Gooda said recognition would add the first "long chapter" of Australia's history to the Constitution. Actor Aaron Pedersen said recognition would be "a simple act of humanity". Former Democrats senator Aden Ridgeway said it was about "inspiring and uniting all Australians". Academic Jackie Huggins said it was a "noble and just" campaign to make Aboriginal people "visible" in the Constitution.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who apologised to Goodes immediately after Friday night's game, said yesterday the club had zero tolerance of racism and he was "devastated" Goodes had been the target of abuse.

After a second Collingwood fan was identified as calling out abuse at the game, McGuire called on community leaders to "show the way" on stamping out racism. "Let's not kid ourselves," he said. "Australia was a racist country for a long time."