A legendary Australian Aboriginal actor is speaking out after taxi drivers in Melbourne refused to give him a ride twice in one week.
Jack Charles is one of the pioneers of Aboriginal theater in Australia. Among his honors, he cofounded the country’s first indigenous theater troupe. He is recognized as one of the leaders in the Aboriginal community, and is well known for having beaten off a longstanding addiction to heroin. His first appearance in American film was as the chief in “Pan.” For his achievements, “Uncle Jack,” as he is popularly known, was named Victoria’s Senior Australian of the Year for 2015.
While leaving Wednesday’s awards ceremony in Melbourne with his manager, Patrice Capogreco, Charles tried to get into a taxi–only to have the driver demand he pay the fare upfront. Charles was dumbfounded. He told ABC News’ “7.30” that the driver didn’t care that he had a Cabcharge card, which is used throughout Australia to pay taxi fares automatically. The driver actually told Capogreco to her face that Charles would have to pay cash because “he might not pay” otherwise. This happened at 9 p.m.–an hour before taxi drivers in Victoria can legally require upfront payment of fares.
Charles and Capogreco got another cab–but not before Charles read the driver the riot act for his shameful racism. Incredibly, it happened again two days later. Charles and Capogreco had just returned to Melbourne from Adelaide, where Charles had given a keynote speech at a Jobs Australia gathering. When a taxi rolled into their assigned bay at Melbourne Airport, Charles approached it–only to have the driver take off. The attendant waiting on Charles and Capogreco saw the whole thing, and quickly arranged another taxi.
Charles told the BBC that this sort of behavior is all too common in Australia. He said that in some cases, an Aboriginal wanting to hail a cab has to ask a stranger to flag one down for him. Indeed, before the Wednesday night incident, he told Capogreco to get the cab for him because he was well aware of how cabbies treat Aboriginal customers. Capogreco told The (Melbourne) Age that while Charles is “a resilient, strong man,” these two incidents of blatant racism have shaken him to the core. Capocreco added that what really stung Uncle Jack is that he knew this would never happen to her because she is white.
Capogreco added that Charles is seriously considering legal action against the drivers and their company. The Victorian Taxi Service Commission is also investigating the incident. Commission CEO Aaron de Rozario called the drivers’ actions “unacceptable and illegal,” and noted that any driver who pulls such a stunt could have his license revoked.
Process this for a moment, folks. Can you imagine Will Smith being told to pay a taxi fare upfront? Or a taxi driver seeing Samuel L. Jackson about to get in a cab and just drive off? Or Denzel Washington having to have someone flag down a cab because he knew a cab wouldn’t stop for him otherwise? Either incident would be as outrageous as what happened to Charles this week. The only acceptable response would be for the Commission to yank the drivers’ licenses, and fine the companies so heavily that no taxi company in Australia would even think of trying this again.
