Concern about the word ‘retarde’ printed on t-shirts being sold in retail outlets on 5AA
18/11/2013
Kelly Vincent, MLC, Dignity for Disability (5AA 13.23-13.25) Concern about the word ‘retarde’ printed on t-shirts being sold in retail outlets in Adelaide
(Heggen: Kelly Vincent … what is your view on these t-shirts which apparently have all sold out they’ve been so popular?)
… they are absolutely outrageous … as I said in the media previously this week the issue is that someone thinks that it is appropriate to make these t-shirts but I think the bigger issue is that people are actually buying them, so we need to have a discussion about what people are actually saying about others that they don’t even know and about themselves when they feel they have the right to put these t-shirts on.
(Heggen: Clayton says we just all need to toughen up and kids these days are being so molly-coddled … they’re never being told no and that they grow up with some sort of entitlement and privilege so that they should be faced with t-shirts like this, essentially, that’s his view.)
Right, so if I choose not to call my African American friends ‘niggers’ am I molly-coddling them? Am I wrapping them up in cotton wool by not doing that? No, I’m actually respecting them as human beings … if I when I have children didn’t expose them to the Swastika am I rubbing them in cotton wool? No, I’m actually teaching them how to be respectful about the people that they live with in their society.
(Heggen: Mm, well said, Kelly, is there anything else you want to say on this matter … I think Clayton did a very good job himself of making sure we never spend a cent in his business?)
… I’d like to say that I’ve never shopped there before because interestingly in a wheelchair it’s very difficult for me to get into that store but I certainly hadn’t shopped there previously and don’t plan to do so in future and I hope that others will join me.
(Heggen: … thank you.)
