Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 2, 2020 4:13:35 GMT 12
OUR PRIME MINISTER SHOULD REPLACE HER WAITANGI DAY RHETORIC WITH SOMETHING MORE USEFUL
Waitangi Day is around the corner. It's the one day of the year when our government leaders head to Waitangi to give speeches to the media, the locals and those who have the resources and inclination to travel to the far north.
Parts of last year's speech at Waitangi by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sounded like we were in 1840, not 2019, especially when she said: "We will keep building the foundations to bring our two houses together and that ultimately will be the foundation for which Te Arawhiti will be formed. The bridge between our two houses."
I suppose, based on my whakapapa, physical appearance and self-identity, that puts me in the Māori house. But what about Māori who have more Pākehā ancestry than Māori whakapapa?
For example, my wife is a Pākehā and we have two young daughters, Anahera and Māia.
Given my own whakapapa includes Europeans, who were born in Germany and England and migrated here, then technically I suppose our daughters have more European ancestry than Māori whakapapa when it is all added up.
So, does that mean Anahera and Māia are in the Pākehā house? If having a Māori ancestor means one is first and foremost Māori, why is that so and according to who? Perhaps one gets to choose, or is it based on how one feels on the day?
If I am in the Māori house and Anahera and Māia are in the Pākehā house, does that mean I will see them when, according to our PM, the "bridge between our two houses" is formed?
Oh, wait a minute, they're downstairs right now in the same house – our house.
Speaking of houses, an in-house publication by the Department of Māori Affairs, now Te Puni Kōkiri – Ministry of Māori Development, states "all Māori have some degree of non-Māori ancestry".
I don't know if that publication was correct, but regardless, as Ranginui Walker eloquently stated in his Listener column back in 2004: "The lizards of our colonial past are being laid to rest in the bedrooms of the nation." That certainly seems so, more and more, as most young Māori I meet are of the lighter shades of brown and many are white.
Someone with a dark complexion like myself was my fourth-great-grandfather Wiremu Tamihana (1805-1866), chief of Ngāti Hauā of the Tainui confederation. Yes, I know everyone has 64 fourth-great-grandparents, but let's not ruin a good story and let's not downplay my chiefly heritage.
Tamihana was known as the "kingmaker" because of his role in establishing the Māori King movement. The photograph accompanying was taken by Elizabeth Pulman (1836-1900), who was New Zealand's first female professional photographer.
My daughters, Anahera and Māia, are direct descendants of both Wiremu Tamihana, through my mother's whakapapa, and Pulman, through my wife's father's ancestry. As far as I know, my daughters are the only descendants of both.
When they're older, Anahera and Māia can look at that image knowing they are descendants of the Māori chief in it and the English-born photographer who took it. However, I hope they will recognise the multifaceted aspects of their whakapapa and understand they are first and foremost themselves – individuals who have the freedom to determine their own paths in life without being constrained by historical events that occurred before they were born.
That's right, none of us was there when the treaty was signed, nor were we there when some of our ancestors stole land from some of our other ancestors, and I'm talking about my Māori ancestors – don't get me started on the Pākehā ones. Complicated isn't it? And, no, I'm not proposing "we are one people", aka Hobson's Pledge. How about "we are individuals"?
So, this Waitangi Day, instead of our prime minister giving a speech about "building the foundations to bring our two houses together" like she did last year, perhaps she can tell us how she is going to build actual houses, like the 100,000 she promised in the last election campaign. That's more useful to Māori and Pākehā than meaningless rhetoric about bringing "our two houses together".
I'm not sure about you, but this Waitangi Day I'm going to the beach with my kids and after a swim we'll have a feed of fish'n'chips. Keep safe, whānau.
ENDS
By Steve Elers, a senior lecturer at Massey University, who writes a weekly column for Stuff on social and cultural issues
www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/119144769/our-prime-minister-should-replace-her-waitangi-day-rhetoric-with-something-more-useful
Waitangi Day is around the corner. It's the one day of the year when our government leaders head to Waitangi to give speeches to the media, the locals and those who have the resources and inclination to travel to the far north.
Parts of last year's speech at Waitangi by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sounded like we were in 1840, not 2019, especially when she said: "We will keep building the foundations to bring our two houses together and that ultimately will be the foundation for which Te Arawhiti will be formed. The bridge between our two houses."
I suppose, based on my whakapapa, physical appearance and self-identity, that puts me in the Māori house. But what about Māori who have more Pākehā ancestry than Māori whakapapa?
For example, my wife is a Pākehā and we have two young daughters, Anahera and Māia.
Given my own whakapapa includes Europeans, who were born in Germany and England and migrated here, then technically I suppose our daughters have more European ancestry than Māori whakapapa when it is all added up.
So, does that mean Anahera and Māia are in the Pākehā house? If having a Māori ancestor means one is first and foremost Māori, why is that so and according to who? Perhaps one gets to choose, or is it based on how one feels on the day?
If I am in the Māori house and Anahera and Māia are in the Pākehā house, does that mean I will see them when, according to our PM, the "bridge between our two houses" is formed?
Oh, wait a minute, they're downstairs right now in the same house – our house.
Speaking of houses, an in-house publication by the Department of Māori Affairs, now Te Puni Kōkiri – Ministry of Māori Development, states "all Māori have some degree of non-Māori ancestry".
I don't know if that publication was correct, but regardless, as Ranginui Walker eloquently stated in his Listener column back in 2004: "The lizards of our colonial past are being laid to rest in the bedrooms of the nation." That certainly seems so, more and more, as most young Māori I meet are of the lighter shades of brown and many are white.
Someone with a dark complexion like myself was my fourth-great-grandfather Wiremu Tamihana (1805-1866), chief of Ngāti Hauā of the Tainui confederation. Yes, I know everyone has 64 fourth-great-grandparents, but let's not ruin a good story and let's not downplay my chiefly heritage.
Tamihana was known as the "kingmaker" because of his role in establishing the Māori King movement. The photograph accompanying was taken by Elizabeth Pulman (1836-1900), who was New Zealand's first female professional photographer.
My daughters, Anahera and Māia, are direct descendants of both Wiremu Tamihana, through my mother's whakapapa, and Pulman, through my wife's father's ancestry. As far as I know, my daughters are the only descendants of both.
When they're older, Anahera and Māia can look at that image knowing they are descendants of the Māori chief in it and the English-born photographer who took it. However, I hope they will recognise the multifaceted aspects of their whakapapa and understand they are first and foremost themselves – individuals who have the freedom to determine their own paths in life without being constrained by historical events that occurred before they were born.
That's right, none of us was there when the treaty was signed, nor were we there when some of our ancestors stole land from some of our other ancestors, and I'm talking about my Māori ancestors – don't get me started on the Pākehā ones. Complicated isn't it? And, no, I'm not proposing "we are one people", aka Hobson's Pledge. How about "we are individuals"?
So, this Waitangi Day, instead of our prime minister giving a speech about "building the foundations to bring our two houses together" like she did last year, perhaps she can tell us how she is going to build actual houses, like the 100,000 she promised in the last election campaign. That's more useful to Māori and Pākehā than meaningless rhetoric about bringing "our two houses together".
I'm not sure about you, but this Waitangi Day I'm going to the beach with my kids and after a swim we'll have a feed of fish'n'chips. Keep safe, whānau.
ENDS
By Steve Elers, a senior lecturer at Massey University, who writes a weekly column for Stuff on social and cultural issues
www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/119144769/our-prime-minister-should-replace-her-waitangi-day-rhetoric-with-something-more-useful