Reflecting who our courts serve
“I didn’t come from a legal family. And I didn’t know any lawyers, so it wasn’t as if, by osmosis, I’d taken a bit of that legal stuff on board. I was a blank page.” — New Family Court judge Robyn von Keisenberg.
Papaarangi Reid: Pushing for real change
“Despite well-intentioned health practitioners, the health system provides lower quality care for Māori.” — Dr Papaarangi Reid.
Hey, white women: Māori culture is not your birthright
“We need to reflect on those times where we have ignorantly or arrogantly claimed Māori culture as our own — as if it can be taken and used without permission, just as Māori land was.” — Debra Hunt.
Partnership is critical during a crisis
“Genuine, ongoing consultation and partnership with Māori throughout Covid-19 would have allowed concerns to be voiced, and potentially harmful unintended consequences like these to be mitigated.” — Dr Pounamu Jade Aikman.
James Eruera and his waka kaupapa
"There are very few who’ll understand how it feels to know that you’ve built this vessel that’s gone across the ocean and that’s delivered your people safely to their destination." — James Eruera, master waka carver.
Rawiri McKree Jansen: Speaking out on Māori health
“The health system has to stop being racist and become a pro-equity, pro-Treaty system.” — Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen.
Pero Cameron: Big man, big impact
“We had a very practical Māori upbringing but not much in the way of Niuean or Scottish.” — Pero Cameron, head coach of the Tall Blacks.
Alan Wendt: The Interpreter
“My journey into the Deaf world has been a true gift." — Alan Wendt, New Zealand Sign Language interpreter and language geek.
The coconut wireless has its benefits
“Much of the conversation that led to this budget came through Pacific media vehicles and not just in English.” — Richard Pamatatau
Jacinda Ardern’s rising tide
“Jacinda Ardern is lauded in this country, and feted as a leadership icon around the world, while Bridges flounders as an embarrassing and irrelevant lightweight. He exudes desperation and panic.” — Matt McCarten.
Just to ‘kia-ora-fy’ is to fall well short
“Digital inclusion means doing things differently for, and with, Māori." — Kirkpatrick Mariner.
We don’t have to go down this path
“If history is anything to go by, I fear any confidence would be misplaced.” — Pounamu Jade Aikman on whether police will apply their Covid-19 powers fairly and evenly.
The land of the wrong white crowd: Growing up and living in the shadow of racism
“What are the chances of ending racism in New Zealand by 2040? The news on this front would seem to be both good and bad.” — Trevor Richards.
Mother’s Day without your mum
“Today, for my first Mother’s Day without my mum, I find myself somewhere between celebrating and commemorating.” — Dahlia Malaeulu.
Atareta Poananga: Elegant and unflinching
She described Pākehā as "the product of the riffraff, the flotsam and jetsam of British culture." — Moana Maniapoto on Atareta Poananga, who died just over a week ago.
Oh Canada!
“Canadians are inclined to point to racism as something that exists in the USA. ‘We are not the USA!’” — Tainui Stephens.
Language, identity — and ‘real’ Sāmoans
“Some of the things you may have learned from those anthropology textbooks shouldn’t be seen as a bible for what a ‘real’ Sāmoan is.” — Patrick Thomsen.
‘Don’t you want to be Sāmoan?’
“Except for church, our Sāmoan-ness never made it out the front door of our house.”
Ihumātao feels like how I wish Auckland felt
“I can’t think of a time I’ve been in such a mixed group. There is a vibe of considerateness, gentleness. People are careful with the kids, and with each other. If you make eye contact, people say 'Kia ora', even if you don’t say it first.”
I’ve tried to learn Tongan, and I’ve tried to be Tongan
"Being an outsider because of my personality quirks was an identity I could embrace. Better than being defined purely by my lack of culture and language. Give me Crazy Pālangi over plain Pālangi any day."
Pimp my reo
“I’ve always wanted to be confidently fluent and, at times, I’ve felt like it’s been within my grasp. But then I let it slip away.”
Rahera Shortland: To know your reo is to know your culture
“Sometimes we don't appreciate what's right under our noses until we go away from home. Then we tangi weto for our reo. And that's the situation for some of our Aussie whānau.”
Celebrating our reo warriors
“When the Māori Language Commission first opened its doors in 1987, te reo was viewed by many New Zealanders as something that would divide us. Māori language proponents were often seen as the enemy.”
Rawinia Higgins: Regenerating the reo
“My greatest aspiration for the future of te reo is to have a mokopuna, so I can speak Māori to that mokopuna every day.”
Indira Stewart: When one of us wins, all of us win
“When I think about the shortage of Pasifika journalists, I'm a bit surprised there aren't more of us, because we're powerful storytellers and we always have been.”—Indira Stewart, host of RNZ's new morning news show First Up.
This is not the time for white voices
“Everyone has their say in a democracy. But mostly the people who have their say in public life in New Zealand are white.”—Steve Braunias
Conversations: Lifting our voices
Our stories create the lens through which we see ourselves and our neighbours and the world around us.
Conversations: It’s about serving our communities
“Our women look at people as if everyone is important and everyone belongs to one of the communities they serve.”
Kerry Warkia: A chorus of Pacific voices
“In filmmaking, the essence is collaboration. For something to be really good, there needs to be different perspectives, techniques and skills from lots of different people.”
Lani Wendt Young: A hunger worldwide for our stories told by us
“There are lots of silly excuses that people offer for why there aren’t more of us published. They say, for instance, that we don’t like to write. We aren’t storytellers. We’re not readers. But that’s ridiculous.”
Kura Forrester: Rudely funny
“Everybody knows what it's like to be on a first date. Or have rude thoughts. And, as long as you're being honest, it can be funny.” — Kura Forrester, Billy T award winner.
Whiti Hereaka: My advice? Let yourself write terribly
“It's okay to be a bad writer in your first draft because a lot of the craft of writing is in the rewriting.”
The Anniversaries of our Amnesia
“I’m starting to understand that amnesia may well be one of the main organising principles of colonisation. A selective forgetting is an important part of how power maintains its privileges.” — vivian Hutchinson.
Whina Cooper: Fearless and unforgettable
“For several decades, Whina’s astute brand of leadership had been shaped by the traditions of her elders and powered by her own mighty self-confidence.”
Moriori: Still setting the record straight
“What happened to our people has been, and to a large extent remains, an inconvenient truth and stain on the history and conscience of our nation.” — Moriori leader Maui Solomon.
Not one iota of evidence
“There is no credible evidence that any non-Māori — other than Tasman and his crew — visited New Zealand before Cook’s first arrival in 1769.”
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