- This story has been updated to include a response from the creator of Humans of Sunnybank
The creator of a Facebook page that targets Asian residents in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank says it wasn't designed to be racist or offensive, after an Asian advocacy group called for the page to be closed down.
The group Global Asians for Action and Social Change (GAASC) asked Facebook to close the page, named “Humans of Sunnybank,” which is based on the popular “Humans of New York” blog.
In a statement, GAASC said the creators of Humans of Sunnybank had used the model to ridicule and offend Asian people.
“Unlike the ground breaking Humans of New York which showed faces which build New York as a cosmopolitan destination and shares enriching human interest stories, Humans of Sunnybank instead insults and offends by using various incorrect and offensive stereotypes regarding Asian people, and posts it in a fashion that promotes continued racism,” the statement said.
The page, which has more than 15,000 likes, features photographs of people with captions above them including one of a parking warden with the caption: "Our revenue has increased 400% since we expanded our business into Sunnybank."
"Humans of Sunnybank insults and offends by using various incorrect and offensive stereotypes regarding Asian people, and posts it in a fashion that promotes continued racism."
The creator of the page, who wants to be known only as "Mr Wong," told SBS he had migrated to Australia with his family aged six from China and said Humans of Sunnybank was intended to be "satirical social commentary on Asian culture."
"Humans of Sunnybank hopes to help the Asian community embrace our cultural quirks [and] help us have honest conversations about our more questionable values/traits and acknowledge those behaviours," he said. "It's unacceptable in most Asian cultures to come out and directly criticise our forefathers and traditions, so I sought to express my critique in a light-hearted relatable medium. And having grown up here, I think Aussie humour has rubbed off on Humans of Sunnybank - the ability in being able to laugh at ourselves."
"It's unacceptable in most Asian cultures to come out and directly criticise our forefathers and traditions, so I sought to express my critique in a light-hearted relatable medium."
Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people because of their race.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told SBS that the law around race discrimination needed to be balanced against the freedom of expression.
"The law does protect artistic expression, scientific inquiry and fair comment even if it may offend people on racial grounds," he said.
"It is not clear that this page serves a legitimate purpose in relation to the Act. Its aim appears to be that of degrading and humiliating people from Asian backgrounds."
GAASC said it had contacted Facebook asking for the page to be taken down but Facebook said the page did not violate community standards.
Mr Soutphommasane said there were more avenues for redress.
"Any aggrieved person who believes that this material is in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act can make a complaint to the Human Rights Commission,” he said. “The Commission would then investigate the matter and potentially conciliate between the parties."
Mr Wong told SBS he had not been contacted by GAASC or Facebook about the page, and rejected the idea that it was racist.
"Given the amount of people who are relating to the content, I think my first goal has been achieved in raising awareness about Asian culture and being able to laugh at racial stereotypes levelled at ourselves is an empowering way to expose and move past those very stereotypes," he said. "Some might not agree, but humour can disarm racist beliefs by turning them into something to laugh at, rather than belittle."
"It is not clear that this page serves a legitimate purpose in relation to the Act. Its aim appears to be that of degrading and humiliating people from Asian backgrounds."
GAASC took particular issue with a post that showed a doctored image of a block of Cadbury chocolate containing dog meat that was sold “exclusively at Sunnybank” and had “sold out in about 10 minutes.”
But Mr Wong said the post had been designed to change the way people view selling dog meat for consumption, which is legal in China.
"I knew full well that the dog meat posts would be received as controversial, but by writing them my aim to challenge the notion that mentioning Chinese people eat dog is automatically labelled 'racist'' as opposed to the complete silence when people mention that Australians eat kangaroo," he said. "Why the double standard against us?"
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