Anticipating the warmth of a family member, Williams quickly answered his phone late Wednesday evening and was shocked by what he heard. 

“A man told me he was going to dress me up in my Aboriginal dress, rape me and bash me senselessly,” Mr Williams said.

The outspoken professional boxer, mental health advocate and former rugby league star has since brushed off the relentless tirade of racial abuse and violent threats. 

Mr Williams has urged victims of racism to “rise above the perpetrators” and out them on social media. 

“People think we’re making leaps and bounds of progress and this phone call really proves that Indigenous people still have to deal with abuse on a near-daily basis,” he said. 

“I’m taking a stand so that our kids and grandkids know that they can rise above this hate and not be brought down.”

Mr Williams, who did not know the identity of the caller, said he was a man who sounded around 25 to 35 years old.

“All you have to do is walk to the shop and you’re looked at differently – it’s time we really take the next step,” he said. 

The 32-year-old, who has endured battles with mental illness, said everybody needs to fight mindless racism.

It comes after Wagga’s 2016 Citizen of the Year bowed out of a tilt to run for council in the September election to focus on his campaign.

Stolen generation survivor and Wiradjuri elder Aunty Isobel Reid believes Wagga has come a long way in its respect for different cultures.

“With all the different nationalities we see living peacefully together here now, we’ve clearly made progress but racism will never fully disappear,” she said.

“It’s about teaching and empowering the kids so that they can overcome it and not be held down or silenced by the minority.

“Education is the most important tool we have so we need to make the most of it.”