New Zealanders shouldn't be comforted by the fact the alleged Christchurch shooter was Australian and not a Kiwi because racism is a part of New Zealand's history, an academic says.
Following the terrorist attack on March 15, the alleged gunman was identified as an Australian national, with some adopting a catch cry of "this is not us".
Discussing this on TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika, Professor Dame Anne Salmond said Kiwis relieved the shooter wasn't from here should think again.
"I thought, well that's one way of letting yourself off the hook," she said.
"I don't think, given our history as a country, that you can get away with that."
Dame Anne was referring to New Zealand's bloody history of colonial occupation, including the land wars of the 1800s, and more recently the 1974 Dawn Raids in Auckland, which ignited tensions between racial groups.
"I think a lot of people in the comfort zone probably feel that they have confronted those issues through the Waitangi Tribunal, and that they have kind of exonerated history through that process, so there's no need to worry about it any more," she said.
Wintec's Dr Rawiri Waretini-Karena reminds Kiwis that "terrorism for Māori didn't start last week".
"It was at Waitara, it was at Pukehina, at Ruapekapeka, at Rangiriri, Rangiowhia, at Parihaka, at Ōrākau ... this has been an underlying theme that has been pervading this country for a long, long time," he said.
Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa says Pasifika communities "understand that experience of being singled out for how they look and what they do - for being different".
"Racism and the work of race has always been essential to what New Zealand is," he said.
"We have seen lots of violence - that's colonial violence and imperial violence - that has been directed at Polynesian people, whether it's in New Zealand or the Pacific."
SHARE ME