Some Tips for Upstanders
By Kate Xavier – Professional Education Lead, Together for Humanity
This is a summary of Kate’s speech at CFS’ Lunar New Year Family Fun Fair.
It’s never easy being witness to racism or prejudice. It is normal to fight, flight or freeze when we encounter harmful language and behaviour. Sometimes when we are the target, having upstander intervention can make a huge difference in the moment or afterwards.
At Together for Humanity, we work with school communities to help students, teachers and families develop intercultural understanding and learn important skills to be upstanders in their communities. Often, people have good will to help, but sometimes we just don’t know what to do. Here are some of our tips to help you be a better upstander.
1. Ask open-ended questions
This is one of my favourite strategies to open up the conversation. Sometimes people have deliberately said harmful and hurtful words and other times there may have been a miscommunication. Try saying things like “I’m sorry can you repeat that?” or “What did you mean by that?” to open up the conversation. Sometimes having to repeat what they said is enough for people to realise they have said something that’s not socially acceptable and that their view’s aren’t shared.
2. Show support to the targets
Sometimes it’s simply not safe to intervene as it may put us in harm’s way. However, it is never too late to reach out to the person. Check in either face to face or online and offer support, guide them to appropriate mental health supports and encourage them to report the incident.
3. Report
According to research by Dr Alana Kamp, from Western Sydney University’s Challenging Racism Project, Asian-Australians are less likely to report racism. Encouraging people to document and report racism is important. You can report racism in workplaces, schools and through a variety of local hotlines and websites.
We’ve shared this poster created by Together for Humanity’s diverse staff for use in schools and workplaces. Feel free to print them off! For more information about upstander behaviours, prejudice reduction programs, see our website.