Mansell slams Mundine as racist
David Beniuk From: AAP October 19, 2012 11:55AM
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TASMANIAN Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell has told "racist" boxer Anthony Mundine to stay away from the island state until he apologises for comments about its indigenous people.
TASMANIAN ABORIGINAL LEADER MICHAEL MANSELL HAS LABELLED BOXER ANTHONY MUNDINE (PIC) A RACIST. AAP
Mr Mansell has slammed remarks Mundine made about fellow Aboriginal boxer Daniel Geale as "ugly and racist, and an embarrassment to Aboriginal people everywhere".
At a media conference on Thursday to promote a January bout, Mundine said he thought that "they wiped all the Aborigines from Tasmania out".
Geale had "a white woman and white kids", and he didn't see him representing or fighting for black or coloured people, Mundine said.
Mr Mansell accused Mundine of a form of "genocide" and compared him to right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt.
"Racist comments such as those made by Anthony Mundine have no place in Australia," Mr Mansell said in a statement.
"Mr Mundine must be relying on history books written by whites 100 years ago to form his opinion."
Mr Mansell said a myth about the extinction of Tasmania's indigenous people had been perpetuated in the past.
"The making of such a statement is racial vilification identical to the Andrew Bolt claim that fair-skinned Aborigines were not bona fide," he said.
"Bolt was held to have breached racial vilification laws with his comments.
"Racist comments are no less racist because they are made by an Aboriginal against other Aboriginals."
Mr Mansell said Mundine was guilty of "genocide" because he had denied the existence of an entire race.
"Denying the existence of a people on the grounds of colour of skin is to rely on racist theories of racial purity to define identity in an attempt to erase the existence of a race," he said.
"They ignore the struggle Aborigines in Tasmania have had to overcome including dispossession, shootings and massacres, imprisonment and isolation; child stealing and assimilation."
Mr Mansell said Tasmanian Aborigines had withdrawn permission for the boxer to visit the state.
"Mundine has lost respect from Aboriginals in Tasmania and around the country," Mr Mansell said.
"That a high-profile Aboriginal would make such ignorant and ugly statements about Tasmanian Aboriginals is downright embarrassing.
"Mundine must apologise. Until he does, he does not have our permission to enter our country in Tasmania."
Geale said he thought the comments went "too far" and that Mundine often did not think before he spoke.
"I know he is trying to promote a fight but you have got to think a little bit before making statements like that," he told Macquarie Radio.
"I am very much looking forward to the fight coming up now. It's going to be really good."
When asked by 2GB presenter Ray Hadley if he could "put (Mundine) on his backside as quickly as you possibly can", the boxer replied it would be "no problem at all".
"I will do that with pleasure," he said.
Comment was being sought from Mundine.
