The greatest race relations in the world?

"I think that the reason why Pakeha people mispronounce the Māori language is because they totally disrespect us, otherwise they would pronounce it correctly, if they respected us they would."

Speakers

Haami Piripi, Oscar Kightley, Dr Vincent O'Malley and Dai Henwood.

Transcript

Haami Piripi: And here we are 176/7 years later and Pākehā people still can't pronounce our names.

Oscar Kightley: You know our country was built on this myth that we are this egalitarian ideal and sure maybe if you are in New Zealand you're exposed to the same opportunities but somehow it doesn't end up that way.

Dr Vincent O'Malley: A cornerstone of Pākehā national identity is the notion that our natives were treated so much better than indigenous peoples elsewhere and of course it doesn’t accord with the reality.

Dai Henwood: This was really put into the forefront for me in 2006 when I travelled through the outback of Australia for two months making a tv show. And we stayed on a cattle farm where the guy goes, come down, look at ma cells mate, we go down there and he goes these are the cells I keep my Aborigine in mate, and he goes ah look at your face, don't worry, I haven't used them since '82. You know and I'm going what, you know '82 was like yesterday mate.

Dr Vincent O'Malley: Today, if you would argue, or if you would continue to sustain the idea that New Zealand has the greatest race relations in the world or that there haven't been problems, I think that that kind of myth has been largely put to bed.

Haami Piripi: And I think that the reason why Pākehā people mispronounce the Māori language is because they totally disrespect us, otherwise they would pronounce it correctly, if they respected us they would. And after what six, seven generations, we still can't get that respect that's a real problem.

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