Following yesterday’s report that Indigenous singer Gurrumul was snubbed by a taxi on the basis of “the color of his skin,” musicians and artists have voiced their outrage and disappointment with the actions of the Melbourne cabbie who refused service to the performer last Tuesday night, following a performance at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre.
Gurrumul’s managers, Skinnyfish Music founders Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen had hailed a taxi for the blind singer following his support slot with Missy Higgins, Gurrumul was guided to the waiting cab when “The taxi driver looked at him, said no, locked the car and drove off,” Grose told ABC Radio. “I’m not kidding. I was absolutely gobsmacked… he just looked at the colour of his skin and said ‘that’s it, I’m not taking him’. There’s no other explanation,” says Grose.
The Victorian Taxi Directorate are currently investigating the claims following the racist snub, with the driver facing penalties of up to $300 if caught; but musicians have already spoken to the media about their thoughts on the incident. “I’m disgusted, I’m shocked, I’m shattered,” Archie Roach tells News Ltd. “Gurrumul is a national treasure. To be treated this way is an absolute disgrace.”
The two-time ARIA winning singer has held audience with the Queen, performing for her Silver Jubilee and also exclusively for US President Barack Obama. “He is a beautiful human being who has travelled the world,” says Roach. “He has probably been driven in better vehicles and limousines than a stinking Melbourne taxi.”
Fellow ARIA award winner, and Gurrumul’s uncle, Mandawuy Yunupingu was furious over the treatment of his nephew. “It’s very disappointing we still live with a portion of the Australian community displaying the same behaviour that saw me refused service at the Catani Bar in St Kilda in the early 1990s.”“Gurrumul is a national treasure. To be treated this way is an absolute disgrace.”
– Archie Roach
“It’s time we moved on as a nation,” said the frontman for Yothu Yindi, who were recently inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame. “It’s almost unthinkable that … a high profile national artist like Gurrumul is refused service by taxis in Melbourne.”
Missy Higgins also issued a statement about the incident that occurred last Tuesday following her St Kilda performance: “As a proud Melburnian, it makes me both sad and angry. I’m sure the vast majority of our cab drivers would feel the same way.”
Adding that, “If this was a racist action it goes to show we still have a ways to go with racism and reconciliation in our country.”
Skinnyfish Music founders Mark Hohnen and Mark Grose, who were both nominated as Northern Territory finalists in the 2013 Australian of the Year award, say that the taxi driver was happy to wait, but when he saw Gurrumul emerge from the venue, he refused and drove away.
According to Grose, the driver was of Indian and Pakistani: “I can only say that … he saw the colour of Gurrumul’s skin and said ‘I’m not taking that person’.”
“When the cabbie saw Gurrumul coming, he said, ‘Nah, mate,’ and drove off,” said Mr Hohnen. “This happens to us a lot. The cabbies see Gurrumul, they feel uncomfortable for whatever reason, I can only speculate, and they don’t stop.”“If this was a racist action it goes to show we still have a ways to go with racism and reconciliation in our country.”
– Missy Higgins
“It happens all the time. All the time,” Mr. Hohnen tells The Age, “it happens every second or third cab that we ever catch. It’s always happening. In Sydney we always stay in the same place. They pull up, they have a look, they drive off.”
Hohnen’s business partner says that on this particular occasion, he had simply had enough. “Every other time I’ve been cranky about it but [Tuesday] night I was just absolutely livid. I thought no, I’ve got to do something [about] it.”
Grose added that they’d had similar experiences with other acts on the Skinnyfish roster in most Australian capital cities, including an incident at Adelaide Festival involving Arnhem Land rock band Nabarlek.
“Nabarlek walked into a shoe shop,” says Grose, “and the minute they walked into the shop [the sales clerk] called security and had them thrown out. And all they were gonna do was buy six hundred bucks worth of shoes.”
Karen Toohey of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission has called for better training of taxi drivers in light of Gurrumul’s snub, but said that the incident was a microcosm in a much larger problem.
“Sadly this is not surprising: recent research shows that 97 per cent of Aboriginal people have experienced discrimination and are particularly affected by it in public spaces, public transport and accessing services,” said Toohey. “Unfortunately, this incident just reflects the everyday experience of Aboriginal people, however, most Aboriginal people simply don’t make complaints.”
