I want a reckoning, not an apology event
“I don’t want an apology, I want a reckoning. I want admissions and I want system change.” — Kim Mcbreen on the government’s apology to survivors of state abuse, on November 12.
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Author: Kim Mcbreen
‘Disconnection is part of my whakapapa’
“Every day that I haven’t taken them to their marae adds up. It builds a mountain of guilt and inertia that gets harder to cross.” — Kim Mcbreen on introducing her kids to their marae.
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‘Not one more child’
“The story that Māori are bad parents was pushed relentlessly to justify policies that have removed tens of thousands of Māori children from their whānau since World War Two.” — Kim Mcbreen.
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The slow path to mātauranga
“You can’t simply learn about mātauranga or whakapapa, just like I couldn’t learn about my whānau. It’s meaningless without the connection and lived experience. It takes community.” — Kim Mcbreen.
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There’s a fine line between appropriation and respect
“If the tikanga is severed from its mātauranga, it has been appropriated.” — Kim Mcbreen on the misuse and appropriation of tikanga.
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Our teachers made school fun
“Looking back now, I can see it wasn’t just about learning kapa haka. It was about pride and belonging, and making sure that Māori kids had connection and support at school when, everywhere else, racism was out and proud, and tikanga Pākehā was dominant.” — Kim Mcbreen.
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We need to talk about our pay
“When people talk about pay transparency or secrecy, or pay gaps, or marginalised workers, it sounds abstract. But having less money isn’t abstract, it means we have fewer options. It means less for our whānau.” — Kim Mcbreen.
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Cast adrift: My story of adoption
“Around 80,000 babies were adopted. Because of shabby practices, we can’t know how many of these babies were Māori, but I imagine every whānau has been affected, and has lost precious children.” — Kim Mcbreen.
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When it all feels unstoppable
“So many men have no community, and my father didn’t have friends until he found the white supremacists online.” — Kim Mcbreen, on losing her father to a conspiracy theory.
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