I am Ta¯ ngata te Tiriti — I am the Crown

Crown inflicted intergenerational trauma on the people

Based on my experiences, we live in the best country on this planet. A peaceful, prosperous and caring nation, full of natural resources, the home of the All Blacks, Six60, and mince and cheese pies.

By a mere fluke of ancestry, I was not born in Peshawar, Poltava or Port Sudan, but Palmy North.

My connection to the Land of the Long White Cloud goes back five generations to a Welsh miner who decided he had had enough of the class system and wanted a fresh start. He stepped foot on to our sacred whenua in the late 1800s.

My great-great-greatgrandfather was allowed to live here because of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so by extension, I call myself a Kiwi because of this same contract. I am

Ta¯ ngata te Tiriti.

Te Tiriti is a binding contract between the Crown and Ma¯ ori. It clearly states Ma¯ ori have sovereignty over themselves and that the Crown will ensure the protection of all Ma¯ ori treasures.

Despite signing this contract, the Crown:

Created a legal system based on individual rights rather than the collective rights system Ma¯ ori lived by;

Created a judicial system that locked up Ma¯ ori who did not comply with this alien legal system;

Created a property rights system that saw Ma¯ ori land drop from 95 per cent of Aotearoa in 1840 to 8 per cent in 1920;

Created a health system that marginalised Ma¯ ori, causing them to die younger and not drain our pension system;

Created an education system that robbed Ma¯ ori of their language and their culture and encouraged them to drop out of school at the earliest possible age;

Created an employment system that encouraged Ma¯ ori to become freezing workers, sheep shearers, railway workers and farm labourers;

Created a financial system that eventually broke the freezing works, the wool industry, the railways and small farms;

Created a social services system that took Ma¯ ori children away from their wha¯ nau and placed them in the care of people who, in many cases, abused them.

The Crown inflicted intergenerational trauma on the people it was supposed to protect. I have experienced none of this trauma because I am the Crown.

”Not recognising racism means we’ll keep seeking solutions that aren’t going to help us. The root of many issues is a deeply entrenched prejudice against Ma¯ ori rights, Ma¯ ori values and Ma¯ ori culture in this country, and a sense of supremacy about what colonisers brought here instead.” — Dr Veronica Tawhai, 2017

Dave Mollard