Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 7, 2019 5:43:58 GMT 12
Dominion Post 7/9/19
After Dover Samuels has received his "apology" for youngsters being chastised for speaking Maori, perhaps he could devote his concerns towards reparations for those youngsters who dared to write with their left hand.
PETE HERRIDGE, Upper Hutt
Nelson Mail 7/9/19
SANTA PARADE
Is it too much to expect strictly factual reporting in our newspaper? According to Belle George (Nelson Mail, September 4), there was a "backlash over the inclusion of a Maori Santa" in last year's Santa parade.
This is a deliberate slander on the parents who objected, inferring that they were a bunch of unreasonable racists.
These parents, no doubt including the parents of Maori kids, took their kids to see Santa.
I am now long in the tooth, but not too much to remember when I attended Santa parades with the excited expectation that Santa would be there.
Last year, Santa was AWOL.
Instead, there was a person dressed up like King Neptune, which the parents and kids were told was "Hana Koko". I can imagine that every kid, including the Maori kids, quizzically exclaimed: "Huh!" Neither the costume or the title was what they had expected.
If the same Maori man had arrived dressed as Santa, as Tame Iti did once on TV, there would have been no backlash.
Santa can be played by persons of any ethnicity and perhaps gender - it's all the same to kids.
It is clear that last year's organising committee remains deluded about the cause of the backlash, unreasonably interpreting it as a racial attack. Councillor Gaile Noonan. as reported, seems to concur with that delusion. The politest adjective I can apply is "daft".
Thanks. Gaile - I now know at least one name to strike off the bewildering array of candidates. I still think an ability to accurately notice and analyse facts is essential in a councillor.
BRYAN FORREST Nelson
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers
After Dover Samuels has received his "apology" for youngsters being chastised for speaking Maori, perhaps he could devote his concerns towards reparations for those youngsters who dared to write with their left hand.
PETE HERRIDGE, Upper Hutt
Nelson Mail 7/9/19
SANTA PARADE
Is it too much to expect strictly factual reporting in our newspaper? According to Belle George (Nelson Mail, September 4), there was a "backlash over the inclusion of a Maori Santa" in last year's Santa parade.
This is a deliberate slander on the parents who objected, inferring that they were a bunch of unreasonable racists.
These parents, no doubt including the parents of Maori kids, took their kids to see Santa.
I am now long in the tooth, but not too much to remember when I attended Santa parades with the excited expectation that Santa would be there.
Last year, Santa was AWOL.
Instead, there was a person dressed up like King Neptune, which the parents and kids were told was "Hana Koko". I can imagine that every kid, including the Maori kids, quizzically exclaimed: "Huh!" Neither the costume or the title was what they had expected.
If the same Maori man had arrived dressed as Santa, as Tame Iti did once on TV, there would have been no backlash.
Santa can be played by persons of any ethnicity and perhaps gender - it's all the same to kids.
It is clear that last year's organising committee remains deluded about the cause of the backlash, unreasonably interpreting it as a racial attack. Councillor Gaile Noonan. as reported, seems to concur with that delusion. The politest adjective I can apply is "daft".
Thanks. Gaile - I now know at least one name to strike off the bewildering array of candidates. I still think an ability to accurately notice and analyse facts is essential in a councillor.
BRYAN FORREST Nelson
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers