The Maori

spot on glenda,put in a much cleare way than i could offer.
and lets not forget the thousands of tourists who maybe would choose somewhere else for there travels if it was not for the maori culture.and newzealand is not just a destination where pakeha come to settle there is a good mix of samoans fijians and all the rest.the maori people dont seem to be a down troden race they are to proud for that.
but we must not forget the past ,just learn from it.

we must not forget the past ,just learn from it.

Nicely said johnty. I am of mixed feelings about the treatment of the Maori all those years ago, and of being Pakeha in this country. I always try to remember that I am the foreigner in this country and take nothing for granted. I am appalled and ashamed to be connected to the British in some respects, after some of their actions against the Maoris. On the other hand, we brought significant improvements and I believe that NZ is a better place for it - for Maoris, Pakeha, and born and bred Kiwis. There were faults on both sides but I believe that 99% of both sides now recognise that the past is the past and have learned to live together in harmony. Of course there are disputes between the Maoris and what they believe is rightfully theirs, but their main argument seems to be with the government and does not spill over to tension with the 'white' public. Maoris quite rightly have a very proud heritage and do a lot to promote/continue it - I find the Maori language/music/culture extremely interesting in fact, and look forward to the day when we can apply for citizenship and attend a Maori ceremony as part of it - I will be very honoured.

In the meantime, I hope the past can be forgotten and that we all remember we are all equals and all have the same rights as the next human being.

In the meantime, I hope the past can be forgotten and that we all remember we are all equals and all have the same rights as the next human being.

I'll read that as letting past resentments be forgotten, considering your reply to Johnty. I'm remembering the old saw about 'those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it'.

Thanks to Glenda for setting the history straight. It had also been my impression that the Europeans had treated the Maori remarkably well, considering their track record with other aborigonal peoples.

I don't agree with reparations for generations-old wounds, with similar reasons as cited by some above. My great-grandfather received a land grant in Oklahoma after our tribe was relocated, and his son sold it so he could feed his alcohol habit. It would have been nice to have a family homestead to visit, but I do not believe I should receive any compensation because of my grandfather's error. My family members (the Europeans, too), have moved up the economic ladder through education and determination.

I think it's rotten that so many marginalized people remain so, often because of limited opportunities (e.g. education). It is up to all the people and the government to ensure that opportunities are available equally. Bootstraps, people - pull on them!

Well, Tottefan opened a can of worms here! White people, of any origin, have consistently claimed superiority over others with a different colour skin. Like Welshgirl, I too am not proud to be British, I wouldn't be in the least bit keen to swear my allegiance to queen and country. The situation in NZ is no different to anywhere else in the world where the indigenous people have been marginalised and shafted of their wealth, their land, their culture and usually because us arrogant 'civilised' and greedy whites assume we know what's right for everyone else.

We can't go back and undo what was done then and even if we could maybe we shouldn't. I'm not condoning it in anyway but I'm a strong believer in everything happening for a reason. What we can do, as individuals, is try to ground our lives in equality, teach our children to see people and characters not colour, to recognise the opportunity to enrich our lives through engaging with others whose lives are different to our own, to listen before condemning and to respect difference as an individual right and not something to be feared.

The only compensation that is needed is the desire to work with committment towards equality, not just talk the talk but to walk the walk. Money can be given, money can be spent, money has no lasting legacy, the good times it brings are soon forgotten when pockets are empty. Then the animosity returns. Money and greed are an integral part of racial hatred, a 'pay off' is like a slap in the face, money has no integrity. People should have though and surely what is more important is that we offer understanding and our promise that whilst we're here we will live every day with an open mind and an open heart.

Change has to come freely through education and realisation, it can't be ordered or imposed, that kind of change never works it just incites more anger and more animosity.

We all have a part to play and we must all take responsibility for it. It's everyones problem and within us all is the solution.

A good example of Maori and Pakeha relationships.

Name marks Maori-Pakeha link
21 June 2006

If the Flat Bush town centre gets a new name, local iwi will push for one recalling a feisty Scot who married into their tribe about 170 years ago. Ngai Tai Te Waka Totara Trust says it will settle for the name Flat Bush, which has historic credibility, but any new name must reflect the bicultural history of the area.

Trust chief executive officer James Brown sees a symbolic ring of harmony between the Ngai Tai tribe and the Scottish people, thanks to an 1820s marriage between chief's daughter Ngeungeu and Scottish explorer Thomas Maxwell. This union is recalled in the name, te ringii o Makiwhara - the ring of Maxwell - which is Te Waka Totara's choice if the Flat Bush town centre is renamed.

'As a symbol, the ring is appropriate, because it can include and accommodate any amount of ethnic communities living in Manukau,' says Mr Brown.

Maxwell was a boatbuilder from Maxweil near Aberdeen, who landed in the Bay of Islands in 1820, aboard a sailing ship he built himself. Local Ngapuhi were impressed with Maxwell's courage in refusing to hand his ship over to them.

Meanwhile, a raiding party returned to the Bay of Islands from Tamaki after capturing the beautiful daughter of chief Otara te Irirangi. The young girl was considered so tapu that to avoid all-out war, Ngapuhi chief Patuone sent word to Otara that she would be kept safe.

Then, unexpectedly, Ngeungeu and Maxwell met up and fell in love at first sight. Patuone allowed them to marry and arranged safe passage to Tamaki, where Otara embraced his new Pakeha son-in-law.

Otara, who owned many islands in the Gulf, granted Maxwell and his daughter Waiheke Island, where Maxwell set up a boatbuilding operation. Tailored to local conditions, these craft facilitated trade with missionaries and settlers as far afield as the Wairoa River.

