HOW DO LIGHT-SKINNED ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS EXPERIENCE RACISM? Implications for social work Bindi Bennett * Abstract There has been little discussion in Australia about the different experiences of racism directed towards light-skinned Aboriginal people. Research on racism in Australia has tended to incor- porate all Aboriginal people and has not examined in detail the experiences of lighter-skinned Aboriginal people. This paper is based on research that was undertaken as part of a study on light-skinned Aboriginal people with little or no community or kinship ties and how they formu- lated their cultural identity. The author uses the concept of lateral violence to show how many light-skinned Aboriginal people experience racism both from Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. This paper highlights the extensive social and psychological consequences of racism and lateral violence and discusses what this means for social work practice in Australia. Keywords Aboriginal, Australia, light-skinned, racism, lateral violence, social work Introduction There have been a number of studies that inves- tigate the experience of racism for Aboriginal people in Australia in an urban setting (Paradies, 2006b; Paradies & Cunningham, 2009; Ziersch, Gallaher, Baum, & Bentley, 2011a, 2011b). The concept of racism itself has been subject * Indigenous Scholarship, Lecturer, School of Social Work, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia. Email: BindiM.Bennett@acu.edu.au