Tragedy deserves action, not words
Floyd’s death be in vain. We must use the collective anger being felt around the world, and channel it into change. Not nice words, but real, actioned change.
As a wahine Ma¯ ori, a mother and nana – I know in my bones that helping my own community means helping black mothers across America. I know that standing strong for their black children supports me to stand strong for our brown babies.
It energises me to see so many people from all sorts of backgrounds showing our deep love for humanity, and our sharp resistance to white supremacy in all forms.
But how do we change? For a start, creating a justice system that all New Zealanders trust means decreasing the ability for police to be armed with deadly firearms.
Armed police patrols were recently trialled in areas with predominantly Ma¯ ori, Pasifika, and lower socio-economic communities. During this time tensions escalated in the areas. As a mother of two Ma¯ ori boys living in one of those areas, I can attest to that tension first hand. I was fearful. We were fearful.
The Green Party, Ma¯ ori leaders and the local community all raised concerns during this trial, and since its conclusion have rallied against the trial becoming a permanent fixture.
This week, I, along with my colleague Golriz Ghahraman, wrote to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster calling on him to rule out their adoption.
I am heartened by his comments that he does not want to see a militarised police force, but communities of colour in Aotearoa need more than sentiment.
The research makes it clear that more police with guns means more people of colour being killed. It means more tragic deaths.
We cannot have an armed police force here, and to rebuild trust on the back of centuries of systemic racism, we must rule it out altogether.
Black and brown lives around the world, and here in Aotearoa, depend on it.