Accusation that sounds like an exam question

It sounds like an exam question. Some people say New Zealand is as ‘‘racist as f...’’. Discuss. The topic is derived from film director Taika Waititi’s incendiary comment to the British magazine Dazed earlier this month.

He did go on to say he thought New Zealand was the best place on the planet but ‘‘it’s a racist place’’. We like to think our race relations, particularly between Ma¯ ori and Pa¯ keha¯ , are generally pretty good. This perception reinforces the notion, perhaps illusory, that we are an inherently honourable and tolerant nation.

Waititi suggests the reality is very different. No doubt he bases this on personal experience and other factors but the main beef he talks about is the refusal of New Zealanders to properly pronounce Ma¯ ori words. In the catalogue of racist sins, this would appear to be relatively small beer. I agree that to not at least try to pronounce Ma¯ ori words correctly is crass but I don’t see that it is necessarily racist. Some guilty of mispronunciation will just be showing their ignorance, lack of education or laziness.

Some will genuinely believe that New Zealand will not benefit from spending time worrying about the pronunciation of Ma¯ ori on grounds other than any feelings of superiority on the basis of race.

There will be those who deliberately mispronounce Ma¯ ori words as a gesture of disregard or disrespect. But even disrespect is not always racist. Not that I disagree with Waititi. People everywhere have racist tendencies and prejudices. Just look at the number of racial stereotypes we have. What I take issue with is that New Zealand is racist ‘‘as f .... ’’.

Missing from the debate about Waititi’s remark is any recognition of how far the country has come.

Much has already been written about the Ma¯ ori representation both in Parliament and in the leadership of all the main parties. The Treaty of Waitangi is enshrined in most of our current legislation and, although no amount of money can compensate Ma¯ ori for the outrages of the past, large amounts of money have changed hands and apologies made.

None of the settlements have caused a popular revolt. Most planning, environmental and resource legislation calls for compulsory consultation with the local iwi, some of whom struggle to keep up with the demands.

Most public bodies and agencies have Ma¯ ori representation, so much so that qualified Ma¯ ori are often overcommitted.

We have anti-discrimination legislation, a race relations conciliator and a Human Rights Commission.

The Ma¯ ori language is actively supported and incorporated by the Crown and its agencies. Take a look at the courts, for instance. Public broadcasters are schooled in Ma¯ ori pronunciation and make an effort to incorporate the Ma¯ ori language.

We have Ma¯ ori Television and publicly funded programmes specifically for Ma¯ ori and Pasifika.

Of course you don’t need to scratch the surface very deeply to find ingrained racist attitudes but the country has little racial violence and white supremacists are treated either as a joke or as crazy delinquents.

Very few in this country get upset about mixed marriages, except perhaps Hone Harawira, and no majority white neighbourhood gets up in arms if a Ma¯ ori or Asian family moves in. None of these are cause for self congratulation but they help to dispel the racist ‘‘as f...’’ tag and show progress has been made.

New Zealand definitely has a strong anti-immigrant sentiment but people seem to get along.

Pa¯ keha¯ New Zealand has plenty to be ashamed about in the historic treatment of Ma¯ ori and plenty of racist attitudes persist.

But at least overt racism is on the wane. You hear a lot of talk about the nebulous concepts of unconscious racism and institutional racism but wiping out obvious racism is by far the most important step.

We clearly need to keep thrashing away at the racism issue but it would help if people weren’t so promiscuous with the racist tag.

I was surprised that racism did not crop up in the offence taken at the Headless Chickens scattering a dead member’s ashes on the stage at the Taite Music Awards this week. Is disregard for tikanga racist?

Racism has a specific meaning reserved for a particular brand of nasty behaviour. To use it loosely risks diminishing the power of the word to identify genuinely degrading and damaging racist conduct. The other danger of throwing around the racist tag so freely is that it stops people from looking at other causes and solutions.

For instance if poverty among Ma¯ ori and Pasifika is said to be due to overt racism and institutional bias, both unconscious and conscious, well that is that then. No need to look further.

Being careful about the racist tag doesn’t mean running away from the question of who we are but that’s another exam question.