Haimona Gray on racial tolerance
Haimona Gray writes:
So what does panic on the streets of England mean for New Zealand? Not a damn thing.
The West is over, arguably it’s been dead since the end of the Cold War.
While England has gone through a period of significant political instability and failed leaders over the past 20 years, locally we have reached high levels of stability and cultural harmony.
Yes, people protested our strict lock-down protocols, but they were a peaceful and ethnically diverse group who only ruined some grass and a slide.
We, Aotearoa New Zealand, are better than the UK.
We’re better than The West, too.
We’re better than any nation on earth when it comes to not being dragged into hatred and division.
In a joint effort, the U.S. News and World Report, the BAV Group, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania surveyed people across 36 countries about racial tolerance.
New Zealand ranked first, a position it holds in numerous other global studies of peace, societal stability, and freedom.
Far from perfect but better than everyone else. Yet we have a political party that is trying to spark a race war by claims of genocide as a cynical ploy for publicity to increase their vote.
It is sad and deeply problematic that the only times we seem to engage on the important issue of racism it is a trojan horse for partisan hackery or other interests.
A Maori bully is still a bully, and some of the most racist people I’ve ever met are fellow Maori.
We need to check ourselves too sometimes.
I recently worked for an organisation that was founded a year before I was born. After a few weeks I was talking to the big boss about the history of the company and he informed me that I was the first Maori staff member they have ever had.
It felt weird. Not ‘bad’ entirely, and certainly not racist, just weird.
After some time weighing up whether this was a slight or just an earnest statement of a company coming of age, I realised that it was a well intentioned statement meant to highlight that Maori are taking on more prominent roles and breaking into industries that were once the sole domain of pakeha men who attended private schools.
Like a grisly wound, it can be hard to always see from the outside the healing going on underneath.
We are going through some growing pains, that’s because we are still growing, but we’re getting to a place as a society where someone can be judged solely for that actions.
That should be celebrated.
We should be proud to challenge all people’s bad behaviour equally, we’re judging people for their bad character and not the colour of their skin.
It’s great we accept refugees and even better that one can go on to be an MP.
It’s wrong when that person steals thousands of dollars of clothes from local businesses – clothes they could afford given their salary and earning potential as a lawyer – but it is great that a politician can’t just use their influence or play the race card to avoid prosecution.
Can’t agree more.
Racism is real, and should be stomped out anytime it appears, but the seriousness of racism also means it deserves better than being used as a lazy retort when your ‘fave’ gets called out or a half-arsed column idea.
There is no perfect model nation we can copy from, sadly we’re closer to that status than anyone else.
Our most Trumpian politicians are indigenous – which is quite wild, America couldn’t imagine such scenes – and our most vocal opponents of these politicians are also indigenous people.
We’re different.
We’re a bit special, but we shouldn’t be satisfied just yet, and we certainly shouldn’t be copying off or comparing ourselves to lesser nations such as those of the old Western Civilisation.
There are still those growing pains, but we’ve evolved beyond West vs East, and we’ll continue to improve with sufficient effort and maturity.
An optimistic but good take.