Racism is just one more flavour of the sad view of the world, that some people seem to hold – that sameness is good and difference is bad. I believe that diversity is a strength and that we have, in our multicultural society, a great way of learning about the complex and interesting world in which we live. All cultures, all races, all people are capable of good, we are all also capable of evil. Horrors like the that of the Holocaust and more recently, ethnic cleansing Rwanda, Middle Europe under Slobodan Milosovic, and ongong tensions in the Middle East, should remind us that if we allow ‘others’ to become less than ‘us’ we are on a slippery downward spiral to taking away people’s humanity. Such a society is not the type of society my parents came half way around the world to build, share and celebrate here in Australia. Societies that tolerate ‘them’ and ‘us’ conversations, and allow the creation of policies and laws to support such views can only anticipate distress, violence, suffering and even war. So in the interests of building a better Australia for my children and their children: I hereby pledge my support for the goal and principles of anti-racism education and will work towards eliminating racism from our schools and society as a whole.