Te Ururoa Flavell; Education Spokesperson for the Maori Party
 
Sunday 11 February 2007 ; 8pm
 
Aotearoa has been blessed with many philosophers, analysts, and generally wise prophets employed under the guise of the teaching profession.  One of these early teachers – author of the rather originally named novel, ‘Teacher’ – was Sylvia Ashton-Warner.
 
In that book Ashton-Warner described the differences between tangata whenua and other New Zealanders in the following way:
 
“I don’t expect the white and brown to ever really mix…..The Maoris, generally speaking, love tribal gatherings with emphasis on food and spiritual matters.  While we, featuring the intellect, are segregating irretrievably”.
 
Admittedly, Teacher was written in 1963 – and forty-four years later, it may well be that today’s philosophers, analysts and prophets would see it differently.
 
On the other hand, while we may not say it, the segregation between tangata whenua and other New Zealanders is still just as marked.
 

• What explanation can anyone give for why   47% of Māori school-leavers finish school with qualifications higher than NCEA Level One; compared to a massive 74% European; 87% Asian.
•  
• How do we account for the fact that the latest Census reports that 11% of the Maori workforce are unemployed as opposed to a national average of 5.1%?
•  
• Do we just continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that a whopping 28% of Maori over 15 are currently receiving a benefit, compared to 10.5% for the national average?

 
It’s this sort of black and white divide that represents the levels of personal, cultural and institutional racism that still dominates every layer of government.
 
It is also a deep-seated part of Aotearoa society.  That racism can be so subtle, we sometimes do not actually know it is happening.  Dr Rawiri Taonui who works here in Christchurch (Head of School at Aotahi, School of Maori and Indigenous Studies) and is a respected columnist, recently described how the use of the word “Maori” has been equated with things negative. “Maori car”, “Maori day off”, “Maori time”, subtle put downs which reinforce  negative attitudes from some, about us,- Maori.
 
And yet just less than a week ago, the country was told that the reason Waitangi Day was so awesome this year, a platform of peace, was because life is just so good for us all.
 
I don’t think so!!!
 
Are we really a nation united by Te Tiriti o Waitangi?