Veteran actor and Aboriginal elder Jack Charles has had another taxi in Melbourne refuse to accept his fare, just after two similar high profile incidents near the end of the last year.
“Uncle Jack” has had a career in Australian theatre for over 50 years and starred in last year’s ‘Pan‘ alongside Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara.
Charles tried to hail a cab out the front of Flinders Street Station with two artists visiting from Turkey but, despite stopping for the fare and letting the two artists in first, the cab driver told him has had knocked off when he climbed inside.
All well and good if you’ve finished your shift, but probably a little bit suss if you pull over when you’ve been hailed and say nothing when the first two people get in.
In one of the incidents in October, the cab driver told Charles that he would have to pay his fare in advance and, if that’s not bad enough already, another taxi driver told him that they are allowed to ask Aboriginals to pay in advance.
Charles says that the issue is primarily about education:
“These incidents are repeated over and over again. It’s illegal, it’s racist, it’s racial profiling and it shouldn’t be done, so we need to educate this mob.”
Last year he worked to try and organise a discussion with the taxi industry about discrimination, but nothing came of it.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Getty Images / Martin Philbey.
