I would like to tell a story that is not, by far, an isolated incident. I saw a Chinese doctor 25 years ago (of Western Medicine not a herbalist) who told me that he was working at a regional base hospital one night, as a junior doctor, when a man came in with a cut hand. The man racially abused the doctor and declined his services and walked out. The doctor was tired, after a 16 hour shift, and the night was otherwise quiet, and he said to a nurse, "He'll be back, he won't another doctor at this time of night. I need to get a few hours sleep. If he returns, do some First Aid and I'll see him." The man returned about an hour later, and this time he agreed to see the doctor and apologized, and the doctor said, "All right, but if you were really sorry, you wouldn't have said it."

At my first primary school, I had about one non-white kid, at my second, I had some Asian kids and a few non-white kids. I have never forgotten the fact that a kid who was non-white stuck up for me against a bully on several occasions! On one occasion, a bully had me up against the door of the sports store and when the teacher saw him and called his name and said, "Get right here!" At first he didn't hear, and the second time, he nearly pooped himself.

Two years earlier, we went on a school excursion and we could see the prison from the freeway and the bully told us that his brother was nearly sent to prison.

To me, the racial demographics of the school are irrelevant, what is relevant, however, is the ethos of the school and the behavior of the students!

One thing I will say for First Nations and POC students is that, when it comes to cultural issues, I believe they should be taught by teachers of the same ethnicity. Why? Well, the First Nations Peoples had their land stolen, their culture trashed and their lifestyle ruined, so First Nations students should be taught to be able to say, "I'm a proud First Nations Person."

Why I oppose white supremacy and the Proud Boys and that, yet support pride in First Nations and POC heritage, is that, throughout history, particularly, if you lived in the South, access to cafes and other venues was determined by the color of your skin. So, if you saw a POC who was down and old on a park bench in America with an old coat and some newspapers and an old blanket, they might say, "Would you rather have 50 years of my life, or 80 years of your life?" Things like the right to vote should not be determined according to skin color.

And, most importantly, remember THIS. If someone dialed 911 and wanted the ambulance because you were in an accident or were having a heart attack, and the paramedic, driver or surgeon were a BIPOC or Asian, would you care more about that than their ability to do their job?