Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leans over as Ngāpuhi kuia Titewhai Harawira whispers to her during the 2021 Waitangi Day dawn ceremony. Photo / Michael Cunningham
OPINION
This week I attended the tangi of one of our key Māori leaders of my generation - Titewhai Harawira.
For such a seemingly diminutive wāhine Māori, she was such a force to be reckoned with.
Many of us feared and loved her at the same time.
She was an advocate not just for urban Māori, but her wisdom, and courage transcended across the entire Māori world.
A battler, an advocate, a champion, a wāhine toa for her people - Ngāpuhi, urban Māori and tangata whenua. She gave us guidance and leadership whether we liked it or not.
No reira, e Titewhai, e te mareikura o te ao Māori, moe mai.
In many ways our former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was just like Titewhai, Jacinda loves her people and her country.
She fought the good fight to ensure Māori were prioritised, her focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Equity trickled down to her ministers and agencies.
This in turn meant those who rely on government funding to deliver these priorities (finally) not only realised the value in te reo Māori me ngā tikanga, but also mātauranga Māori and Māori worldviews and perspectives.
It has been so prevalent, that these primarily Pākehā organisations put at risk their respective futures if they’re not able to pivot into this new space.
Jacinda has had to show tremendous courage and resilience if she was to convince the rest of non–Māori Aotearoa, that actually, embracing te ao Māori as a priority would begin to build an Aotearoa New Zealand, that was inclusive, just, and a great place to live for all of us to live in.
She certainly resonated with our urban Māori communities, reforming our national health system because the old model failed our people (for multiple generations).
Her leadership in this space enabled Māori to have those hard conversations which were all too difficult to have, without been labelled a wrecker and a hater as was the case previously.
Under her leadership Ardern, initiated the teaching of Māori history into schools.
Not the historical narratives that came with that ship Endeavour, through the eyes of the colonialist.
But through this initiative we will be able to tell our truths, our kōrero, and truly begin to understand our progress as a nation from a historical Māori perspective.
Ardern has been vilified to no end, she has had to pay such a high price for her courage in her relentless pursuit of justice for all to bring our nation together.
The hatred she experienced was no different than what Titewhai Harawira had to endure.
People hated her and feared her.
On the other hand, there were just as many of us who loved her and revered her.
Titewhai and Jacinda were both polarising, but they had to be if change was to happen.
Their hopes and dreams were to build a better world for our mokopuna.
I loved them both. Both inspired me and gave me hope. One’s time on this earth has come to an end, the other will find new pathways to follow. I thank them both for their service.
Bernie O’Donnell is the chair of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, a director of the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, and an academic and cultural adviser to Auckland University.
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