Australia’s South Sudanese community reaches out to prime minister in new video in bid to end vilification

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

High school student Elizabeth Gai says she wants to be a doctor one day. Ashar Anyar is studying criminology and aspires to become a lawyer.

The two South Sudanese-Australian women have big dreams, but first, they just want to be heard.

“We need our politicians and our leaders to know that we are affected by their statements,” Anyar, 24, told Guardian Australia this week at the launch of a new video highlighting racism directed towards the South Sudanese-Australian community.

Created by prominent Australian film and TV producer Richard Keddie and Anglican bishop Philip Huggins, Please Stop features South Sudanese community members relating their experiences of dealing with racism. Keddie, Huggins and South Sudanese-Australians say the racism has been further fuelled by politicians declaring that Melbourne is in the midst of an “African gangs crisis”.

With the Victorian election looming, Keddie said he hoped the video reassured the South Sudanese community that “there are a lot of people on their side”.

“I was pretty embarrassed that Australians have been doing this,” he said.

While Anyar and Gai want their voices heard, others said they hoped politicians would reach out to them rather than attack their community over youth crime.

“We are working hard to fix it, but we need your help,” Anglican minister the Rev Chaplain Soma says in the video, which is aimed squarely at the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.

Last month, Soma was on the way to the Please Stop video shoot in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park when he stopped to fill up his car. As he stood at the bowser, he was racially abused by a man. Soma said the man aggressively waved the petrol nozzle in his direction.

“I blamed myself because I didn’t wear my clerical collar,” Soma told Guardian Australia.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chaplain Soma was racially abused on the way to the video shoot. Photograph: Luke Henriques-Gomes/The Guardian

Keddie said it was not difficult to draw out the experiences of those featured in the video. “I think I’ve just scratched the surface of that hurt,” he said.

The launch of the video comes days after eight Victorian councils called for an end to what they described as fearmongering by the media and politicians over youth crime.

That public statement was criticised by the Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, who accused the mayors of “preaching”.

Gai, 18, who is also member of the Australian Army cadets, told Guardian Australia she wanted to become a doctor to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother. It’s been her dream since she was a small child.

The year 12 student said she believed one of the most important traits for a good doctor was empathy. She also worried about what her future patients might think of her.

“I don’t want them to feel that just because I’m a South Sudanese woman that they should fear me,” she said.

If she becomes a doctor, that’s “more of a reason for you to trust me”, Gai said.