Eteuati Ete: The things we don’t laugh about
“She’d say: ‘Ete, you’re a Laughing Sāmoan, and if you start telling your story of how you were violent and what you did to overcome that violence, that would be really awesome.’” — Eteuati Ete.
A call to war?
“There’s a litany of examples, including admissions by the police themselves, of unconscious bias. Or racism, as we called it in the good old days.” — Moana Maniapoto.
The day the world changed
“Don’t let schooling get in the way of your education, moko.” — Haare Williams’ grandmother, after his first day of school in 1943.
Marching into history
“We didn’t know what we were getting into and how we would be received. We only knew that we had left, we were going to march, and nothing was going to put us off that.” — Tama Te Kapua Poata on the 1975 Māori Land March.
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.”
Karamia Müller: Building futures that resist inequality
"I saw parallels with an earlier process of gentrification which displaced communities — largely Pasifika — from Ponsonby, St Mary's Bay and Freemans Bay in the late 1970s to 1980s. That displacement has had ongoing ramifications for Pasifika people.”
Timoti Karetu: A stickler for standards
“All the Māori students at Victoria wanted to be lawyers and accountants, but I only ever wanted to be a teacher.” — Sir Timoti Karetu.
Guled Mire: Working for a more welcoming Aotearoa
“It's incredibly important, now more than ever, that we strive to become a more welcoming and compassionate nation."
‘They travel with shadows’
“Their tūpuna inhabit every room they enter, they embody every act, and they help guide every word.”
Why we should care about retirement policy
“The simplicity and universality of the NZ Superannuation model is the envy of many across the world, but it doesn’t address the needs of all — nor is it guaranteed to be sustainable without refinement.” — Peter Cordtz, interim Retirement Commissioner.
Why aren’t universities made for people like me?
“The longer I stay at university, the more I realise that not only are universities not made for me, but there are institutional structures embedded within them that actively exclude me."
A tika Māori approach to climate change action
“The Treaty relationship needs to underpin the Climate Change Commission — and in fact, all the commissioners should be bound by Treaty obligations, such as to actively protect Māori rights.”
What is hope? Tales from South Africa
“I wonder how many of us here in Aotearoa can appreciate what life is like for most of the non-whites in South Africa. Not many, if any, as Scribe once said.”
The iceberg below the surface
“The people who have marched before me, who have occupied spaces before me: their feet taking steps for change, their bodies on the line, their voices hoarse with conviction . . . they are the iceberg below the surface.”
Treaty settlements and the enjoyment of land rights
“The big question that still lies unanswered is not the acquisition of land rights, but the enjoyment of land rights. How do you enjoy being where you are?”
Hearing the ocean speak
“We have come here to speak about protection of the ocean. We come in the planet’s most uncertain hours to sing a redemptive tune. And what is it we are protecting the ocean against? Regrettably, us.”
‘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."
My mother is Pākehā — and I love her
When I hear a child saying she hates Pākehā, it doesn’t sit right with me. It’s the same when I hear people referring to the “bloody Pākehās”.
One reo to rule them all?
“If the best resources on offer for our children aren’t in our dialect, then how the heck does dialect survive?” — Quinton Hita on the unintended consequences of the project to translate titles like 'Harry Potter' into Māori.
A Tongan without the tongue — a cautionary tale
"Rightly or wrongly, my father was trying to protect us from a world that treasured English above all else, that used English as a marker for intelligence."
I’m good at languages — so why can’t I speak Sāmoan?
“Many of us have lost our languages through no fault of our own. Let’s remove the shame from reclaiming our languages.”
Rawiri Wright: It’s cool to be Māori
“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
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.”
‘Neither forgotten nor forgiven’
“In New Zealand, unlike anywhere else, South Africa’s racist sports practices have been the subject of Māori protest since the end of World War I.”
Rua Kēnana and the teaching of history
The move to make the teaching of history compulsory, “will not produce lasting benefit unless history comes to be seen not as information to be learned and then set aside, but as a force that shapes identity and influences choices.”
Restoring mana and confidence
“We want to work shoulder to shoulder with this government rather than head-to-head headbutting.” — Ngahiwi Tomoana, Kahungunu leader.
How can there be justice if the process isn’t just?
“If someone had said to me in 2008, I’d be turning the Whanganui River into a legal person — or parliament would be — I would have laughed.” Chris Finlayson, former Treaty negotiations minister.
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