“This year, there’ll be another 4,000 convictions just for cannabis offences. Forty percent of those will be Māori. So I see decriminalisation and regulation as a way of reducing harm, particularly to Māori.”
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“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.”
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“When I told Mum I was going to take Māori, she said: ‘Waste of breath.’”
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“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.”
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“You do miss the brothers who’ve passed on. And you miss the vibe that they all brought to the gigs. You miss their mannerisms. You miss what made them individuals.”
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“One of the reasons that many of the more vulnerable whānau turn to third-tier lenders and shop trucks is that they’re treated nicely. They have things done for them, and aren’t made to feel stupid.”
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“The whole system is set up to fail Māori and to force people to do deals where they may not be 100 percent behind it.”
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“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.”
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“It may sound cheesy but joining the police felt like a calling.”
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“Your pride in being Māori was always there. There was no great epiphany. No thunderbolt striking. It was how you lived your life.”
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“With Māori people, it’s not just one thing. There’s a plethora of social barriers and problems that are against us at the moment, such as the recent kaupapa about Oranga Tamariki.”
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“There was a really beautiful thing that happened during the filming. We had a change of heart which changed our head.” — Vea Mafile’o on learning to understand her father through the making of ‘For My Father’s Kingdom’.
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“Being able to express myself as a Cook Islander through dancing and singing and teaching is still important for me.” — Caren Rangi.
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“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.
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“I always loved that little kids could watch bro’Town and not feel so stink about being poor.” — Oscar Kightley
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“Look, if you do a deal with us, you can call us in 200 years’ time and we’ll still be here. Someone will pick up the telephone.”
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“The city can eat you up. And I don’t think I’d be writing the music I write if I was living in Auckland.”
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“There’s value in going back to Pūao-te-Āta-tū. You’ve got to go back sometimes to go forward.” — Neville Baker.
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“I think some of it is well-meaning and paternalistic stuff. But it’s racism nevertheless. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s malicious or accidental or just ignorant racism. It’s still racism. And the outcome is just the same.”
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“People don’t realise that we’re descended from scientists. They just think we’re a bunch of indigenous people who fluked getting to places.”
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We’re “a changing, creative and responsive people whose culture isn’t fixed or static”. — Sean Mallon, Senior Curator Pacific Cultures, Te Papa.
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“I see moko as a reflection of our society. We’re now at a stage where we can celebrate who we are as Māori people.”
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“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.
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“Teaching your kids that they need to develop some resilience and strength of character is essential, but it’s just as important that they know and feel the love from the people bringing them up.”
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The soldiers of the Māori Battalion never envisaged that, for their descendants, the rates of incarceration, ill-health, and unemployment were going to soar when they came back from the war.
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“The story of my education is nothing if not consistent: I didn’t pass, but I had a good time.”—Australian-based businessman Matthew Tukaki.
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“It wasn’t until I went to Westlake Girls’ that I realised I was Māori. In Kaitaia, everybody’s Māori to some extent. Even the Pākehā or the Dallies.”
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“I have a lot of faith in this country and in our people to navigate a future which is positive and which is probably different from anywhere else in the world.”
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“As Māori, we’re unique. I don’t think I’m better than anybody else, but I think I’m bloody just as good.”
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“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
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E-Tangata is an online Sunday magazine specialising in stories that reflect the experiences of Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa.
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