'Is that your slave?': Hamilton shop owner accused of racially vilifying Māori customer

Tama Dean alleges the owner of The Plant Place casually asked a woman in her 70s at the counter "is that your slave?" referring to Dean - a Māori man. Photo / Supplied

A Māori man has been left angry and "overwhelmed with emotion" after a Hamilton florist allegedly questioned whether he was an elderly customer's slave.

Tama Dean says the owner of The Plant Place, Bruce Sanson, casually asked a woman in her 70s, who Dean had let in front of him in the line at the counter, "is that your slave?"

When questioned about it, Dean said Sanson claimed the 53-year-old Hamilton resident was only angry "because Black Live Matter is trendy at the moment".

The incident allegdly occurred at The Plant Place at 11am yesterday.

"Just as I was going up to the counter there was an older lady coming from the side so I said 'you go in front of me' so she did," Dean told the Herald.

"Anyway, she was getting served and the owner came in and he saw her and saw me and basically said 'is that your slave?' And I was like what the hell?

The Plant Place in Hamilton.

Dean said he walked straight out of the garden centre to gather himself in the parking lot but returned to confront Sanson.

"So I went out, had a bit of a breather. The thing for me was in the car I didn't realise how upset it made me. I got really upset. I'm 53 now and the last time I heard comments like that I was probably at University in Raglan. It just floored me a little bit."

"I just walked out straight away because I was actually just going to go and I thought no, I'm going to say something to him and he was still standing by my trolley.

"I said to him 'did you just call me a slave?' He said it was just a joke. And I said 'I don't know anyone who would find that funny.'"

Dean said he attempted to get support from the other customers who said they didn't want to get involved, but a woman who worked at the florist as an assistant came to Dean's aid.

"She was working for him so she was a bit careful on how she said things. But she said 'we have to be careful what we say and think about it more' when he was actually there. And he goes 'I'm not backing down I think was his phrase."

The Herald put in a request for comment on Sanson's mobile last night and this morning but has had no response.

However, Sanson told Stuff he did not call Dean a slave and he had got it all wrong.

"I didn't call him a slave and it was only a joke with another person," Sanson said.

"I told him I wasn't going to back down, it was just a joke. It wasn't directed at him. He thought he heard something, but that wasn't true."

Tama Dean's Facebook post has since been taken down for breaching community standards. Photo / Supplied

Dean told the Herald Sanson refused to apologise for the comments when he was questioned about them again.

"That's what got me because I'm from Invercargill and my grandparents are Scottish and sometimes people of that generation say things that are a little bit left of centre. But 99 per cent of them if you said 'actually that's quite rude' would be very apologetic.

"But he was so 'I don't give a ****. If you can't take a joke like that, that's your problem sort of thing' and that was it.

"The thing that really got me was he was unapologetic, and also he's clearly aware of Black Lives Matter but he thinks that's a crock of **** because he said it's just a trend."

Dean said he eventually left because the situation "wasn't going anywhere" but he would still like an apology from Sanson.

Dean posted an account of the incident to his Facebook which had more than 1400 shares and more than 1000 comments of support and outrage.

However, Dean said Facebook had later taken down the post because it breached their community standards.

"Wow, Facebook said my post was against their community standards. What does that say about their standards. Can you please tell what in that post was offensive to a good community?" Dean said.