(I should be in bed, but this thread is so worthwhile .....)
The face of North America seen in Oz is, no doubt, the pretty one. The ugliness of discrimination doesn't often make it onto the screen (except, perhaps, for films like BBM .... and that took courage).
As an example, I've always thought that Native Americans were respected, for their traditions and values (although one does hear the occasional story of discrimination that leaks out). I'm rather shocked by what you say, David. And, yes, ignorant.
We have heard in the past about the mistreatment of Black Americans, too, but it seems in recent years to have been promoted as just that. The past. We just don't hear about that sort of thing still happening.
The aboriginal population in Australia is not large, percentage wise, and most folk don't really get to know them at all. I have known a few who have been degraded by white society to the point where they are resentful and greedy for Government handouts. I've also had the good fortune to meet some who are determined to ignore the discrimination. Some of those keep their heads down and just survive. Some fight for their people, and that is admired here.
It is also the case, in Australia, that people of mixed aboriginal/other heritage, even with a little aboriginal blood, are deemed aboriginal. There are, officially, no 'mixed blood' people. It means that someone with a claim to even some aboriginal blood can take advantage of Government assistance, but that is a minority, and tolerated because the alternative, of a class of 'mixed' blood people, would be a more difficult problem.
Discrimination in Australia is fairly widespread in other ways. Wealth (or 'success') is probably the most common. I've known people who have migrated from countries where 'love thy neighbour' is quite outside their vocabulary, with a selfish attitude towards others, but, if they are successful, they are respected. Others who are really good people, but not as successful, are considered undesirable company. It's a strange society.
I grew up in a struggling family, and won a place at a prestigious school by examination. But it didn't work very well. The education was tops, but my parents couldn't afford university fees, and I was constantly told there was no point thinking about my dreams. Years later I studied and gained the qualifications to enable me to work in a high paying industry. There have been big ups and downs (divorce settlement was a killer), but I can now mix it with 'society' if I wish. The one thing I can't do is be a snob. There are people out there who think that one should soar with eagles, not walk with turkeys. And people who would give the shirt off their back. Some who follow all the 'rules', and some who are 'different'. But I love them all. They are people.
Maybe that's being a rebel. Ok, I'll admit that. Maybe I'm cheeky and don't conform to the discriminatory view. ... Well, tough.
Rob
