Like many Australians, over the last two Wednesday nights I sat down for a hit of growing-up-in-Australia nostalgia, and watched Hey Hey It's Saturday. The show is the same age as me. Each year it celebrated its birthday just prior to me celebrating mine. And when I moved to Richmond in Victoria, I already knew the postcode, almost like the back of my hand: 'Write to Hey, Hey ... Richmond, 3121.'
When Red Faces began on Wednesday night I relaxed to enjoy a cheap laugh. When the 'Jackson Jive' took their place on stage, I began to grow uncomfortable. I said so to my companion. There was a sense of disbelief that this had passed through any processes there must have been, and so I began telling myself that it must be okay, because in 2009 it is being condoned on my TV.
But it wasn't. And my discomfort grew. I was grateful when someone else on the show pointed out that this wasn't right.
Listening to opinionated radio, and scanning through the thousands of comments on Facebook and other online forums, I feel even more troubled, and the need to write like never before. Indulge me while I purge.
The average Australian seems to say the same thing over and over again: We're not a racist country. We're just having a laugh. Those Americans are so uptight. Harry Connick Jr can just rack off home and leave us to our very funny, simple comedy.
It is perceived that our racism is just humour since we're only laughing and not deliberately hurting anyone else. We laugh at ourselves, we're Aussies, not like those bloody Americans.
Only we're not laughing at ourselves, and strangely enough, it's the white people who think we are.
'Laughing at someone is not racist. Laughing at someone is not harmful.' The child in the school yard may want to beg to differ. Sure, we're not meeting them after school to fight them with our fists, but anyone who has been the butt of cruel jokes will know that laughing isn't always benign.
Those defending the Red Faces act think it is harmless because we all know (apparently!) that Australia is not a racist country. As a teacher of Australian history I am beginning to see that many average Australians could use some further education on the topic. We have had a policy of racism through much of our time here in this land.
And as fairly recent guests to the country, our manners and behaviour leave much to be desired. We've paid no heed to our hosts, and all but decimated their culture and society. And our reciprocal hospitality is no laughing matter either. One may wish to talk to our Indian visitors about this.
Most posters on websites seem to have missed another crucial history lesson. Indeed someone argued that we often impersonate people, including black people. We do it for entertainment. Moreover, she says that there is no difference between the old impersonators who used to dance and sing on stage in boot polish like Fred Astaire, than our entertainment Wednesday night.
Unfortunately our average Australian has missed the fact that this also was insensitive and downright racist and that we have spent a vast number of years trying to undo this ridiculing and stereotyping.
I applaud Harry Connick Jr for having the courage and the conviction to point out to us the error in our Australian way of thinking. Laughing at someone else's expense is not harmless. Uncritically allowing messages of racism to permeate our culture will erode our best efforts to create a safe and just society.
While most of us stand around laughing, there will, inevitably, continue to be bullies at the front gate.
Meaghan Paul is chaplain at a Melbourne school. She submitted two articles to win equal second and highly commended in the inaugural Margaret Dooley Award.