Up front and honest about racism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Photo / TVNZ
Opinion
The recent airing of the documentary No Māori Allowed rekindled dark memories of what it was like growing up Māori in Pukekohe under racial segregation.
Several elders said they were moved to tears.
Their suffering is part of an intergenerational trauma that continues to this day.
Most Māori say they cannot move on because the pain is still raw.
One woman who attended the Native School, recently recounted abuses she endured there. Trembling, and with tears streaming down her face, she recalled events from 70 years ago including beatings and urinating on herself when her teacher refused to let her use the toilet because she couldn't ask in English.
She thought that with the passage of time the trauma would subside – but it hasn't.
We owe documentary makers Megan Jones, Reikura Kahi and Corinna Hunziker a debt of gratitude along with the brave kaumātua who shared their stories.
They have started a conversation and broken the taboo surrounding this subject, but their efforts will be wasted if it does not inspire tangible change.
The central government and local council played major roles in perpetuating the segregation, particularly the deaths of hundreds of infants and children by turning a blind eye to housing regulations and health standards.
I believe that Auckland Council and the central government have a moral responsibility to redress this dark history.
I would like to see the Pukekohe Public Cemetery canvassed with an archaeological scanner and proper headstones for the nearly 200 unmarked graves in the segregated Native section so those buried there can have their mana restored and relatives can pay their respects. Another 25 graves are missing.
An effort should be made to identify where they are located, and a monument erected.
No amount of money will lessen the trauma or bring back the lives of the more than 230 infants and children who died on the market gardens from preventable causes, but it is clear from reaction to the documentary that significant trauma persists.
The council should fund a programme to identify and counsel residents from Pukekohe who are suffering the effects of intergenerational trauma.
The Franklin district is also in need of a 21st century health centre.
For true healing to occur, there needs to be a public apology. Words have power.
Pukekohe residents have an opportunity to chart a new course and serve as a model for other communities. The council has funded a mural celebrating Māori culture.
More are planned. Many schools intend to teach the segregation history as part of the new curriculum.
I would also like to see a fund created to assist in a systematic collection of segregation stories from Pukekohe and beyond to preserve this history and learn from the past.
Raising awareness of what happened will foster empathy and compassion, which will bring people together.
Ka kahi te toi, ka whai te maramaratanga. If knowledge is gathered, enlightenment will follow.
But racist attitudes persist.
Some locals continue to espouse fantastic claims that Aotearoa was first settled by Celts, hence Māori are not mana whenua, and the Treaty should be torn up.
I recently talked with a former mayor of Pukekohe and mentioned the mural project.
Their response floored me: "Why would they waste money promoting that culture?
"You do know that before Europeans got here, Māori were going around killing each other, raping each other and eating one another."
Clearly there is more work to be done.
We should address these and other pseudo-histories through education and by being careful not to apportion blame to any one group.
Instead, we should focus on the attitudes of the time.
During the segregation era, biology textbooks stated as fact that there were inferior and superior races. We now know better.
Race is a myth. There is only one race – the human race.
Three years ago, I became a Kiwi citizen and I have been blessed to live in a country that values tolerance, diversity, and inclusion – even if we don't always live up to these ideals.
The America I grew up in is now paralysed by partisan bickering and extremists driven by social media algorithms.
It is my hope that the issue of racial segregation will transcend the New Zealand political divide.
The residents of Pukekohe, the Auckland Council, and central government should not be defined by their past, but they will be defined by how they handle that past.
It is now up to our leaders to do the right thing.
Robert Bartholomew is an American medical sociologist, journalist and author. He is an honorary senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland.
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