On Friday night I went along to the Waiata Māori Music Awards. Me and hubby - it was our first date without any of our babies for almost 3 years. I was pretty excited!
We were fashionably late due to last minute nursing and wardrobe fixes, but as there was some kind of technical issue at the venue we were there an hour before everything started (thank goodness we weren't on time)!
The food was most definitely worth the wait - YUMMMMM. And the entertainment was really great. Kicking off with Rob Ruha, Troy Kingi, Ria Hall & (my personal fave due to her ethereal presence and haunting voice) Maisey Rika.
Then there were many other great performances, including a rocking tribute to Prince by the fantastic house band. Te Hamua Nikora had me in stitches with his Gizzy jokes (ngaati all the way) as co MC.
There was one performance, though, that really moved me.
In the middle of all the noise and instruments came this young fulla, performance stripped right back with just a few chords on the guitar and the odd knock of a bass drum or a stick tapping the rim of the snare. I strained forward to listen because at first I had no idea what he was saying.
Everyone else must have had the same thoughts - we all were on the edge of our seats listening, deciphering the words of his mashed up kiwi hip-hop accent. Then these poignant lyrics hit me "... all my blood is mixed ... all those stones and sticks cannot break our legs ... I got no mind for the closed-minded ... whose at fault we were born like this".
The room was silent. The message was powerful. The delivery was piercing. I felt like Roberta Flack - Rei (the artist) was singing about me, and thousands of others in this country.
In the middle of all the noise and instruments came this young fulla, performance stripped right back with just a few chords on the guitar and the odd knock of a bass drum or a stick tapping the rim of the snare. I strained forward to listen because at first I had no idea what he was saying.
Everyone else must have had the same thoughts - we all were on the edge of our seats listening, deciphering the words of his mashed up kiwi hip-hop accent. Then these poignant lyrics hit me "... all my blood is mixed ... all those stones and sticks cannot break our legs ... I got no mind for the closed-minded ... whose at fault we were born like this".
The room was silent. The message was powerful. The delivery was piercing. I felt like Roberta Flack - Rei (the artist) was singing about me, and thousands of others in this country.
My entire life I have tried to fit into some kind of mould (the shaping thing, not the icky stuff in damp houses).
I never felt truly accepted as Māori. My skin was too light. My eyes were too blue. I didn't speak Te Reo. We went to an American church. I definitely didn't fit into the Pākeha world. I was too hori. And actually, I didn't want to belong there. And this was just in my youth.
I remember hearing my first racist joke where the intent was to belittle Maori. It was 1994 - I was in 1st year macroeconomics and had just sat behind three average 'kiwi blokes' who proceeded to tell the joke and laugh. I was sitting by myself - I only had a handful of friends in my management degree at Waikato - they were all 'mixed' like me. I was horrified and a bit embarrassed. I'll never forget that feeling.
As I attended university and then started out in the workforce, the darker nature of how we are perceived by others as a result of our skin colour really shocked me. More than once I had to say 'hang on a minute, I'm Māori' or 'do you even know anything about the history of this country?'
Over the next 20 years I've grown up a bit and traveled to many countries all over this globe, even lived overseas. What I've learned is that our lovely Aotearoa has certain nuances that I've not experienced elsewhere.
But here's the thing, and why these lyrics courtesy of Rei really impacted me. We are all so different. Percentages of blood lines etc - they mean nothing or at least they shouldn't. We are all humans. We are all flesh, blood, eyes, ears etc. We all need to open our minds and not be afraid of something different. We should definitely not shun those who are different to us.
There is no perfect mould for Pākeha or Māori or even Half-caste. Stereotypes need to be done away with - and we are kidding ourselves if we think that they already are. Prejudiced views about a person because they pronounce a Maori word correctly, or incorrectly, have no place in a forward-focused, big-picture Aotearoa.
And so I thank Rei for his words that have inspired and encouraged me... and I pass on this message:
Fear of the unknown is something that goes away once you begin to know. Go out, and begin to know. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (F D Roosevelt).
I never felt truly accepted as Māori. My skin was too light. My eyes were too blue. I didn't speak Te Reo. We went to an American church. I definitely didn't fit into the Pākeha world. I was too hori. And actually, I didn't want to belong there. And this was just in my youth.
I remember hearing my first racist joke where the intent was to belittle Maori. It was 1994 - I was in 1st year macroeconomics and had just sat behind three average 'kiwi blokes' who proceeded to tell the joke and laugh. I was sitting by myself - I only had a handful of friends in my management degree at Waikato - they were all 'mixed' like me. I was horrified and a bit embarrassed. I'll never forget that feeling.
As I attended university and then started out in the workforce, the darker nature of how we are perceived by others as a result of our skin colour really shocked me. More than once I had to say 'hang on a minute, I'm Māori' or 'do you even know anything about the history of this country?'
Over the next 20 years I've grown up a bit and traveled to many countries all over this globe, even lived overseas. What I've learned is that our lovely Aotearoa has certain nuances that I've not experienced elsewhere.
But here's the thing, and why these lyrics courtesy of Rei really impacted me. We are all so different. Percentages of blood lines etc - they mean nothing or at least they shouldn't. We are all humans. We are all flesh, blood, eyes, ears etc. We all need to open our minds and not be afraid of something different. We should definitely not shun those who are different to us.
There is no perfect mould for Pākeha or Māori or even Half-caste. Stereotypes need to be done away with - and we are kidding ourselves if we think that they already are. Prejudiced views about a person because they pronounce a Maori word correctly, or incorrectly, have no place in a forward-focused, big-picture Aotearoa.
And so I thank Rei for his words that have inspired and encouraged me... and I pass on this message:
Fear of the unknown is something that goes away once you begin to know. Go out, and begin to know. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (F D Roosevelt).