The couple had three sons, beginning a distinguished halfcaste line that persists to this day.

Mr Brown uses elements of the Maxwell family's coats of arms in silver rings worn by himself and members of his staff at Te Waka Totara. He says the tribe succeeded in naming Te Irirangi Drive and nobody should under-estimate how serious they are about te ringii o Makiwhara.

Te Waka Totara will make verbal submissions when the Manukau City Council Hearings Committee meets on July 4 to decide what name to recommend to the New Zealand Geographical Board.

?Hypocrisy' to talk of aroha, whanau, says police commander
Wednesday June 28, 2006
By Angela Gregory

There is an element of hypocrisy to Maori and Pacific Island cultures that promote aroha (love) and whanau (family), says Counties Manukau's police district commander, Superintendent Steve Shortland. Maori and Pacific Island people were over-represented in family violence statistics, he said at yesterday's vigil at Mangere Mountain to welcome Matariki, the Maori New Year.

Given that the cultures claimed to embrace aroha and whanau, there was 'some sort of hypocrisy' going on. 'How do you embrace whanau and aroha when you are belting each other and children for no reason other than 'We are angry'?'

Mr Shortland said in the Counties Manukau district the percentage of family violence emergency calls had doubled in the past four years. They accounted for 21 per cent of all 111 calls in 2001 and 42 per cent in 2005.

In the past year Counties Manukau had received more than 10,000 reports of family violence. Although it was good that women were reporting abuse, the figure was a sad indictment on the community.

Last year nine out of 12 murder victims in the district were killed by people closest to them. Mr Shortland said those who turned a blind eye to family violence were in effect condoning it.

Many of the 300 present at the vigil were outraged at the Kahui family's silence over the violent deaths of the twin babies Chris and Cru. Maori kuia June Jackson, of the Manukau Maori Urban Authority, got a favourable reaction from the crowd when she called for the Kahui family to be thrown into jail. The whanau was 'just rubbish' but she said there was a problem with distrust between Maori and the police.

At a breakfast held after the vigil, Police Minister Annette King described the situation in South Auckland as 'desperate' for many women and children.

Anne Candy, deputy mayor of Manukau City, said she was usually proud to call herself Maori but was disgusted with the statistics that featured Maori in family violence-related deaths. 'It's an absolute disgrace that parents are killing their children,' she said with anger.

Young people needed be taught values and how to budget while they were a captive audience at school because financial stress as adults could see them take it out on their children.

Chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson said family violence cases had been taking too long to get through the courts. At times the cases were dropped because of delays, which meant the victims lost hope and the offenders felt emboldened.

A scheme of family violence list courts in Waitakere and Manukau was being extended in the North Island, he said. Judge Johnson said people needed coping strategies to avoid violent responses to their problems, and warned that violence in the home spilled out to the streets.

Dr Pita Sharples agreed that violence led to violence, noting that threats had already been made against the Kahui family. He pointed to the binge drinking culture in New Zealand. Twice he had been to the Kahui house and everyone was drunk.

Warriors author slams Maoridom and politicians
Wednesday June 28, 2006
By Derek Cheng

The author of Once Were Warriors has lashed out at Maori and the Government for what he says are their inept responses to dealing with a 'culture of violence that has affected Maoridom forever'. 'The dysfunctional family syndrome is all too prevalent and, more often than not, it applies to our people - that's the sickening thing about it,' Alan Duff told the Herald yesterday.

His comments come after the violent deaths of twins Chris and Cru Kahui and the family's refusal to co-operate with police. The incident has prompted Prime Minister Helen Clark to draw parallels with Duff's novel Once Were Warriors, published in 1990.

Duff said the Kahuis and the family portrayed in his book are not mirror-images of each other, 'but there are similarities: dysfunctional families and a modern culture of violence that has affected Maoridom forever'. He was not surprised at the Kahui case.

'I know damn well it carries on. There was some big oaf fast asleep and drunk at 7pm when [Maori Party co-leader Pita] Sharples called around to the [Kahuis'] house. Those sorts of people are all too common. You can't change those adults and, if we don't watch it, we're not going to be able to change children from becoming those adults.'

Duff criticised the Government for what he said was the most impractical and least offensive approach. '[The Government will] be getting a lot of committees together, charge the taxpayers hundreds of thousands [of dollars] and come up with idiot solutions, all of which are designed not to offend Maoridom. There's no depth to any of it and nothing is going to happen. They're just going to create another bloody bunch of bureaucrats, and we'll continue down the same road.'

He was equally unforgiving to Maoridom, who he claimed leaned on the perceived image of being victims. 'They just want us to have this stupid, insulting societal model, saying we were all perfectly happy until the Pakeha came along and ruined it for us. Someone [needs to] stop all this about us being smiling peasants living off settlement money.'

The way forward, Duff said, was to change attitudes through organisations that interact with affected communities. One such organisation is Books in Homes, Duff's charitable trust, through which five million books have gone to 460 schools and 100,000 children in the country's poorest communities.

'We've got to instil values. Maoridom from the top down has to be told that it's shameful to hit your kids, it's shameful not to make sacrifices to give them a better future, it's shameful not to want to aspire to advance yourself.'

'I know the problems backwards, but these politicians don't. Why doesn't the Prime Minister come to us and say, 'You're the guy who wrote the book, you're the one with the literacy programme and getting books to children - what are your thoughts on it?'

'Why don't they go to the people who care?'