To any minorities who have lived in or visited Sydney?

Your friend must have moved in some very unusual circles or she must have some problems of her own to have experienced anything like you say. Australia is a very multicultural country and people of mixed race are found everywhere and are accepted everywhere.

As a general rule, the only people here who have a problem with racism are people who are themselves racist. Like all countries, we have some racists, but they are very much in the minority. If someone carrying a racial chip on their shoulder meets new people with preconceived and inaccurate ideas of the other people's attitudes, they can rightly expect to have problems. No one likes to be unfairly accused of something like that and it's a very bad way to begin an acquaintanceship.

If you come to Australia expecting to be treated fairly and without prejudice, I guarantee that you will be made welcome and will enjoy your stay.

There was a posting on Y!A a few days ago that may tell you how things really are in Australia. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT:

Found it in the Resolved questions:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvyQ....

My husband is half Asian and half Caucasian, that is very common in Australia and noone thinks anything of it. Apart from a few old people in country areas being a little ignorant he has never experienced any racism.

I find it hard to believe your friend was treated poorly because of her ethnicity, but she may have just happened to meet some particularly unpleasant people. The others are right, Australia is the most multicultural country in the world. There are many many Asian people absolutely everywhere in Oz, particularly in Sydney. You'll have no problems.

Sydney is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world. It's the city with the 3rd heighest Greek population. Definitely not a racist place. Only place you'd have a problem is in the shire, and they only really hate muslims.

Sydney has an extremely high asian population, no one is going to care that you're asian, they're everywhere, don't worry I highly highly doubt you'd cop any racism.

I easily have traveled the international slightly and the united states of a is the main racist usa I easily have visited. Why you may think of there is link between the austaloids and a ******* is previous me, genetically your as distant as white human beings from one yet another sydney and melbourne are ethnically distinctive as ny, besides the shown fact that throughout the tiny usa cities you wont locate any prejudice the two. as yet another poster suggested you need to get stared at out of interest yet in spite of this there could be very few australians who have not considered an afro american, so they could be particularly a yokel I easily have been abused by making use of many human beings in my existence yet never as much as an american vacationer in sydney through fact i did no longer comprehend the place a night club replaced into. So i anticipate you to journey much less racism than you may in the united states of a, each usa has azzholes in case you unlucky sufficient to fulfill one in oz..do no longer decide us all by making use of him. i've got self assurance human beings will purchase you drinks the 2d you open your mouth

I visited Sydney in 1994. It was excellent and I had a great time. Although I was with a group of other Americans, I was asked about where I was 'really from' when I said I was Native American. When I explained that I was Shoshone and Paiute, tribes native to North America, people understood what I meant. They didn't treat me any differently because of my skin tone, hair or eye color. I'd love to go back again...

Excuse me? Dont say that all people in Sydney are racist..

Every country has racist people..

I'm half filipino and half Australian.. I have no problems with race issues. I dont know anyone who has had traumatic experiences with racist people.. I have not witnessed it either..

Your friend is exaggerating way too much.. There isnt a huge racism problem here, there are just a few people who are idiots.. Australia is a multicultural country, we have people from all over the world.

Very little of that racism actually happens in most places.

I know many people of the mixed race the same as you, and I know of very few problems while we lived in Sydney.

Obviously these things do happen at times, but it is very rare, and often caused by a combination of factors, rarely being just skin colour.

I think it is because of there convict heritage, and lack of faith in god. I was born here and all my friends are from other country's, because of the racism I have experienced with Caucasians, unless you are white you won't be accepted as Australian, even if you are born here!! in fact this was not their Country, originally it belong to Aboriginals which were all killed off by the white convicts so this behavior to hate anyone different is in their history.

I don't know where all you guys are living, but in my part of sydney we aren't really racist at all... In fact there are lots of non-white people living here.

I guess it would just be really bad luck on your friend's part. Some people out there are just idiots.

i can tell you that all what ur friend tell u is right when we where their we was treated like nothing and all people their are very racist not only with black but with anybody some people who live their and was origin from indonesia were so unhappy that they left australia and go to america and they told me that racist in america is nothing compared with australia and that they will never return to australia again