ABC newsreader with a penchant for vibrant neckties, Jeremy Fernandez, took to Twitter yesterday to share what he’s describing as his Rosa Parks moment, in which he was subject to awful racial abuse from another parent while travelling on a bus with his two-year-old daughter through Sydney’s Inner West.
Just had my own Rosa Parks moment: Kept my seat on a #Sydney Bus after being called a black c**t & told to go back to my country.
— Jeremy Fernandez (@JezFernandezABC) February 7, 2013
Anyone who says racism is dying is well and truly mistaken. Coppef 15 mins of racial abuse. Bus driver said ‘your fault for not moving).
— Jeremy Fernandez (@JezFernandezABC) February 7, 2013
Worst thing is- i had my 2yo daughter with me. She had her primary school aged kids with her. All heard every word of her racist rant
— Jeremy Fernandez (@JezFernandezABC) February 7, 2013
It’s a sad thing when a coloured man in 2013 has to show his kid how to hold their nerve in the face of racist taunts.
— Jeremy Fernandez (@JezFernandezABC) February 7, 2013
In an article on The Drum elaborating on the morning’s events on, Fernandez paints a portrait of the incident as vivid as one of his signature ties; but instead of a delightful paisley number that knows only joy and is woven using ethically-sourced silk in a palette of colour akin to the rainbow of life, it’s a horrifying account of the kind of horrifying, disgusting behaviour and the archaic views that, like a double-Windsor knot pulled too high, are still choking parts of Australia in 2013.