A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Re: Understanding goes a long way to achieving unity, March 12 letter.
Pat, what an outstanding letter.
Bigotry is alive and well in Tairawhiti. So, thankfully, is a balance of views and enlightenment from significant people.
Historical documents have reinforced your message about a different view of Maori over many
years, but that version has not been a part of the regular curriculum in many schools. (However, I do wish to acknowledge that some enlightened schools did give a fair reflection of the issues and the impact of cultural interaction of this nature.)
I too congratulate the councillors who voted 13 to 1 to go with a dual name. I would have thought that the messages from Maori scholars, kaumatua, kuia and people such as Anne Salmond and Tim Marshall would encourage empathy for the tangata whenua who have been impacted on so negatively.
